Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

64 reviews

daffodilcherry's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.0

Magic for Liars is a fun, noir inspired mystery set in a magical school. Ivy, a 32 year old private detective, is contracted by her sister Tabitha's school to uncover the murderer of a teacher who died in the library. The school is a typical American highschool, except that it teaches magic to young mages. Ivy doesn't have magic, while her sister is a very talented teacher.

I liked the central mystery, and the cast of characters that surrounded it were well fleshed out and real. The worldbuilding was just deep enough to keep the book moving, which was fine and explainable as Ivy doesn't understand much either. The heart of this story really was the relationship between Tabitha and Ivy rather than solving the mystery at times. I listened to this as an audiobook and Xe Sands perfected the world weary private detective vibe. 

Definitely a great read, 4/5 stars since I'm feeling a little fatigue at American highschool stories. Secondary characters were in sapphic relationships, but the main character is very into a (bi) man, which was written sweetly. Specific content warnings will be explained below. 

Wheelhouses: noir detective, snarky and self aware noir detective POV, magic school, highschool through the eyes of an adult, mean girls cliques, chosen one narratives with a twist, sapphic side characters, sister estrangement and reconciliation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abortion, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

A major story arc is about Ivy uncovering a teen pregnancy who then has a magical abortion, which itself is a body horror experience without pain:

involving separating out your body parts into suspension in the air and then plucking the embryo out before reconstituting the person.

abbiechron's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Holy crap this novel was a rollercoaster! The narrator (XE Sands) is an incredible performer and did amazing at adding to the mystery and drama that Sarah Gailey penned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, Body horror, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Vomit, Bullying, and Stalking

sammycakes95's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

There’s some holes in the plot towards the end the book moves Very quickly the ending leaves you asking a lot of questions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abortion, Cancer, and Murder

turrean's review

dark emotional sad medium-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

Gailey is a stellar storyteller. This is the third of her novels I’ve read. The magic system is complex, consistent, and fascinating. I found the ending a bit frustrating. 

The audiobook was FANTASTIC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Pregnancy and Terminal illness

forg3y's review against another edition

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

4.0

way better than I had thought it'd be, interesting and cool ending too. A few too many lip bites at that 2/3rds mark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Abortion, Medical trauma, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit and Blood

It handles the panic attack parts well, with some good ways to cope (and one, impossible-but-wouldn't-it-be-nice way)

tess_gee's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I was a bit caught off guard by how abrupt the ending felt. I still feel like I have a few unanswered questions about the magic systems. Technical questions on my part, sure, but I for one found it a tiny bit distracting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Cancer, Gaslighting, Abortion, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical trauma, Gore, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Toxic friendship, Grief, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Violence, Abandonment, and Miscarriage

acethirtynine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

The overall mystery was interesting, and I liked the way magic was layered onto the "real world" and the impact a magical twin might have on the identity and psyche of the non-magical twin. The wedge it drives between Ivy and Tabitha. At times, the metaphors used felt tedious and a little overwrought. Walking a line between noir style mystery that sometimes tips over into feeling like too much.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

librarymouse's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

This was a rapidly consumable book. Some of the twists and turns were expected, others less so, and Ivy is a fun and engaging narrator. The magic system isn't very clearly defined, but that makes sense, given our narrator is not very familiar with it. I appreciated the way the book ends, in both how the main plot is resolved and how the romance plot is left open - and I like that the cat is named Alphabet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy and Bullying

scripturient's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Abortion, Alcoholism, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness

sn03's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Gore, Alcohol, and Death of parent