Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars by A.J. Sherwood

2 reviews

evarinya's review

Go to review page

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

galleytrot's review

Go to review page

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

2.25

READ: Apr 2023

FORMAT: Digital

BRIEF SUMMARY:

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 2.5 / 5⭐
This book wanted to be fun and cute and quirky and random and funny and fresh, but I hate to say that (at least for me) it missed the mark... by a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good comedic romance that’s a bit off the wall, but I think writing something that’s successfully both funny and charming is a very tall order to fill. Every character in this book is either one of two things: forgettable, or over-the-top.

Nico is an energetic man-child whom I started equating to an excitable Labrador a little while before the book started equating him to a Golden Retriever. Garen might be the most likeable character in the book, but he honestly doesn’t do a whole lot now that I think back on it. And then we have Bel, who is ostensibly the star of the show, but actually has the least personality of them all. Honestly, he doesn’t do anything except analyze things and write spells. That is his job, not who he is. I have nothing to describe who he is. He has demon ancestry and demon eyes, and that’s something, I guess. It’s certainly his most defining traits.

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 2 / 5⭐

I might have liked this book better if there were any sort of stakes in it. Nothing happens in this book. It is a series of events, where something happens, and then the next thing happens, and then another thing happens. The closest thing we have to a villain in this book is either bureaucracy or circumstance. I can’t decide which was more nefarious, and I use that word generously. But I’m serious: every time we get to see actual mage stuff happening, it’s resolved in the most off-hand ‘and then the problem was over’ way possible. There isn’t any sort of attempt to lead into a bigger picture story, no overarching through-line., no struggle There is nothing at all. Nothing is ever earned in this book.

The characters are written either completely devoid of any personality, or with so much personality that they’re insufferable. Garen somehow manages to be both, which somehow makes him almost a balanced character. Characters do not behave their ages (I am very close in age to Nico and Garen and they absolutely do not behave like anyone I’ve ever known). Some of the side characters are so forgettable or unimportant to the story that when they were given the occasional lines of dialogue, I would have these, “Oh yeah, they’re here to, huh?” and, “Wait, who are they again?” moments.

I had to double check to see what year this book was written, and I was shocked. It feels a decade older than it is, and I can’t reconcile that I my head. The repetition in this book was also something else. If I had a dollar for each and every time it was explained that being a familiar is emotionally a lot at first, well. I didn’t actually count how often it happened. Also, there are more ways to indicate that one wants to bone than to say, “I want to sex him up,” or, “I want to seduce him,” but you wouldn’t know it based on this book.

FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 2.25 / 5⭐

I don’t know who I would recommend this book to. Maybe to someone who enjoys randomosity and quirk and goofiness and playfulness, and doesn’t need much in the way of plot or stakes. The worldbuilding is lacking; half the fun of a contemporary supernatural story is learning the rules of the universe and watching the characters navigate them or struggle within them, but we focus on all the wrong things here instead. Going over my highlights and notes for this book, 95% of them are just me cringing over the choices of jokes, dialogue, and pop culture references, or just the shockingly fortuitous circumstances that allow the story to story.

If you’re looking for a romance that’s fun and funny and charming and mysterious and supernatural and contemporary, I would recommend Maz Maddox's RELIC series. If you want all of that and also a vibrant, deeply thought-out world, I might instead direct you towards Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series.

This book has representation for gays and bisexuals. There are a couple of non-white characters.

I would typically write out an explanation for my content warnings here, but this particular book is largely inoffensive. No clarifications necessary.

Content Warnings

More...