Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

622 reviews

abelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Body horror

lifeinsherds's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

The ONLY reason this doesn't have a full 5 stars for me is because there are a LOT of characters in this book. But Muir has a list at the beginning which character belongs to which house. I absolutely sprinted through the last like 80 pages.

Tamsyn Muir has SUCH a strong voice as Gideon. She is loyal and flawed and weak and strong. UGH. this may be a book I wish I could read for the first time again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Chronic illness

fairyollie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.5

I wish I liked this book more than I did. there is a lot I could say, both good and bad, but I'll try and keep it short and spoiler-free as possible. it was very ambitious, to say the least, as a gothic, sci-fi, fantastical, dystopian, magical, necromantic story.

• Pacing: the pacing was weird and difficult. the plot does not start until about 45-50% through the story, and I found it very difficult to keep reading until then. 
• Humor: there were a LOT of references to memes and very-2016 humor. I was not a fan of this, because abrupt jokes, comments, and references to memes were so out of place for the setting. it also makes it difficult for a book to age well when using humor and jokes from a specific, short-lived time period.
• Characters: I did not particularly care for or find myself rooting, relating to, and enjoying almost any of the characters! their motives, their rationale, their background, were lost or not fully fleshed-out, and certain choices seemed random. just didn't mesh for me.
• Setting: as said above, the first half of the book was slow, and it was not used for world-building or introducing the characters or lore at all. I think more world-building, to better understand who everyone is, what's going on, purpose, lore, how the mecromatic magic system works, anything  - just more of why/what/how, would have really elevated the book more.
• also, this is entirely my bad, as it's literally a book about necromancers, but I don't handle gore very well lol. not a book flaw but a personal skill issue!

I wanted to like this book, and was planning to read this for a very long time, but it just fell short for me. I would recommend this to others, as I know there are many people who would (and do!) enjoy this, but for myself, it was just a difficult, bit juvenile, time. I am happy I finally had the chance to read it, and wish I had enjoyed it more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Death of parent

valerian_honeybee'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: Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Genocide, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Cannibalism

knightreads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Cancer, Vomit, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Confinement, War, and Cannibalism

lilpunkboi's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

One of the most enthralling and creative settings for a sci-fi fantasy series that I've read so far. This world feels like Bloodborne meets Arthurian legend with a smattering of space opera. It's a deeply detailed Gothic drama among the stars, and Gideon Nav is now arguably one of my favorite literary protagonists ever.

It did take me some time to really sink my teeth into the story. I love Muir's writing, but despite considering myself fairly well read, I picked up a litany of new vocabulary I regularly had to stop and consider early on. There's a LARGE cast of characters and political backdrop at work that I had difficulty fully grasping until late in the book, and it made it difficult for me to really get into it at first. I love it all now that I've finished it, but it was definitely challenging to track at first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

insideunder's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Body horror, Terminal illness, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Medical content, Cannibalism, Classism, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Infertility and War

ezzysweeney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Classism, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and War

xtayuya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

Such an easy, fun, read. Even the characters I disliked I loved and even the characters that seemed like background characters I ended up caring about. 

Tamsyn’s prose is elegant, visceral and yet hilarious and I look forward to reading the rest of the series. ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

estigatetes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Violence, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, and War