Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Magic for Liars

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

47 reviews

heather_lt's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

Magic For Liars is a gritty P.I. story with a magical twist. The main character is taken out of her ordinary, non-magic life when she agrees to investigate a grisly murder. The crime was committed in a school for the magically gifted where the students seem vicious and the teachers seem so unconcerned.

There were a couple of little mysteries thrown into the big whodunit plotline. None which you couldn't piece together yourself. Which is fine because this story was so much more than a murder mystery. The author takes a good, hard look about the things that could have been - the ifs, buts, and maybes. Things we all dwell on and can sympathise with. It also zeroes in on fractured relationships, and the dangerous things people do for the ones they love. And I really enjoyed getting to know the P.I. and her complexities.

I've read so much from Sarah Gailey now and have enjoyed all of her stories. She has such an easy writing style that flows and keeps me reading. Looking forward to reading more from her.

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emily's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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mjwhitlock18's review

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A murder mystery in a magic high school (the students do predictably teenage bullshit with their abilities) and the MC, Ivy, is a non-magic PI (whose sister is faculty there), and is brought in to solve the case. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Xe Sands, and their performance absolutely improved my experience of this book.

I like getting to experience Ivy’s emotions with her, her insecurity, her grief, her relationship with her sister. Has a few common tropes, some used in a clever way, and some flipped completely around, which makes this book easy to follow and keeps you entertained.

The magic system is a bit lazy; because Ivy doesn’t understand the magic system, neither do we, which allows some hand-wavy stuff by the author that occasionally leaves me wanting to understand more. The identity of the murderer is kinda predictable, and the romantic subplot seems unnecessary. Also,

I think it’s worth pointing out that the primary lesbian relationship ends up being the murdered and the murderer, which I don’t love. Kill Your Gays and all that.

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melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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 murder mystery/ dark academia! I was very into the plot and trying to make predictions--some of which came true, but not all. I liked the way it all panned out, and I liked the relationships and the main character!

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foreverinastory's review

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mysterious reflective 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

4.0

This was a fun murder mystery!

Rep: white female MC (I think Ivy is queer but I'm uncertain), BIPOC bisexual male love interest, several lesbian female side characters, pansexual female side character, BIPOC female side character.

CWs: Body horror, abortion, cancer, gore, blood, death, murder, medical trauma, medical content, grief, past death of parent, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, terminal illness, bullying, emotional abuse, violence, mentions of past pregnancy that was terminated, vomit, gaslighting, toxic friendship, injury/injury detail, sexual content. Moderate: eating disorder and mention of weight checks, cursing, mention of past adult/minor relationship, panic attack, suicide, sexual harassment.

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arynapril's review against another edition

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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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. I loved the strong prose and unique imagery that pushed into my brain. I'm going to be thinking about this book for a while.

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enchantressreads's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

Ivy Gamble is a private detective, following cheating spouses and people who owe money. When a mage shows up asking for her help with a murder, she has to delve into a new world—the world her sister was born into. The world she’s resented her sister over.

Sarah Gailey has a certain way of writing that just *gets* me. The way they write just sucks me in from page one, on all three of their books I’ve read so far. If anyone knows how to write a good opener, it’s Sarah Gailey.

Magic for Liars seems, on the outside, a murder mystery. But it is so much more than that. It deals with grief, trauma, relationships, love. Tough decisions for both teenagers and adults. It was really nice to see a world in which adults don’t treat the kids as useless, and the adults themselves are not useless.

The .5 reduction is because I wasn’t a big fan of the relationship with Rahul. The story would have flowed well without it. Otherwise, I really loved it.

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lily1304's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

I got so invested in this story so fast! Ivy is a funny and sympathetic narrator, and the mystery was juuuuust the right level of difficulty. I couldn't figure it all out on my own, but I might have if I had taken notes. But it's not just a mystery, it also gave me feelings??

Yeah, it takes place at a boarding school for magical teens, but it's definitely not Harry Potter.

I would have rated it higher, except I feel like it has low reread-value - but the first read was SO fun!!

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