Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Agathas

I am a sucker for a multi-media story. Give me transcripts! News articles! Tweets! All of it.

This book has an engaging plot, I figured it out about 60% of the way through, but I'm here for a good time, so that sort of thing never bothers me.

Iris Adams, I love her. She is precious. She's a nerd (affectionate) who is dragged into figuring out this murder. She's tough, she's clever, and she deserves all good things.

Alice Ogilvie is a perplexing character. She grew on me, but there are definitely times where her internal monologue comes across as "grown adults writing shallow teens" which was a bit annoying. I also did not like how we barely find out where/why/how Alice just up and disappeared over the summer. It's barely a paragraph in one of the final chapters. I think Alice is better when she's with Iris, but I feel like Iris could stand on her own as a character, whereas Alice is weaker in terms of development.

Spike, Nora, and Neil were fun, but they lowkey could've been condensed into one or two people--they didn't have enough page time to shine as individuals (namely Nora and Neil).

Now, Alice is obsessed with Agatha Christie. I mean the title of the book is a reference to her. The issue I have is that Christie's works contain racism--which isn't uncommon for the time, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored (while Christie's intentions can be debated, that does not erase the fact that her books have racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, etc). The book And Then There Were None originally had the N-word in the title. I wish that this had been addressed in the book, whether in the book itself or in an author's note.

Content Warnings

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

And why was it not sapphic? Hmmm??

Content Warnings

imstephtacular's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

brianna_moye's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

That was a fun read. Loved the two protagonists and their interactions a lot. A little sad the side characters in the friends group were not equally fleshed out, there is definitely potential for future installments though. The same applies to the plot. It wasn't anything special, just a messy murder investigation. I liked some fresh approaches to the amateur investigation methods, but in the end, there wasn't enough of it for my taste. And it was pretty obvious to me who the murderer was, so... yeah. But I loved the writing. Not only the way Alice's and Iris' friendship progressed, but also the use of social media. It was really well done.

Content Warnings

More...