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nefariousbee'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: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Vomit, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Cancer, Cursing, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Emotional abuse
lisztaffe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Cancer, Gore, and Suicide
Minor: Infertility, Child death, and Genocide
immovabletype'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence
Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, and Child death
Minor: War
hayleyvem'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
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Chronic illness, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Body horror, Cancer, and Child abuse
Moderate: War
Minor: Infertility
blacksphinx'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
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.)
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Gore, Death, Murder, Chronic illness, and Cursing
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Toxic friendship, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, War, Infertility, Alcohol, and Colonisation
rbuhrke'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
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Child death, Blood, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Slavery, Medical content, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Incest, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Infertility
If the ending of the book was spoiled for you don’t panic. The series is worth it to keep going.wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I went into this book knowing almost nothing beyond the tag line of Lesbian Necromancers in Space and that it was genre-bending for sci-fi and fantasy. That was enough to sell me on reading it, even though I heard mixed things.
Did it deliver on those premises? Mostly. There are characters that identified as women and showed attraction/flirted with others that also identified as women, some of those characters were also necromancers. With regards to being in space, there is very limited space shuttle travel, so I don't know that I would really quantify it that way, though there is ample room for that to change for the future in the series.
This book was indeed a crossover between sci-fi and fantasy in that it involved a technologically advanced civilization (space travel, and such) but with the deep roots of necromancy that almost took it into dark academia territory. The necromancers are all obsessed in learning new theorems/spells and figuring out things in their specializations, and there are also trials they have to pass and mysteries to solve before they can advance.
There's a lot of tension because it is a competition and you don't really begin to understand the stakes until Act II and then the full whammy hits you near the end.
Also, I feel like I have a conspiracy theory based on the epilogue/info peppered throughout the book so click for spoilers, I guess:
Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cancer, Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Terminal illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Child death, Stalking, and War
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Murder, and Suicide
Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, and Infertility
lajoy'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
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Infertility
carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Death, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Terminal illness and Cancer
Minor: Body horror and Infertility