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katsreads's review against another edition
4.0
i liked the premise of this book, i thought it was pretty unique in the witches realm of things. the magic system was underdeveloped, but that’s mainly by way of the main character being non-magic, which is a good way to get around it i suppose. some things abt the “mystery” were glaringly obvious and the main character just kept glossing over them (unreliable narrator frfr)
caraem3's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
dreaming_ace's review
4.0
An interesting tale of identity, those things we keep hidden from ourselves, and the consequences of what we try to do alone and in community.
edward_wilsher's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.5
The combination of sci-fi and detective genres is perfect for me and this book captures both very well. An intriguing murder mystery storyline throughout coupled with magical elements works really well.
oonawoodbury's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Fine mystery, I HATED Ivy's narration, especially in the audiobook, I was so done with her from basically chapter 2. It really didn't help that she was just moaning about how much her life sucks and how she resents her sister from the very beginning before we had any reason to be invested in her-- sooo annoying. The arc of the mystery was fine I guess, but I felt like I barely knew any of the characters and the magic was super poorly defined so that all felt a little hand-wavey. The magic system had potential but bc the mc was an outsider she never really got into it which was unfortunate bc her being an outsider was cool in other ways. Anyways, if it seems up your alley and the first few chapters don't annoy you, you'll probably enjoy this.
alexiachantel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
This dark academia read is a well done mystery involving a very unusual murder. Ivy, the hired PI, ends up at her twin sister's school. The kind of school Ivy was denied access to as a kid because she wasn't magic like her sister. Ivy has her own demons she ends up having to face in order to solve the crime.
Read if you're in the mood for a quick, dark academia read with a well thought out mystery.
Read if you're in the mood for a quick, dark academia read with a well thought out mystery.
thissagreads's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
1.0
1 star for the concept, but the narrator was boring, and the story line was moving very slow and then finally at the end (the last hour) things moved much more rapidly. Ivy was way too self-loathing and was mostly unbearable, but I pushed through to finish because I wanted to know who was the killer. It’s Ivy’s sister Tabitha, who killed her girlfriend on accident trying to magically rid her of cancer, and after completing the “illegal” magical act that took 3 days, which literally took a part Tabitha’s girlfriend’s entire body. Well Tabitha hadn’t take a break from the spell and on the third day, when she got rid of all the cancer, she accidentally fell asleep and that’s what killed her girlfriend, because she wasn’t put back together whole. And Tabitha thought she could do it, because she gave a student a magical abortion -unsupervised and untrained- and recklessly didn’t put the kid under anesthesia, so the kid finally freaked out enough and told Ivy, who finally realized it was her twin the whole time. Ivy found out the whole story, and promised Tabitha that she wouldn’t let anyone at the school know but told Tabitha she had to quit and basically their relationship would never be close even though she finally wanted it to be, after decades of them not getting along. I was really hoping it’d be a cooler, adult version of Harry Potter, but it was just a slow read with little buildup. The frayed sibling rivalry/relationship was boring and predictable -one gets magic and the other doesn’t, so of COURSE there’s resentment- and I’m glad I’ll never have to read this book again. Truly disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
bhnmt61's review
4.0
The premise for this book is genius. Imagine if Pansy Parkinson had a non-magical twin, who always felt left out and less-than so grew up to be a hard-boiled detective: Hogwarts meets Dashiell Hammett. It’s not quite that simple, of course- Gailey is far too inventive to just borrow Hogwarts whole. But it’s still a hell of an ambitious idea, and Gailey almost manages to pull it off. Where it fails, it fails rather grandly—for one thing, Ivy, the non-magical twin, is far too emotionally volatile to be a hard-boiled detective, although all the tropes are there— the alcohol, the seedy office, the jaded attitude. And also the middle really dragged. I skimmed. But I’m so impressed that Gailey had the chutzpah to even attempt this, and they come so very close to succeeding. So I mainly want them to keep writing, because especially if this is the first book in a series where Ivy develops a rep for solving magical crimes, I could see them getting better and better with each book. I would definitely read more. Worth a read.