Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Magic for Liars

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

93 reviews

lycheeteareads's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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jasperw's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I have to give it such a high rating for the ending of the acknowledgments alone:

"To those versions of me, who were growing and searching and scared and brave: Thank you."

This line really sums up what I love about this book, and what (now in reflection) I can appreciate as having been there from the beginning: Ivy is a troubled person, just like we all are. She is trying her best to navigate the world around her, while she has deep scars that she carries. She has issues and she's trying to protect herself in a destructive way. She's a relatable main character, and she tells you these issues from the get go. Her character and the development is one of the big reasons I love this book. Maybe it's the timing, what's going on in my own life, but I truly think so many people can relate to Ivy.

The magic system and the mystery element were interesting. I did find that the investigating part dragged a little in the middle, and there were a couple elements not fully explored

the whole Prophecy element was explained some, but mostly left as "this thing is here", especially in the end.

but I was really okay with that! I think people should just know going into it that if you're there for the mystery and magic exclusively, you may not be satisfied. The characters and the growth is a big element of the story.

I LOVED the ending. It's what really sold me on rating this book so highly. It was perfect.

I loved how it was ambiguous and it showed that we can continue to make different decisions. We can continue change how we interact with the world. We can always make the change to start letting people in.

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petrimagyk's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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fraeyalise's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

I didn't like this book.

It is well written, and the characters feel like real people. The world feels like it's real. The mystery is compelling.

However, it felt me feeling very gross at the end, like I need to take a shower.

I'm glad Ivy realized literally in the last few pages that she didn't want anything to do with her evil sister and realized she's the problem, and I'm glad she went back to Rahul to try and give herself another chance to be vulnerable. But I hated the plot of the teen pregnancy, and what her sister did was vile, and not something I was ready to read about after having a baby myself. If I knew there was an explicit abortion scene (even if it was "magical") and further trauma for the teen who had one without any anesthesia I would have taken this off my to-read list.

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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

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alexdahl's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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aweso10's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

the vibe was immaculate- california noir meets harry potter. i’m a real simp for magical realism. but the end left me a little unsatisfied and felt kind of rushed- like something was missing? overall i really enjoyed it but was just missing that little ~something~ to wrap everything up.

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arthur_ant18's review

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dark mysterious 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

3.25

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joepyeweed's review against another edition

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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

1.5

Like if Aunt Petunia became a detective and then had to solve a mystery. Except she doesn’t really care about the mystery and has a drinking problem. The main character was too self-absorbed, and the mystery wasn’t enough of a focus. The ending of the mystery was unexpected though.

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philomathean's review

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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