Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

150 reviews

feelingfrazzled's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Murder, Body horror, and Gore

i swear those content warnings are INTENSE but also,,, super not,,,, but also….!

tigerproofrock's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

2.5

This book is not what I expected. By leaps and bounds it’s main strength is the narrator’s hilarious, irreverent tone. The plot itself couldn’t be less interesting to me. I kept expecting I was going to stop reading it, but finished it solely to keep hearing the protagonist talk shit about everyone (including, and especially, herself). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Abandonment

booking_along's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

If my heart had a dick you would kick it.

Gideon was one of the best characters to read about. She’s one of those characters that are just a joy to read. 
even though with Gideon, it’s a bit strange to say that, not only on regards of the story itself, but also her character which is just not a joyful character at all. 

She’s a snarky ball of sarcasm, deadly and stab happy and would fight a blanket if it looked at her either too long or in a funny way.

But at the same time she’s incredibly caring and loving, friendly and buried deep under all that quick snark she clearly likes people. 

so i just enjoyed her and how the story was told with her voice. 

the plot itself was good. 
honestly it was very chaotic and for 99% of the book it feels like nobody including the author actually knew where it was going and if anything will ever make sense or if there even is an explanation to everything. 
and for a lot of things there are never real and logical explanations given. 


the murder mysteries and strange puzzles and what it all means are interesting, but  i am not sure if i enjoyed it or was just happy once the story finally got over those sections and moved on to trying to short through what’s going on overall. 

also the constant thing of nobody being and doing what they were or said to be… it was a lot. 

and at the end… there kinda is one that makes some resemblance of sense, so there is that i guess? 
what i mean by that it is that there are some resemblance of tries given to explain what’s happening through this book ins own ways. but even those are chaotic and leave a lot more question then answers are given. 
also the end is a lot of action to the point where i just wanted it to come to an end somehow because i was getting bored with the kind of fights given. 


honestly this story is build on the characters and the writing style itself and less on the actual plot and/or logic or really any kind of connectable sense. 


the actual ending ending of this book through? 
i am not sure if i want throw something, cry, rip the book or either reread it right away or go on to the next one or never touch this series again. 

i am frustrated and sad and the same amounts of disbelief and shock that the author actual did that.

which to be fair is just part of the entire range of emotions i went through while reading the book. 


i enjoyed this book. a lot. 
but i also kind of hate it? 
which is interesting. not sure i ever raged loved a book before? wasn’t even aware sich a thing could happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Cancer, and Chronic illness

ritte_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Creative worldbuilding and solid plot once it gets rolling (which took a while, but it was worth hanging on!). The action scenes were exciting.  Gideon is likeable enough, but I really, really enjoyed the character that turned out to be the antagonist the most.

Critique:
Personally, I wasn't too fond of the narrator voice, too snarky for my taste and keeping track of all the characters and titles might have been easier if their given names were used more frequently to describe them.

As for the mystery, the stakes weren't too clear (how final is death in a necromancy setting? What was everyone's goals exactly?) so as a reader you were left guessing about a lot more than just the whodunit. I'm guessing navigating the pages will be easier in the sequel, now that the groundwork of the setting has been established.

I'm not sure yet what to make of the other main character, Harrow, but I'm sure I'll find out in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

ljausten05's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Colonisation, War, Abandonment, and Confinement

hannahsmanyhobbies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I’m confused in the best way, and it’s pretty much exactly what I thought it would be. And I don’t do zombies but that’s basically what this is and somehow it’s working for me. Picking up the second book literally tomorrow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Bullying, Death, Grief, Murder, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Terminal illness, Gore, Body horror, Death, Blood, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Cannibalism, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Confinement, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

eeriekeri'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The mysterious air of the book is fun. The relationship between Gideon and Harrow feels a little fast and forced, moving from "hate" to "love" with a speed that sometimes feels genuine and sometimes feels toxic. My main complaint is that nobody gets their kisses in in the entire book. Boo. Also, very grumpy that we don't get to enjoy the Gideon/Harrow stevonnie perspective for very long.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Suicide, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Genocide

qraveline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Slavery, and Gore

Minor: Physical abuse, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and Emotional abuse

taylorbarks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I devoured this book in a view days. Remarkably unique setting straddling both fantasy and sci-fi. The make-or-break feature for most will be the prose, which one will either love or hate. It vascillates between the verbose and descriptive to the terse and laconic, often creative, often comedic. I enjoyed it greatly. I can see how others might not. Either way, Tamsyn Muir has a unique and striking voice.
One of my favorite reads this year. Thoroughly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Death, Grief, Medical content, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Vomit, Cancer, Child death, and War