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cinnamonandpancakes'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
4.75
This is very much a 'first of a trilogy' plot, with an overarching plot laid wide across the end but in such a satisfying way I can't help but adore it.
Cheris and Jedao are tricky characters but they were very compelling all the way through, even when I thought one or both of them were evil!
This is not a book to read for a simple story of good and evil, many awful things are caused by protagonist and antagonist aligned characters, but it is excellently constructed and a joy to watch all the moving parts fall into place.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Minor: Suicide
lbevs's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood
Minor: Genocide, Rape, and Torture
ellisdex'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
4.75
The calendar- and mathematics-based magic system is incredibly cool once you figure out how it works, particularly as the book is from the viewpoint of someone who gets it more than most. The servitors are fantastic. The characters all feel very real within the parameters set by the world. Everyone is human - everyone has a family, hobbies, tiny details about their lives that the book explicitly says is sad to lose in war. Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect with the theming, but it's about the cost of war, whether the ends justify the means, and how governments keep themselves functioning at the expense of their own. It's incredibly interesting and very poignant. Super excited to read the rest of the series.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Detailed description of creepy insect stuff.rorikae's review against another edition
- 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 story centers around disgraced Captain Kel Cheris, who is given the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking a star fortress. To do this, Cheris allies herself with the undead Shuos Jedao, whose ghost is paired with her so that she can hear his voice in her head. As they work to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles, Cheris learns more about Jedao's past and the truth behind what has long made others consider him mad.
Yoon Ya Lee creates an engaging and unique world in 'Ninefox Gambit.' The political machinations that are going on behind the scenes, paired with Cheris' story interweave to create an engaging plot. I think one of the really strong points of the story is how we slowly learn more about Jedao through his memories. Lee slowly peels away at Jedao's madness to learn more about what drove him to do what he has become infamous for.
I would recommend reading this story instead of listening to it as I often found myself confused while listening. The complexity of the world, including a lot of really specific vocabulary, means that you have to pay close attention to follow along with what is happening, especially as we move between Cheris' story and Jedao's past. If you like military science fiction and complex worlds, I highly recommend 'Ninefox Gambit.' I'm interested to see what happens next, especially as we learn more about the world and Jedao.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Suicide
bluelibrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Genocide, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
memoriast'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
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Child death and Rape
annalisaely's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Murder
booksthatburn'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? It's complicated
5.0
My favorite thing in this book is I now get to add “calendrical rot” to my vocabulary, I don’t know how I will use it after this but I’m very glad to have it now. My second favorite thing is the way that behavioral manipulation and mind games are shown in such a subtle and empathetic way. I was so immersed in the MC‘s perspective that while I trusted her as a narrator, my understanding of what was going on was very tied to how much she did or did not figure out about what her shadowy companion was doing, since we never get his perspective. Their conversations are fascinating, the way they jointly and separately have to navigate the MC’s ability to have conversations with other people led to some great moments, and it meant that wow there were times that had pretty straightforward delivery of a lot of information, they only technically fell in the category of info dump because they were things that naturally needed to be explained. Even the little moments where the companion comments on the way something has changed was used artfully so that the reader could care more about what it Is even though the MC needed to learn what it Was.
I’m a big fan of interstitial chapters and the ones here are fantastic examples of world-building and subtle character development. They’re funny and add up to be very informative but the story will still make sense if you don’t pay attention to them. They’re a window into a perspective that’s very different from the MC, and this is used in a combination of explicit and implicit world-building to show literally what someone says about their actions and to demonstrate other ways of thinking about events shown in the main chapters.
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Torture
CW for ableism, panic attacks/disorders, gore, body horror, violence, torture (not depicted), sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, suicide (backstory), murder, child death (backstory), death.badnymph's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood
trazac's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Otherwise well written. Good character dynamic and somewhat compelling theater of war style writing that I just personally cannot find interest in. Character growth somewhat limited and complicated. World is built somewhat well but utterly confusing. For a relatively short book, a ton of information is introduced and never explained. Perhaps that makes the world more true-to-life but it also means many people will walk away with a totally different idea of what happened.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement and Suicidal thoughts