Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

12 reviews

jess02448's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Drug use

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I rather like this series, this is the second time i’ve read it and there are just really great turns of phrase in the prose. I love world building and this book embraces that times three, the magic system is cool and complicated and the characters are never just good people. Quentin is shitty and obnoxious but like what 17 yr old “gifted kid” isn’t? There’s a few questionable moments, the author loves to make women suffer viscerally a little too much in my opinion, but at least he still remembers to make them people. Overall, it’s a good read and an interesting series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Death, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Homophobia, Excrement, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Child death, Ableism, Suicide, Misogyny, Cursing, and Violence

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

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

haleyrayreads's review

dark lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.5

The concept of this book is great, the characters are okay, but the plot drags a bit. I appreciate not being dragged through separate books for each year of school but the transition between years could be abrupt and unclear at times. 

The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across. 

The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Body shaming, and Sexual content

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

giulianac27's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Blood, Alcohol, Medical trauma, and Cursing

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

suzanlemont's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

I enjoyed the first 2/3 more than the last third. It starts off as a charming mix of Harry Potter and Narnia fan fiction with a distinctive adult edge missing from those books. But it descends in the end into a bit of a clumsy and less-inspired moral-less Narnia rip off towards the end which made me struggle through the last 150 pages or so. It had some really beautiful and interesting nuggets of great writing and if not totally original then at least curiosity-arousing and entertaining plot devices but the character development was wildly uneven/incomplete and I had a sense the author was floundering around at various times. I couldn't make an emotional attachment to any of the characters in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Violence

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