Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

75 reviews

abbiechron's review against another edition

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

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)

princessfabulous's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Gore

tess_gee's review

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

defunctfridge's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

incredibly written and highly addictive. my biggest belief on mysteries and plot twist is: if your audience cant go back and find the clues you wrote a bad twist. and this book is littered with bread crumbs that you can put together with ivy. if you pay attention you can solve it, which is such a good feeling as a reader to put the pieces together be wrong and rearrange them. the characters are also so well written with such care and depth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Body horror, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gore, Death, Cancer, Abortion, and Blood

Minor: Self harm and Eating disorder

lira_the_recluse's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Decent plot / mystery. Noir with magic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Death

Moderate: Gore, Cancer, Abortion, and Terminal illness

xosirenox's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Abortion, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Death, Alcohol, Gore, Blood, and Grief

librarymouse's review

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

andreac713's review

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Sexual content

tangleroot_eli's review

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Soooo many mixed feelings about this one. I really like magical mysteries. This one clips along at a fairly good pace, and having the investigator be an outsider is a nice take on the genre. 

But I felt so frustrated by the MC (static and underdeveloped), the interview scenes (tortuous), and the ending

Ivy says that turning the killer in won’t be justice, but it also lets them dodge all accountability, and this killer REALLY needs to be held accountable.

I felt very unsatisfied when I reached the end.

I don’t know if Gailey intends to return to Ivy’s world, but I don’t think I’d follow if they do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Abortion, Vomit, Cancer, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, and Infidelity