Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

53 reviews

kloughlin's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Abortion, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder and Pedophilia

arksyn's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Grief and Gore

Minor: Cancer

____emily____'s review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Abortion, and Alcohol

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Bullying, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

mjwhitlock18's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cancer, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder

Death of queer character

stacy837's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Abortion, Cursing, Death of parent, and Cancer

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abortion, and Cancer

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, and Bullying

foreverinastory's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Grief, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Cursing

bookcook's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

The premise is interesting but the writing is stuffed to the gills with over reaching metaphors and cliches and boring side plots that go no where. Most people didn't seem to care for the ending but I think that's where the book really shines for me. 

Tabitha being driven by grief and love to do what ultimately leads to the death of their partner really tied everything together for me in a way I found deeply moving.

Most of this book felt like a lot of fluff but when it's all over it does make me think this is an author worth keeping an eye out for, permitting they learn to leave a simile on the cutting room floor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cancer, Grief, and Murder

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

captivating read, well weaved. tore it up in a day.

I wish the ending had been tied up a bit more, tho.

I wanted one more conversation with Rahul.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abortion, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

lily1304's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Terminal illness

Minor: Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Vomit