Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff

1 review

the_cheerful_necromancer's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Partially ported over from my now-abandoned Goodreads:

Better even than the first in the series, which I loved in spite of its flaws- I was shocked at how brilliant this one felt!

A really tight, tense haunted-house narrative, with a liberal sprinkling of the macabre and of course, the snark and wit of our protagonist, Tony Foster. I'm amazed at how uncomfortable this haunted house feels, considering the book generally doesn't take itself too seriously. The cast of book one returns almost in its entirety, with only a few new faces, and I think that was a brilliant decision; these colourful characters get the chance to really shine in such a confined space, and they sure do!

This book is a brilliantly navigated urban fantasy, and with a good handful of gay scenes thrown in for good measure, it's undoubtedly a favourite of mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Ableism, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Sexual content, and Vomit

This is a haunted house story. Bad things happened to the former residents of this house, and in visions, we see them EXPLICITLY. One of the victims is a baby, and his death is the least graphic (never described or "seen" in detail by the main character, unlike the others) but arguably most upsetting even so. Ableism:

One of the ghosts is a child/teenager with Down's Syndrome who was abused, mostly via neglect, by his father.

Alcohol/Alcoholism:

One of the members of the ensemble is an alcoholic and murders another member in a drunken rage.

Vomit:

He then dies choking on vomit.

Suicide:

Several of the ghosts are suicide victims, and/or committed murder-suicides. Generally it is treated as a tragedy and not glorified nor villified (with the obvious exception of accompanying murder.)

Body Horror:

One character runs into a magical window and, apparently, breaks ALL his bones. It's not really graphic, but it's a grim image.

Body Horror ENDING SPOILER:

The "thing in the basement" is sort of a man, and mostly a gross amalgamation of human stuff.

Sexual content is BRIEFLY mentioned but nobody actually has sex on-page. There's some cursing, but nothing too outlandish.