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fronk10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, and Death of parent
jenhfultz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Medical content
lesemaus2303's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
brynalexa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
midsummernoodle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Beyond that content warning, I looooved this book. I immediately googled “does this book have a sequel?” because I just loved the characters so much and I want to continue to follow them. So far it is a standalone book (which is fine, there is no cliff hanger), but I hope the author writes more in this world. The magic system is very cool.
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Grief, and Kidnapping
kodi_rae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gun violence, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Confinement
cozy_tea_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death of parent, and Medical trauma
Minor: Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gore, Kidnapping, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Classism
rmdange's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Child abuse
grace_b_3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a story with a lot of twists and turns, which did keep me turning pages, even if none of the twists were particularly surprising. This book felt a bit like a roller coaster in the sense that even if you know where it’s going, you’re still enjoying the ride.
I’d most recommend this to people who like the idea of book magic, and want something that leans towards dark academia, but is still a popcorn read.
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence
leexpenandpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
After the death of their father, two sisters discover the world of magic is much bigger than he let on, and their blood—literal and figurative—is more valuable than they realized; meanwhile, the only known living Scribe of magical books learns that The Library houses more dark secrets than he'd thought.
🩸✒️📜✨️🪞👭👫🇬🇧🇺🇲
👍🏻 RECOMMENDATION:
💚 READ IT!
💬 FAVORITE QUOTES:
In Gil's world, women found themselves in mirrors. They became hypnotized and stared into their own eyes until they recognized themselves, and once they did, the mirror ceased to be a trap and became instead a doorway. An escape route. A path.
Cold was easier to bear when you’d never been warm.
(SPOILER)Stepping through the mirror was like [...] swimming if the water was made of treacle and also of outer space, sweet and airless and tugging and infinite, and dark in a way that wasn't a binary to light but rather a different state entirely, complete unto itself.
👓 FORMAT:
🎧
📑 COMMENTS:
• Törzs's attention to craft is undeniable. If you're looking for a dark academic book, the aesthetic conjured by the prose will live rent-free in your beautiful mind, and the magic system will delight you!
• Pacing is slow. (The beautiful descriptions contribute to it, unfortunately.) It's especially hindersome in the first part. Plus, the POV changes often needlessly worsen it throughout the story. Significant cutting during revision would've greatly improved this book.
• The story is intricate, but all the details, some cleary important and some that seem innocuous, come together in the end. That being said, the details sometimes drove me toward boredom. Again, this book could've been shorter, and it would've been even more captivating.
• Characters come from around the world, and their diversity does not come across as tokenship. For instance, one character mourns the heritage she'd lost when she lost a parent, so she learns Spanish to reconnect with her ancestry.
• Even when the characters themselves are a little flat, the characters' relationships (including romantic, platonic, and familial) are natural and believable. These relationships affect the story in complex, meaningful ways.
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Confinement, and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Alcohol