Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

25 reviews

medini_l's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Bullying, Cursing, and Violence

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Parts of this book are strange, parts are not fun, but overall? I had a great time listening to this first installment. The audiobook is really good; the narrator is sarcastic and doesn’t take much too seriously, which fits the tone. Quentin is kind of insufferable, but I ended up rooting for him and especially his friends. I’m excited to read the next one; I think it’ll be stronger. I really enjoyed the pacing of the book, and the different places the story went. I also appreciated the way the author didn’t shy away from gory descriptions and intense emotions when necessary. Overall, it’s a lot of fun.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Ableism, Death, and Fatphobia

Minor: Sexism, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

ksheathebrave's review against another edition

It’s abundantly clear what the author’s race/gender and corresponding perspective are within the first few pages of the book, and that perspective dominates at least the first third of the book. The way the author talks about women and POC is uncomfortable and gross to say the least. It’s too bad because the tv series is really great. Book Quentin‘s character may grow as does the TV Quentin but frankly the book is too bad to find out. 

As for the writing, the story itself is fine, just slow. The author uses unnecessarily highfalutin language, which constantly takes the reader out of the story (using “gonfalons” instead of “banners” is just obnoxious and makes you sound like a tool). 

Won’t be coming back to finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

ambient's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

enjoyable for the most part but definitely slow, the first part reads “slice of life but depressed” with the way nothing happens and just follows studying in Brakebills and discovering magic and such, the action starts off very late in the book, the character development was probably the best part imo in the way sometimes Quentin felt like he was getting worse ? and then he got better and then worse again, not a linear bad-to-good, wished we got more from other characters and not just Q though

the writing’s straightforward and blunt with prose here n there, n there was more than one reference to harry pot which made it feel kinda too try-hard to be “the adult harry potter” (the marketing term itself makes me cringe a little) but it stopped before it became way too much

my worst critique was at times the writing felt stereotypically “man writing women”, had some pretty questionable at best remarks sometimes, but ultimately nice read that moved at a turtle’s pace, the end’s kind of a cliffhanger but will i be picking up the sequel ? ehh

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexism

Minor: Cannibalism, Racism, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Ableism

ulexic's review against another edition

slow-paced

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

jmeier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I would give this book a five if it weren't for the mild to moderate ableism, racism, and overall attitude of white privileged. The characters are all white. The setting is all white. The narrator and protagonist us multiple disability slurs and is deeply judgemental of neurodiverse coded characters. I love the story, but it reads like something from the 80s at points, not 2009.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

warlockdorian's review against another edition

The writing is bad and reminds me of a fan fiction with metaphors that are far too forced. Grossman wins the crown for men-writing-women with his unnecessary sexist and even racist descriptions of the character. The gay character is made fun of for his sexuality and slut-shamed (there are rape jokes made on their behalf). The story drags because of the POV. Quentin is a whiny nice-guy protagonist who feels like an author self-insert. None of the characters are likeable, which wouldn't be a problem if their flaws were a focus of the story. All in all this book is a big cringe fest and I would not recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Sexism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

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

laurenleigh's review

slow-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

2.5

Ugh I didn’t enjoy this. I love me a magical school trope, but this was missing all the fun. The story zips through 5 whole years of school in just the first of four parts. And yet the pacing felt slow? It seemed like three separate novels that were pared way down and smashed together. The last part finally got magical and interesting, but I was over this novel as a whole by then. I almost never DNF, but I almost did a few times with this one. Mainly because of sooo many sexist, ableist, and fatphobic microaggressions. It often felt like a Harry Potter/Narnia rip off, from the perspective of a whiny, horny, privileged white guy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Sexism, and Medical content

Minor: Ableism and Sexism

nataliii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

(third read👉🏼) This has weirdly become a comfort book for me? 🤷🏻‍♀️😆 It sure has its moments and removed from my initial expectations was a more successful read for me. 3.5⭐️ rounded down for the still-obnoxious and not cute sexism.

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(first read 👇🏼)
I'd give this a 2.75 if possible .. This book was so insanely difficult for me to stay interested in, and I love "these" types of books. The only character I found myself caring about at all was Alice, and only the last 100 pages or so really seemed worth reading. That being said, I'll probably still read the next one once it goes on sale in the Kindle store. /shrug

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore and Sexism

Minor: Pedophilia