Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

80 reviews

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

jessewriting's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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

5.0

Books like this is why there's been a resurgence of the term "weird fiction." Is this book sci fi, fantasy, or horror? Yes and no! Also it's a murder mystery!

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.)

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Content Warnings

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

carrieclothwright's review against another edition

Setup is really grim; none of the characters seem lovable, their main interest is in level of spitefulness; I'm not interested in necromancy; cursing is not out of place given the context but still kinda meh; basically seems really depressing, can't get into it, and don't want to immerse myself in a downer right now. Might try again some other time. 

eta: just went through the list of content warnings and wow, for being less than 10% in that's... a lot.  I think this book just might not be my style. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child death, Confinement, Murder, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

ktkeps'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: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Gore, Grief, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Genocide, Child abuse, and Child death

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Child death, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cannibalism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

wickedgrumpy'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

5.0

At the end of this book I experienced emotional damage and I fully expect it to make me cry again on re-reading in the future.

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:

Okay, so Gideon did not die with all the other children even though she was close to the vents for 10 minutes and her parents were hella scared about that.  In the epilogue, the Emperor says they couldn't retrieve Camilla (who was last seen alive) or Gideon's bodies so what if Harrow has Gideon's soul, but like, the body/vessel is still alive?  And Camilla managed to be resourceful because she definitely is wicked smart and they escaped the First planet...?  Or hid until they left?  I dunno.  Maybe I just don't want Gideon to be dead because her gay panic was so relatable.  And everyone else.  I loved the Fourth teens with their perpetual embarrassment and the Fifth cav Magnus was so sweet...

 

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Content Warnings

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

thewickedbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

This is immediately my favorite book of January, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes my top 10 of the year. I was not expecting the emotional toll and I need to read the sequels immediately. Tamsyn Muir is now an auto-buy author for me.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Torture

Minor: Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, and Medical content

Mass child murder/sacrifice is a major plot device. Two teenagers are murdered in violent ways. Suicide is a major plot device, including parental suicide.

This is a bloody book full of necromantic characters, supported by personal warriors, who have varyingly dubious morals frequently caused by childhood trauma. There is no sexual violence or animal harm, but most other triggers can be found in this story.

huntress's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Slavery, Grief, Genocide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cannibalism