Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

78 reviews

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

Made me cry!!!!
Gideon is crude and funny and brave and kind and a delight. Teenage jock lesbian forced to goth, wears sunglasses about it. 
The plot is So Much (positive) and the Central relationship has pulverised my heart (positive but. OUCH.).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Terminal illness, Body shaming, and Genocide

Minor: Suicide attempt and War

mngwa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

This book took me a while to get into. I knew the writing was good but it didn't click. I got myself to a place where I just sat down and finished it and I'm really happy I did. The ending was so lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Dysphoria, Bullying, Death of parent, Suicide, Confinement, Child death, Grief, Murder, and Body horror

kkirsch118's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

fionamclary's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, and Bullying

Moderate: Murder

main character death

lmaloney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Torture, Murder, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Child death

scifi_rat'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Torture, Cursing, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical content, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, and War

madzie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

 Epic. Muir flawlessly weaves intertwines genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror to create something truly unique. She hits every genre on the head. The plot is well-structured and offers some unique twists and turns. The mystery that runs throughout the book becomes enthralling and pulls you in for every minute. In the end, everything perfectly fits to create a truly epic story perfect for any fantasy lover (or emo). Overall, the worldbuilding is interesting and inventive. Some questions were left unanswered, but they did not distract from the overall enjoyment of the world. 

The characters are fun and quirky, allowing them to jump off the page. All the main characters feel like real people and operate around each other with interesting dynamics that permit the exploration of themes. Particularly, Harrow and Gideon feel like old friends to the reader, and watching them interact is pure gold. I feel like I could follow them anywhere. However, side characters often get lost in the shuffle, even becoming confusingly mixed up due to a lack of development and leading me to care little for their ultimate endings.

However, Muir’s tale is mostly weighed down by some writing choices. Her style is very dense, and while this works alright throughout most of the novel when it comes to action scenes, it is a haul to get through as the sentence structure makes everything else drag behind. 

Muir’s true talent shines through with her use of themes, which are expertly explored. Interestingly, Muir uses queer themes without making queerphobia a part of her novel, offering a perspective I have never seen before but certainly enjoy. Muir allows her characters to be unapologetically (and more importantly without explanation) queer yet flawlessly incorporates themes of queerness throughout the novel, allowing us to use fantasy for its true purpose to explore our world in a removed setting. Further, Muir asks us to question human drive and how our actions result from it. Through Muir’s light-handed writing, readers ponder our interactions with others, religion, control, and emotions, working together to demonstrate how horrifyingly we can treat each other when our insecurities are left unchecked.

In the end, the popularity of this novel is highly understandable. The characters, plot, and themes work together wonderfully with only a few setbacks leaving it shy of five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Death, Body horror, Murder, Chronic illness, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide, Abandonment, and Death of parent

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-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

This book was so much fun and so well written! I had so much fun reading it and devoured it in a couple of weeks, but I was sad when it ended. I’m so glad there are two more books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Suicide, Gore, Bullying, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mleiv's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Bullying and Child death