Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

262 reviews

lunaviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Witty and endearing, this was a good read. However, it was hard to get through the first half until the plot started to pick up about halfway through. It was also kinda hard to keep track of who was who since most of the characters were introduced all at once. I wouldn’t recommend going to the naming guide in the back of the book for help, though, since I spoiled a pretty major thing for myself when I did that. 
Once you get to the end, you’ll be glad to have stuck it out. I got pretty attached to the characters and their relationships.
If you’re looking for a lesbian romance, this is not the book. Yes, I guess, there are technically wlw interactions, but I personally wouldn’t count this as a wlw book, more like a book where the characters happen to be wlw. They could have easily been switched out for any gender and nothing would have changed with the plot so do with that what you will. Not to mention that the romance is… It was more of an interesting relationship dynamic to explore than the typical romance you would expect in modern books. Very enjoyable either way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Suicide, and Death of parent

harrimyers's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

i Love this book. i love it. i love it so so so so so so so much. the ending has devastated me. i am broken. what the fuck what the fuck i anticipated not a single plot point. not one. what the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

Books like this is why there's been a resurgence of the term "weird fiction." Is this book sci fi, fantasy, or horror? Yes and no! Also it's a murder mystery!

I feel like describing this book as "lesbian necromancers in space" is really underselling it. In a galaxy ruled by a God Emperor divided into nine houses of necromancers ruling nine planets, the number of necromancer-followers who ascended into immortality alongside the Emperor have dwindled over the last ten thousand years. The time has come to test the houses to see who can ascend next. Our protagonist Gideon does not give a damn. All she wants to do is escape the Ninth House forever, but Gideon's childhood nemesis and the current heir to the house, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, traps her into acting as her sword and bodyguard for the dangerous trials of the Emperor that are to come. With nine necromancers secluded from the rest of the galaxy in a crumbling ruin of an earlier era, what will they do to attain godhood? Also this is a queer-normative setting and the protagonist is a lesbian that blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. 

It's funny and irreverent most of the time, but Tamsyn Muir also knows how to raise the stakes and presented us with a twisty mystery that made me slap my forehead at the final reveal. Pay close attention to what doesn't add up, because in the end it will! (With just enough mysteries left over to make you want to keep reading the next book.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Takes awhile to get going and there sure are a lot of people to keep track of. But. The last 150 pages had my head spinning and heart racing. Can’t wait to read about the aftermath of that ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Religious bigotry

rbuhrke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

The book is about necromancy in a space empire center on LGBT+ characters but it’s focus is not on romance despite the advertising done by TikTok. However there are romantic elements within the story

one does not bind their soul to another without some kind of love for the other unless you are Ianthe

. It is an intellectual read that covers up the horror story unfolding underneath the language. It was easier to read via audiobook than by book alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

If the ending of the book was spoiled for you don’t panic. The series is worth it to keep going.

Gideon does kill herself at end of the book for Harrow but that is not the end of Gideon Nav’s story. She will come back in the other books. Death isn’t simple when necromancy is involved.

smbd_the_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

Spoiler Warning: Mild suggestions of the direction the book takes; Probably fine to read if you don't mind not going in completely blind?



Can you sue the person who introduced you to this for emotional damages?

This sure was about lesbian necromancers in space.
This actually pulled off a situation where the main character is not the only important person/the only person doing things and driving forward the plot fairly well without resorting to giving most important people a POV*?

Definitely played a lot with what's expected in terms of what the main characters actually have to know (and convey to the reader) to make for an effective story, I think some found that frustrating, but in my opinion you generally get enough hints to figure out what you need to know.

Also has a lot of touches of what I almost want to say is classic (Greek?) tragedy where the characters traits cause their downfall, but I'm not sure if I got my knowledge of tragedies correct. Definitely delicious in a "I appreciate this technique, but stop stabbing me in the heart" way.

If you're using a e-reader and are bad at names I recommend getting yourself quick access to the character list at the front of the book in one way or another because while the author does a great job of fleshing out a ton of characters and juggling them, there's still a lot of characters and some of them occasionally go by titles so a reference is helpful.

Something, something, I'm getting the impression that my reviews continuously lose legibility.


*I have nothing against multiple POVs, but this was definitely a breath of fresh air.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ktkeps's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Genocide

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

meecespieces's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

ekcd_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

One of the first queer lit books I read that wasn’t even remotely queer (in a good way). Being gay was at once core to and irrelevant to the characters and instead of contributing to or juxtaposting the plot it just was. 

One of the few books I’ve read where I had to physically shout HOLY FUCK during it.

Right now I have it a 4.75 and I’m not entirely sure where the deduction comes from. Maybe the gore? Maybe I’ll change the stars later 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail