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possibilityleft's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Stalking, War, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dementia, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
devirtualized's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I feel like I don’t have high enough praise to give this but I will try. This prose is otherworldly. It is a surreal and devastating painting of grief and it is a derisive remark and a dad joke all in one. There really is not a single word that goes to waste.
Harrow is an intriguing & exquisite character, warped by pain and unanswered questions, but still resolute and sincere. She’s sharply clever but also, endearingly, dumb-as-rocks and a little or a lot pathetic because of it. And she’s kind of impossible not to love. Like practically everyone Harrow meets, I too have a strong case of Nonagesimitis.
The character dynamics are unbelievably tantalizing, incomprehensible (complimentary) and endlessly entertaining - and much the same can be said for the plot.
I think I probably have a lot more to say. I have many questions too but I really wouldn’t have it any other way.
Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
Moderate: Gun violence, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Cancer, and Suicide
hedsek's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic friendship, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Cursing
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
There are times where I wish I was capable of reading proper, honest to goodness, paperback books, but seeing as I'm bound to Audiobooks due to my infirmities, all I can say is OUCH.
Tamsyn Muir writes with a sensual love of words, that does not make the content of her prose accessible to most people. To say it plainly - she uses big words, and weird words. a lot. I am well at home in anatomical and psychological textbooks, and literary critique; one of my friends suggested that in conversation with me it would be easiest to carry a notebook to write down all the odd words I use to look up later... and even _I_ needed to read this with a dictionary nearby. It seems quite clear that the author was mauled or possibly traumatically wounded by a feral thesaurus as a child.
I'm sorry, Moira Quirk. Your work on this audio narration was ok, but you fail to catch the Kiwi parlance. It sounds SO weird to hear kiwi idioms in your accent (we don't pronounce a$$ like that) and your attempt at te reo Māori words was wince-inducing. Thankfully that was only one line.
I'm doubling down on my comparison from the first book. This is definitely like an anime. Great chunks of this book feel a bit like watching Neon Genesis: Evangelion. A good proportion of the narrative is in second person perspective, which definitely leans hard into the claustrophobic and unhinged aesthetic. You spend the first half of the book trying to figure out why things in this book don't tally with the happenings in the previous book. That was kind of cool and didn't leave me feeling anywhere near as confused as I thought I would. There were enough breadcrumbs to keep me from feeling too lost in the woods.
Upside of the audiobook was the similarity I was amused by in the fast travel; I was reminded of Douglas Adams's, Hitchhiker's Guide, specifically his description of hyperspace, and the Infinite Improbability drive. "The River" having weird brain melting effects on a backdrop of a woman's voice calling out time-stamps felt so much like HHGTG with Trillian in the Heart of Gold.
Many twists and turns, the reappearance (in various forms) of characters who were bumped off in the last book, the list at the front of the book of the dramatis personae (alive and dead) being actually useful, and a sense that you still don't know quite wtf is going on.. all leads me to think that the third book could go either way in my estimation. I'll have to see what it's like.
Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Blood, Dementia, Dysphoria, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic friendship
Minor: Miscarriage
natdrinkstea's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Child death, Murder, and Genocide
Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
punkrobots's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Mental illness, Gore, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Vomit
Minor: Torture and Drug abuse
purplepenning's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Mental illness
Minor: Pregnancy
thereadinghammock's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Harrow was a most unreliable narrator, by her own admission most of the time, and the hardest part was not knowing why she didn't trust herself, whether for her own protection AND plot device, or just as a plot device. This was also the first time I've read second person POV outside of a romance novel. It took a bit of getting used to, as it often does for me, and because we kept switching in and out of the second and third person narratives.
As I expect from all the Locked Tomb books, Harrow is heavy with world and lore building, but only occasionally felt bogged down by it. I felt myself zoning out a bit in longer Harrow 2nd POV chapters, mostly because Harrow herself is such a pill most of the time and she was a bit draining for me as a reader. But I am dreadfully interested in the massive left turn that Nona is going to take us!
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Dementia
Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, and Gore
Minor: Gaslighting, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Panic attacks/disorders
bfab's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Gore
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Gun violence, Vomit, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship