Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

31 reviews

paronomaniac's review

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Infidelity

rubyl28's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, and Grief

bella_cavicchi's review

funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I love the Truly Devious series. The books don't always hit the mark, but I don't really mind. Give me teen detectives solving cold cases! Why not! That said, I felt that the murder of the 90s far surpassed the present-day narrative here, and so my one complaint (if big) is that I wanted to spend the whole book in the Nine's company. It may also be my Cambridge/London bias...

A delight to devour all the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Murder, Violence, Death, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, Addiction, and Medical content

guessgreenleaf's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

Moderate: Grief, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Infidelity, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

lenaricharz's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Alcoholism

zimmerlemon's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

4.0

I flew through that! Very fun once you get into it. Super solid murder mystery/spooky fall vibe. I liked the flashes back and forth between current events, past events, witness reports etc., that really added to the vibe. The one thing that really got me

is the stupid David cliffhanger at the end. Idk why this couldn’t be wrapped up and then if there are sequels, deal with that then that. In the space of like 3 pages the book went from a great standalone read to an infuriating cliffhanger situation that really takes away from the conclusion of the mystery imo. So imma try to just erase that bit from my mind lol.

I didn’t know this was from a series so maybe that would change my opinions but I don’t honestly feel very motivated to read the previous books haha

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Blood

callidoralblack's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Death, and Violence

Minor: Suicide, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Murder

marioosa517's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this. It was going to be 4.5 stars, and then the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Infidelity, Blood, Gore, and Cursing

Minor: Torture, Addiction, Excrement, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicide, and Homophobia

theoriginalbookdragon's review

challenging emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Addiction

Minor: Vomit

kenzaett's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.25

Oh wow. This book made me feel so much! Whilst book 4 in the series wasn't my favorite, felt too rushed and obvious - this one, with the setting in London, so many new characters, and a deep exploration into the real personalities of our favorites, was a much better "sleuths abroad" Version than A Box in the Woods (I might be biased though because I, too, studied abroad in England😅)
The mystery was hard to solve, I couldn't get behind it until 80% of the book, which might have just been because we didn't know the characters as well... But I love how they were all fleshed out, had different identifications... I loved how Stevie and Izzy grew together, and I understand why people have been hating David for the past 4 books (I didn't, I just found him very... ambiguous). This book was very emotional. More so than the mystery focused, thrilling, scary triology - there was a current threat and danger, this one just explored an older case and there wasn't much danger posed to the kids. There were many more mature themes, which I liked, as the characters grew up along the readers over the course of the books. And I got annoyed by Stevie. A lot. I understand Janelle. I understand Nate. She still needs a lot of maturity, a lot of growth. She's still processing who she is and who she wants to be, and can't make peace with the idea she has to go to an actual school and not just rely on solving whatever mystery finds her during her adult years. All the other ones have something to their own, rube Goldberg machines whilst having good grades, a book out whilst still applying to 71 colleges, even David, who's doing "as little as possible" and feels inadequate next to Stevie... But she doesn't seem to want to move on from her successes, and that might just inevitably become her downfall. But I don't think there's another book planned to explore that. And that's okay. I feel like Stevie's chapter is over - I thoroughly enjoyed the series over the past few weeks, but I'm okay not continuing, and letting my own imagination run for what happens next. 
I'm not as "trapped in this universe" as I've felt with other triologies, and I definitely find that this is also a good standalone, without having to read everything in order and beforehand. Thank you, Maureen, for this adventure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Alcoholism, and Cursing

Minor: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Outing, Addiction, and Drug abuse