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moondragon8's review against another edition
very misleading title. these mages have NO linguistic credentials at all.
there are very few books in my life that i can remember ever truly not finishing, as in, got a chapter or more into the book and decided actually i can't do this, and consciously put the book down with no intent to return. there are only two books i can remember doing this with: twilight and carry on. battle of the linguist mages may be the third. every time i looked at it on my shelf i think "i could keep reading", and then i think "god, but do i really want to?" and the answer was yes. but also no. it kept hooking me with plot snippets just interesting enough to keep going and then dropping them before they could go anywhere in favor of yet another fucking twist. i listened to a very good podcast (wizards vs. lesbians) on it and it sort of confirmed for me that it was not going to be worth finishing. i'm cutting myself off here. i can't do this anymore.
also: i checked this one out from the college library along with another book (mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore). that one takes place in san francisco, while this one takes place in los angeles, and i just think the contrast between the two and the way they live up to stereotypes of their respective cities is really funny (may elaborate on this later).
also: i checked this one out from the college library along with another book (mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore). that one takes place in san francisco, while this one takes place in los angeles, and i just think the contrast between the two and the way they live up to stereotypes of their respective cities is really funny (may elaborate on this later).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death
a lot of weird fucking stuff happens in this book. unreality and, like, fuckin' existential crises?? i guess??? would be the main other ones?? there's a Lot of stuff but also the way it's all treated makes it feel.... less. there. i think someone once described this whole book as feeling like you're at a rave and on a lot of drugs and like. yeah. that is the vibes. so a lot of fucked up stuff happens (also cults? political corruption? the entire population of california gets kidnapped?) but none of it seems to affect or stick with the characters at allliterarypenguin's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Where do I begin to explain Battle of the Linguist Mages. It has some good and some bad and a lot of confusion after the first half for this person.
The first half of the book was very interesting and introduced us to our main character Isobel, a gamer girl who is slightly obsessed with a game called Sparkle Dungeon. A game that she is very good at and is top of the leaderboard. In that way Isobel is a relatable character to me as I love gaming and love to learn about the mechanics of a game. The idea of Sparkle Dungeon and using vocal prompts to play the game was very fascinating. I loved how the author made this mechanic into the game and created a whole world within this game.
The plot I really can't say what happens, the first half was pretty easy to understand to me. Isobel was hired to be a game tester because of her skill and abilities at Sparkle Dungeon but while she was working there she discovers a more sinister plot behind the scenes. They are trying to gather power morphemes, vocal codes that people can use to control other people just by speaking a series of phrases and words. They want to use this for their own nefarious purposes and Isobel breaks away from them to stop their pursuit of this. After this the book loses me and my investment in the plot was lost with it. I can't say what the plot was or where it was going. I struggled getting through the last half of the book and couldn't figure out what was going on with it.
Things that I didn't like in this book were how every character was introduced using their pronouns, like he/him white guy it got old really fast and kind of took me out of the book a little bit. I also didn't like how insta lovey the relationship between Isobel and Maddy was, I felt like it went to fast and quick for me. It didn't feel believable to me and could have used more development. The humor was funny at first but quickly lost it's stride in the first half and got more dated and cringy as the book went on.
Not my favorite book and was hard to get through at the end but some things like the game itself were things I wished could have been done more and what I hoped for.
The first half of the book was very interesting and introduced us to our main character Isobel, a gamer girl who is slightly obsessed with a game called Sparkle Dungeon. A game that she is very good at and is top of the leaderboard. In that way Isobel is a relatable character to me as I love gaming and love to learn about the mechanics of a game. The idea of Sparkle Dungeon and using vocal prompts to play the game was very fascinating. I loved how the author made this mechanic into the game and created a whole world within this game.
The plot I really can't say what happens, the first half was pretty easy to understand to me. Isobel was hired to be a game tester because of her skill and abilities at Sparkle Dungeon but while she was working there she discovers a more sinister plot behind the scenes. They are trying to gather power morphemes, vocal codes that people can use to control other people just by speaking a series of phrases and words. They want to use this for their own nefarious purposes and Isobel breaks away from them to stop their pursuit of this. After this the book loses me and my investment in the plot was lost with it. I can't say what the plot was or where it was going. I struggled getting through the last half of the book and couldn't figure out what was going on with it.
Things that I didn't like in this book were how every character was introduced using their pronouns, like he/him white guy it got old really fast and kind of took me out of the book a little bit. I also didn't like how insta lovey the relationship between Isobel and Maddy was, I felt like it went to fast and quick for me. It didn't feel believable to me and could have used more development. The humor was funny at first but quickly lost it's stride in the first half and got more dated and cringy as the book went on.
Not my favorite book and was hard to get through at the end but some things like the game itself were things I wished could have been done more and what I hoped for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Minor: Sexual content
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Drug use
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