Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

38 reviews

rubyl28's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0


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bella_cavicchi's review

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

3.0

I love the Truly Devious series. The books don't always hit the mark, but I don't really mind. Give me teen detectives solving cold cases! Why not! That said, I felt that the murder of the 90s far surpassed the present-day narrative here, and so my one complaint (if big) is that I wanted to spend the whole book in the Nine's company. It may also be my Cambridge/London bias...

A delight to devour all the same.

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tanvi45's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-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

2.0


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agiraffereads's review

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Okay, so I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this. But I'm gonna say it anyway because this is my opinion on the book.

I liked the general idea, the mystery is intriguing.
But I was so annoyed with the details. This is supposed to be a young adult book, but the main people being investigated by the MC, which are the nine liars, are all sleeping around with everyone in their group, which the book clearly states. Also there are multiple gay/lesbian couples, no hate on that in general, just it gets quite a bit of attention (yes I knew there was one lesbian couple from the main series) and then at some point one of the other side characters has this whole talk with the MC that he is asexual and is like explaining it, etc. I just hate that it has to take up so much of the story that the mystery is just on the background. This is a young adult book for petesake. Idk in my opinion a ya book does not need this much attention on stuff like that. It felt like propaganda for the lgtbq+ community and not like the mystery book it claims to be. Hate me all you like for being honest but I was excited for the mystery, and it did not deliver.

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bookishlysophie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

The clues in this book have a subtly and I love how it all connects in the end. An incredible standalone case in a solid series and something I’ll keep coming back to reading. I’d highly recommend.

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callidoralblack's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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marioosa517's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this. It was going to be 4.5 stars, and then the ending.

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theoriginalbookdragon's review

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challenging emotional funny 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

2.25


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kenzaett's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective tense 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

4.25

Oh wow. This book made me feel so much! Whilst book 4 in the series wasn't my favorite, felt too rushed and obvious - this one, with the setting in London, so many new characters, and a deep exploration into the real personalities of our favorites, was a much better "sleuths abroad" Version than A Box in the Woods (I might be biased though because I, too, studied abroad in England😅)
The mystery was hard to solve, I couldn't get behind it until 80% of the book, which might have just been because we didn't know the characters as well... But I love how they were all fleshed out, had different identifications... I loved how Stevie and Izzy grew together, and I understand why people have been hating David for the past 4 books (I didn't, I just found him very... ambiguous). This book was very emotional. More so than the mystery focused, thrilling, scary triology - there was a current threat and danger, this one just explored an older case and there wasn't much danger posed to the kids. There were many more mature themes, which I liked, as the characters grew up along the readers over the course of the books. And I got annoyed by Stevie. A lot. I understand Janelle. I understand Nate. She still needs a lot of maturity, a lot of growth. She's still processing who she is and who she wants to be, and can't make peace with the idea she has to go to an actual school and not just rely on solving whatever mystery finds her during her adult years. All the other ones have something to their own, rube Goldberg machines whilst having good grades, a book out whilst still applying to 71 colleges, even David, who's doing "as little as possible" and feels inadequate next to Stevie... But she doesn't seem to want to move on from her successes, and that might just inevitably become her downfall. But I don't think there's another book planned to explore that. And that's okay. I feel like Stevie's chapter is over - I thoroughly enjoyed the series over the past few weeks, but I'm okay not continuing, and letting my own imagination run for what happens next. 
I'm not as "trapped in this universe" as I've felt with other triologies, and I definitely find that this is also a good standalone, without having to read everything in order and beforehand. Thank you, Maureen, for this adventure.

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puddleshoes's review

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dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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