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centrifugepolitics's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Cannibalism, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Colonisation and Alcoholism
sucrecube's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you're familiar with The Magnus Archives, this has a similar sort of format; a bunch of short horror stories that are, in some ways, connected, and a main plot is built with that. Sims is really excellent at building intrigue for his mysteries, and he's also quite good at building tension in his horror. I would personally say a good chunk of the horror in this book is more "psychological" in nature, rather than "thrilling," which is absolutely perfect because that's my favourite kind. None of the stories overstay their welcome, and they're all varied, so there's basically a charcuterie board of horrors here. I also really loved the themes in this book!
One of my biggest problems is the pacing of the final chapter. I understand the difficulty in
Another teeny tiny thing is that I hate the amount of typos. I can overlook a couple but there were probably at least ten or so? I feel like even that is a major understatement. I mostly overlook it in the case of this book because of how much I enjoyed it but typos are a massive pet peeve of mine in a piece of writing.
Despite my criticisms I really don't want to rate it lower than I have because I enjoyed it and I generally enjoy Sims' work so much!! Despite its flaws it was just such a fun read. I've been trying to read more lately, and this was probably the fastest I've finished a book of this length in a very long time because of how much I loved it. Maybe I'll adjust my rating at a later time but I just really can't bring myself to rate it any lower right now lol.
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Transphobia
cranberry10088's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Abandonment, Transphobia, Blood, Violence, and Medical trauma
orizenda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Gore and Body horror
Moderate: Classism and Cannibalism
gagereadsstuff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Murder, Death, Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Child death, and Colonisation
vstarlight's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
4.5
“This world was designed to generate winners and losers, and it showed a lack of character to wish yourselves a winner without accepting what it does to those who lose.”
➽ I can't believe I waited this long to finally read Thirteen Storeys, as it was amazing! I was so excited for Jonathan Sims' debut novel because I loved The Magnus Archive, the podcast he was a writer on. I'm normally not really into Horror but TMA got me super obsessed and I loved the way it was written. Luckily, he's also fantastic at writing novels and just really writes Horror in a way that draws me in. Thirteen Storeys is focused on Banyan Court, a huge complex that was built by the eccentric billionaire Tobias Fell, who has become a hermit and rarely leaves his penthouse anymore. The story starts with a newspaper entry about his sudden death following a dinner party with 12 guests ... who have no idea what happened. We're slowly working our way back by following different people in the weeks leading up to the dinner party and the strange experiences with Banyan Court.
➽ This feels more like an anthology, as every story is about a different character's life and how Banyan Court haunts them in one way or another. Still, after a while you begin to see the connections between the stories and I loved figuring out what was going on! The dinner party itself only happens at the very end, but I personally didn't mind that as the setup was intriguing and gave us some insight into Tobias, his dubious past and the secrets of the building. The people he invites for the party couldn't be more different, as the complex has two sides. One is for the rich people, but the back is hidden away and full of cheap apartments for those who can't afford better. There were so many intriguing stories, we've got a young woman who only works the night shift, a couple horrified by a mysterious stain in their wall that won't come out, a startup CEO whose own technology turns against him and an art collector who gets obsessed with a painting. There was always a sinister undercurrent to the stories, especially when it comes to the concierge who deals with an intense coworker and a plumber who has been noticing that the pipes don't work like they should. Every single story left me intrigued and I'm definitely excited for more books by Jonny!
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Gore, Murder, Blood, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Colonisation, Transphobia, Drug abuse, and Deadnaming
phantompansy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Classism, Gore, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Confinement, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Addiction
sapphic_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Cannibalism, and Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Death, and Blood
Minor: Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Addiction
rainbowalcremie1995's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. I definitely liked it overall, but it took me a while to finish it. I bought the book a few months back, read the first few chapters, put it down for a bit when the pacing got a bit slow, and finally started over and finished the book over the last few weeks.
I have two chapters I would consider my favorites. The first is Carter’s chapter, which works as a great standalone story about an awful, awful person becoming a victim to something he created. Something I love about that chapter is that
I feel like the ending of the book wrapped things up a little neatly, but I didn’t mind. I loved the scenes of all these different characters we’ve been in the heads of getting to interact with each other in a strange setting. It might have been sort of anticlimactic and convenient to
As a last aside, I (like everyone else) listened to the Magnus Archives podcast sometime before reading this book. I liked the podcast, but I never considered myself a huge fan of it, and I fell behind and never finished it, either. If you’re a big fan of the podcast, though, I will say this book is pretty similar in tone and themes, with both using the real world horrors of capitalism and class divides in addition to the supernatural elements.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Genocide, Suicide, Slavery, and Deadnaming
You probably listened to the Magnus Archives first. You know about what to expect.