Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

37 reviews

librarianmage's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Not sure how I felt about this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Cancer, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Blood

5aru's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Amazing read. Kept me hooked throughout! The author's style is so agreeable to read, and the mystery is so well-woven, I had a hard time putting it down -  although the resolution of the case did peter out a bit. I really like how Ivy's feelings are fleshed out throughout, she's a very rounded character and I grew to really like her despite all her (rather glaring) flaws. The rest of the cast is almost equally as interesting, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Cancer, Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

marrowe's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion and Medical content

Minor: Medical trauma

katie_the_librarian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Medical content, Abortion, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content and Terminal illness

Minor: Toxic relationship

claire_luna's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

So, this was not what I was expecting. I came across this book in some list and added it to my library audio holds and then went in pretty blind. For some reason I thought it was YA but it definitely isn't. Sure, it's set at a magic school and there's a prophecy about a Chosen One but that's where the typical YA fantasy genre tropes stop. It's a detective novel, tinged with magic and drama, full of queer characters (but coming out isn't a theme). There were continuous twists and it was a few chapters from the end before I was further ahead than our plucky, somewhat damaged detective. I was also thoroughly impressed with the narration, this was one of my longer audiobooks and I was so into it that at one point I just started into space sitting on my couch. There was so much packed into this book (do see the content warnings) and it delivered with a punch. What more can I say? I loved it.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Eating disorder

azyef's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Blood, Cancer, Bullying, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Eating disorder and Adult/minor relationship