Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

50 reviews

thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense 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

For a book about magical books, I found this so unique while still grounded in some sense of stories that I’ve heard before. 
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alexgo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

This book starts off slow, but don’t let that stop you. I tore through the last half the fastest I’ve ever read. Some of my favorite parts are the flaws in characters’ logic and failures to recognize patterns that frustrated me, reminding me that the reader sees more than any individual character can. This book is an excellent mystery, and includes rosebuds of romance without sidelining the plot or causing a toothache, including a very realistic queer tirade. The world building in pieces and parts from different perspectives causes the start to seem slow, but many details of the build up get a later callback. I was especially taken by the descriptions of how spells physically impact the body of the reader, the writer, and the spelled. An absolute delight I will gladly recommend to all of my fantasy lovers.
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clairelisebella's review against another edition

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

3.0

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seasidedaisy's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

The first novel I read after a long time, I became really intrigued at the middle of the book. The beginning was rather slow but when the plot starts to roll it was hard to put the book down. I already predicted some of the twists but still sat there in awe at how beautifully every question got answered in the end. 
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jenhfultz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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cozy_tea_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

This book took a little while to get going, but once it did I was super into it! The premise and plotting were super original and fascinating, and I loved the main characters. I also thought that Torzs’ use of multiple perspectives to push the plot along was expertly done. Some crazy plot twists in this one that i really liked. I was worried that the introduction of a romance would annoy me, but I think it was just minimal enough to introduce a good thing for the characters. Overall, a great exploration of power and who holds it, and of making your own path of the one set out for you isn’t suiting. 
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luunacy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this story and would love to read more about th magical communities around the world if there was a sequel.
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abicaro17's review against another edition

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

4.75

The pacing was so slow at times but otherwise this is a terrific fantasy novel about love, friendship, and found family. Esther and Johanna are half sisters that have been separated for years. They're from a family of magical librarians that protect spell books. When Esther is attacked at the compound in Antartica she works at, she flees to escape her attackers. At the Library in Europe, Nicholas a Scribe and his hired bodyguard Collins discover family secrets that could be killer. This book weaves the world building so effectively into the characters and their motives. Its both very YA feeling and also insanely gory and dark but very well balanced. 
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ethuiliel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

Love the characters, love the relationships (especially familial, but also friendship, romance, employer/employee, and more) between the characters and how they develop. The worldbuilding is fascinating as well. And the plot is... I'm not sure how to describe it. It slowly unfolds, I couldn't predict until near the end what the final climax would involve (unlike some books where the goal is clear just way of approaching it and whether the goal succeeds in the way the character intended are what are surprising). However, none of the several twists and turns hit me out of the blue, there were little hints throughout so I gradually saw things unfold.
The ending does leave me wanting more, but not in a "wait that's it?" sort of way. In some ways it's open ended about the future, but the arc of the story is resolved. I would love to see what happens next to these characters and this setting, but also the pieces that are open ended are fun to speculate on, not leaving me unsatisfied.
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