Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Book of the Most Precious Substance

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran

12 reviews

joykeya's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

I enjoyed the last 20 pages of the book but the rest was hard to get through since I don't condone cheating in any way.

I didn't like the writing style and everything just felt a bit icky?
Also this book is not a horror or thriller at all, I genuinely don't know why it's marketed like that. It's quite misleading

I only kept reading cus I hated the main characters and wanted them to not get their happy ending.
This book is not what I expected and maybe just wasn't for me but the last 20 pages added an extra star to my rating

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ellenigrace's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

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pagesofash's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

When I brought this book I thought I was buying a book about a book (something I'm a sucker for), turns out it's a book about a sex book. What followed was a cross over between a book about a book, a thriller and a smut read (3.5/5 for spice rating). So I have no idea where it's going to end up on my shelves. I'm giving this one three stars because while I liked parts of it I have no idea how I feel about it over all, which is fucking frustrating, but I'm going to try and break it down.

Our FMC, Lily one time author and part time book seller, is a bit of a wet blanket personality wise, as in she doesn't really have a one beyond self pity and longing. Lucas, our MMC, isn't much better beyond being good a dresser and decent in the sack. Together they're a slightly terrible, horny couple. Perhaps I'm judging them a bit too harshly. Lets call them morally grey two dimensional characters and leave it there.

I found myself both curious and bored while reading. Curious about the book our MCs were hunting, its history, its abilities, but bored with the predictability of everything, and I hated the ending.

There were moments when I read a sentence that resonated with me and made me think and then there were paragraphs that had me asking how the editor had let that one slip through. I'm talking about the kind of nonsense stuff student's write to fill word counts in assignments where they don't really say anything, because they don't really know what they're talking about, and yet say the same thing three times in a row. So it's safe to say I found the writing fairly inconsistent and sometimes too contrived. Lily and Lucas waltz in and out of strangers homes, across the States and through Europe without difficulty. How am I suppose to believe that all these rich, famous, powerful people freely open their doors and show off their most prized and expensive possessions to two strangers just for the asking?

So there's character development but I wouldn't call it strong. I didn't dislike our MCs but I didn't like them either. I appreciated the discussion about grief and the ideas surrounding healing. I loved the openness of all the side characters, each one was wholly and unapologetically themselves and I enjoyed the exploration of magic and the idea that old friends, no matter how many years apart, are just a phone call away. So I'm treating this book like a piecemeal Christian and picking and choosing which parts to take away with me and which parts to leave.

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Lily is a depressed book dealer living solely to care for her husband with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She used to be a famous writer, living luxuriously with the love of her life but now she’s sold everything and struggles to make ends meet for her severely ill husband. Gran does an amazing job of setting the scene for Lily and honestly it was hard to read, her sadness and struggles are too real and I couldn’t even imagine having to live with that tragedy everyday.

Despite her hardships Lily is devoted to her husband and finding a way to help him. So when she’s offered over a million dollars for a rare occult book on sex magic, she teams up with a colleague and friend, Lucas, to find the book. What unfolds is a journey across the country to locate the book and find herself.

This book is very slow paced so if you start it, know it’s a crawl and it’s also very disturbing at times. As Lily continues searching for the book her and Lucas begin attempting it’s magic as well, which leads them to many dark and weird places. Hedonist mansions, sec magic, disgustingly rich men, it’s all pretty out there and unsettling but I loved it.

This book is not for everyone, it’s not fast paced or super exciting, it’s an atmospheric and tragic love story with elements of horror that weave together themes of loss, grief, devotion, and finding a reason to live once yours is gone. If you’re up for that, I highly recommend!

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catherinedsharp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

3.75

A very interesting concept; who doesn’t love books about books? The idea was interesting and I did want to know what happened but the execution wasn’t too great and I found it very dark and disjointed at times.

There were aspects I would have liked to have seen developed more and things I didn’t see coming because they were out of character etc.

Interesting read, not sure if I would re read it though.

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thecatconstellation's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is well-written and interesting, but I didn’t warm to any of the characters. It is a book about sex magic and books, so if that sounds up your alley, I would give it a try.

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