Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

75 reviews

unwise_samwise's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Medical trauma, and Medical content

longlost's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

If you're a fan of mystery books in general, then you'll probably like this. Gailey's take on the 'wizarding school' trope feels fresh (though I admit I never read Harry Potter to base it off of), and the progression of solving the murder feels very well-paced and with the appropriate twists and turns that suit a mystery of this stature. While I didn't connect a whole lot with any of the characters, I hesitate to say that's a flaw on the book's part as I tend to find it hard to connect to characters in books in general. I enjoyed reading about Ivy and Tabitha's relationship and learning their history, along with seeing them reconnect

even if ultimately it may not have led anywhere for them.

 
The school life of Osthorne in general felt very real and present - reading this did make me feel re-immersed in school culture, for good or for bad, and learning about all the magic lore from Ivy's outsider point-of-view was interesting. I very much enjoyed Rahul as a character (my beloved) and I appreciate the affect he had on Ivy's character development. 
Regarding the murder mystery itself: I have some Thoughts.

The general redirect & red herring here and there helped keep the story feeling fresh as you're reading through Ivy's steps towards the answers, but I will admit that I had an inkling about who the killer was from the start. I did like Tabitha a lot and I appreciated her and Sylvia's relationship and the painful circumstances around Sylvia's death, and thought I'm not entirely satisfied with how Ivy chooses to wrap the case I do think it's a choice that's realistic for Ivy and Tabitha as characters.

Gailey's writing style was also very enjoyable to me; in parts of the book where they would delve so deep into a scene that it would take a few more paragraphs to learn of small circumstances that took place during the scene that weren't focused on, a choice that feels like it helped with the tension & mystery elements. Ivy's inner voice also felt very authentic. 
Overall: a good mystery book with some fun fantasy elements and a cache of pain to hit you with when you reach the story's end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Abortion, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Bullying, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

TW details -

Cancer comes up related to two separate characters. An abortion is performed on an underage student without anesthesia. Main character's parent dies of cancer: this does not happen in the story but is reflected on multiple times by the main character. There are multiple scenes where the main character & others drink together - main character is noted to drink often. Main character's sister at one point drugs her drink. Main character somewhat-inadvertently lies to her romantic interest about her identity and abilities, which may be uncomfortable to read about.

fiasandia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

If anything about this book’s summary speaks to you, please read this book. An excellent concept executed brilliantly, with a compelling mystery, interesting characters, and an honestly fresh take on the concept of hidden magic schools (which, btw, a nonbinary author did way better than a certain transphobe…). At points I did feel like I was getting ahead of our protagonist with connecting clues, but the mystery still has enough twists and creativity  that it kept me on my toes and surprised. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Abortion, Bullying, Gore, and Grief

alicelalicon's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Pregnancy

nicnevin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

This book is a murder mystery in a high school that so happens to be filled with young mages. 

Ivy is a private detective given the case. Ivy has no magic but her twin Tabitha does. Ivy tries to navigate the world of magic and murder whilst remarking that how similar the high school environments are. 

Its a good book, even if the ending is abrupt and so many loose ends are left dangling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

royalraspberry's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore

waterwolves's review against another edition

While I found this novel to have an interesting premise and great writing, I'm just not feeling noir right now. I'll probably try this again another time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism

piperlee's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

What I thought would be an interesting murder mystery with magic mixed in ended up being a highly character-driven and contemplative story about family, grief, and feelings of inadequacy.
I really enjoyed this book, despite the weird. The magical high school and variety of characters kept it interesting and added a lot of mystery to the story. However, the ending left me feeling frustrated. It was too unbelievable for me to justify Ivy’s decision at the end with all the horror and trauma the murderer had caused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Terminal illness, Abortion, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Grief