Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

96 reviews

divine529's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

This book is billed as lesbian necromancers in space, but that's the bare minimum of what this book is about. 

This book follows Gideon the Ninth, an orphan who has been indentured to serve the House of the Ninth, a cultist group of necromancers who are sworn to protect a tomb which holds the Emperor's worst enemy, and ultimately Harrow the Ninth, the leader/queen/head of Ninth House. Harrow and Gideon despise each other, but get thrust together to become a team to serve Ninth House in their quest to become Lyctor and all kinds of political intrigue and chaos ensues. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this coming in and wasn't even sure this was something I would like, but friends convinced me and I'm so glad they did because I thoroughly enjoyed this. If I were to describe this as anything it's basically "And Then There Were None" meets "The Hunger Games". And I understand the comparison to RotE. 

I live and breathe for certain relationship dynamics in this book - Harrow and Gideon at the end is everything and I adore Cam and Pal more than anything (they're my faves). I found all of the characters interesting, even if I didn't like them, the plot took all kinds of interesting twists and turns, a lot I figured out, but some came out of nowhere. The writing was pretty good overall, but at times had some awkward phrasing that pulled me out of the story a bit and some pacing issues. Also PLEASE heed the CW/TW, it's possible I missed some, so look at the general community ones to make sure you're covered before you read because it's full of them at every turn. 

All in all, a solid start to this series and I'm very interested to see what's going to happen next in Harrow! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Toxic friendship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Genocide, War, and Vomit

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Hate crime, Miscarriage, Dementia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War

lisztaffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

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

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.).

---

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

jillian8's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Love love love. Gets even better after you read the second one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Gore, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Child death, and Suicide

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Genocide, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

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

---

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

amsswim'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is the first fantasy I have read in a decent amount of time, and I think it was a good step back in. Reminded me of all the reasons I used to love fantasy; magic, ancient worlds, sword fighting, etc. I thought the story in this was very interesting and kept me interested the whole time, but I find myself unsure if I want to continue the series. 

I have a weird relationship with multi-book series, regarding if the story of a book is self contained with individual books in the series. I tend to like every book to a have a fully contained plot which, without spoilers, this book does very well. Maybe I'll try #2, unsure as of now. 

My main complaints would be around dialog, which felt silly sometimes, and side character development, which was really good some spots but lacking in other areas. Generally though it was a good read and has motivated me to actually read all the Brandon Sanderson books my partner has!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death of parent, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Violence, Death, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Medical content

lucaeartz's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

I’ve read a lot of fantasy in my lifetime, and this series easily knocks most of my previous favorites out of the water. It’s complex, and dark, but still sarcastic and humorous. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Mental illness, Genocide, Gore, and Blood

sourkiwi'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? Yes

4.75

I AM SO HEARTBROKEN AND SO INTRIGUED AT THE SAME TIME. this is EXACTLY the shit i’ve been wanting, inject this into my VEINS

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Suicide

thorn_sparrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Genocide and Cancer