Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

9 reviews

_nem_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I found this book very odd. There were certain moments that had me saying "WHAT??" out loud. It all tied together so nicely. I wouldn't say it had a happy ending but it was hopeful especially right at the end. 

It definitely reminded me of Narnia when talking about Filory especially with the books but then discovering a dark side. There were lots of very odd scenes but overall it had me hooked. I would say there are a lot of points where the plot does seem to grind to a halt and it seems like the book could end there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Blood

lms33's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia

pbeeandj's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Addiction, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia and Grief

Minor: Ableism

kyriross's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The story itself is amazing. The magic system is well realized, the elements of the story are wildly creative, and the prose is exceptional.  The themes and morals of the story are clear, but masterfully woven throughout so that they aren't obnoxious or pedantic. 

The issue is primarily with the pacing. The rapid shifts between chapter-long detail of one event and single-sentence passage of time tends to give a reader whiplash. There also just wasn't enough- of Brakebills or

Fillory

. The other sections were good and valuable, but I wish we had more time in those places. 

The characters are also extremely non-diverse, and uniformly unlikeable. It would have been nice to have at least one character who isn't deeply unlikable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Drug abuse

bitofadisgrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ok this book is definitely a product of its time (frequent use of the "r-word", jokes at the fat character's expense), but I still had fun. I watched and adored the show, which fixed a lot of the issues I have with the books, so I might be overly generous with the rating. 

The book was very long and feels somewhat unfocused in the first 3/4, but imo it ended up being worth it for the plot twist near the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

glowbruise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

books for people who check the back of old wardrobes for Narnia 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Body shaming

multiple uses of the r word, fatphovia directed at a specific character, women often described by their attractiveness/ particular mention of their chest

lauralintunen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Ableism, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Incest, and Animal cruelty

manubookland's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this book but it wasn’t for me. I saw the tv serie and I absolutely loved it, so I was sooo excited to read the books (because usually they’re better then the serie or the movie right?), but I found this book too slow for me. The real action it’s just a scene of two pages at almost the end of the book! The Beast, the main villain, appears just two time and that’s it?! What? Where are the battles?! 
I wanted more action and less Q thinking about Alice’s perfect breasts! 
Maybe one day I’ll continue the other two books, but for now I’ll stop to this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Vomit, Murder, and Death

Minor: Grief

azebrareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit