Reviews with content warning for Gore - Magic for Liars

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

75 reviews

stormwise's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book had lots of things I loved - complicated sibling relationships, casually queer characters and fascinating worldbuilding. I love the idea of a magic school where the teachers use whiteboards, there's graffiti on the lockers and teenagers are obsessed with their phones!
The main character, Ivy Gamble (PI), doesn't have magic, but she does know how to lie. As the POV character, the reader can see every choice she grapples with as she carefully manipulates the other characters, who all have their own agendas and give the impression of each thinking they are in a different kind of story. In her own way, Ivy reminded me of a stage magician using sleight of hand and misdirection to keep everything in the air - but of course, it doesn't take much before it all comes crashing down.
Halfway through this novel, I thought I would give it a 5 star rating, but the ending felt a bit too abrupt and there were a few characters whose plotlines I would have liked to have seen wrapped up. I can forgive that last complaint somewhat as the story is told through first person narrative but then again, it's established early on that Ivy is narrating from after the events of the book...yeah. Despite these minor grievances, I really enjoyed this book! I found the scenes between Ivy and her twin sister particularly powerful - Gailey does an incredible job depicting their fraught relationship.

Content Warnings

heatherinjapan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This really felt like a debut novel. Every single scene lead with the main character having a good indepth conversation or finding a good lead and then BAM! Instantly being interrupted. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Also lots more gore? than I thought there would be? And that was none. I do have to say the prologue was so intriguing! But then it switches to the main character who just embodies every single alcoholic male private detective you see in media, but since she's a girl it's "very original"...

Content Warnings