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monstrouscosmos's review against another edition
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Infidelity, Bullying, Incest, Rape, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence
I put all the triggers I remembered in "moderate", though some would definitely be better described as "minor" or "graphic".hannahcstocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Kidnapping, Suicide, Stalking, Blood, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
nikogatts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Colonisation, Terminal illness, Death, and Classism
beegster16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Violence, Death, and Cursing
Minor: Chronic illness, Child death, Colonisation, and Grief
tinyjude's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, and Sexism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Incest
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Abandonment, Cursing, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, and Death
Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Classism, War, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Abandonment
foxcrofty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The over all premise is six of the worlds most power medeians (magic users) have been offered a chance to join the premiere and secretive Alexandrian Society, however after a year of study together only five will be initiated into the society and one will be eliminated and it is up to the group to decide which member they will eliminate.
My dark academia/Warehouse 13/The Librarians loving self was all over this concept.
Now I will say, this book is dense. The rules of magic are deeply rooted in the rules of physics and there were several times I was struggling to keep up. But I am not a science girl.
The only other reason I'm giving this book a 4.5 rather than a 5 is because the opening section was difficult to get through. Initially I found some of the characters more irritating than interesting but the further I got into the book the more my opinion changed. I thought this was going to be a plot driven book but it sort of bait and switches in the middle and becomes almost entirely about the characters. By the end I was deeply attached to all of them, even Callum, though he certainly scares me the most.
I am also very glad that this isn't a stand alone because final act left me very confused and wanting more.
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, and Suicide
Minor: Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Incest