Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

8 reviews

k_aro's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I took the longest to finish Nona the Ninth, not really out of Nona's failings or anything, I just couldn't get into the grove of having a whole bunch of narratives at once at the same time as an entire new cast of characters/new world. I also think it's the book that's easiest for me to tackle in The Locked Tomb series, both having a better grasp of the writing style/world as well as being structured a little more accessibly.

Off the bat, Nona's internal narrative is much more loving and caring than Gideon and Harrow, which is to say I spent so much more of GtN and HtN actively being confused and annoyed by the various characters, where in Nona they're a lot more understandable. NtN really does pull out to look at what the TLT-verse looks like outside of the Houses (and to a certain degree that life outside of them are in fact so fruitful and lively, which is something I just couldn't really imagine previously).

Ianthe is worse than ever, which is a compliment because I love how terrible she is. Muir really excels at the most horrifying relationships, experienced through shreds of narrative. I agree that NtN really feels like a prologue, but frankly a prologue to what I could not say; this seems to be a running TLT joke where each book is just more confusing and more disorienting than the last. Truly, I could not imagine what Alecto will do.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Police brutality, Dysphoria, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, Death, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Self harm, Toxic relationship, War, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Terminal illness

Terminal Illness:

Well, whether Nona's illness is terminal per se is up for interpretation, I guess.

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Terminal illness, Suicide, Confinement, Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cursing, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Genocide, Vomit, Trafficking, and Addiction

Minor: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, and War

atomicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Body horror, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

erebus53's review against another edition

dark 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 audiobook is completely the wrong way to get the most out of this story. Not only does it fall into the fantasy trap of having cool names that look good on paper but that your average narrator can't pronounce well, and the same issue as the previous book in that there are occasional phrases in Māori  that are familiar to a New Zealand audience, but that this narrator struggles with... it also has a sprawling cast and appendices that list these, and that you can't just flip back to in an audio context.

In an improvement(?) from the second book, this third installment does not have more medical terms than your average first year anatomy text book. It is still a little wordsy, but I didn't encounter the word nacreous even once! (despite it being  applicable at one point). As per usual you are, metaphorically, chucked in the deep end and held there until you get used to it. Maybe this time around I was just too tired to take it all in, because I spent quite a bit of time just feeling lost and wondering what was happening.

Most of this book takes part in a semi-domestic dystopia. Surrounded by refugees, and with limited resources, some familiar characters look after Nona, while trying to find out how altered she has become by her own semi-Lyctoral transformation. Nona becomes a teacher aide working at a school for a ragtag gang of kids. There are factions vying for power, and people being executed, and militia on the street as enforcers.. but through the eyes of Nona we aren't privy to the machinations of the State.

I'm sticking with my original feel that this series is quite a bit like the Evangelion anime. Through a series of Nona's dreams (that really seem more real than what is going on for her in her life) we get some more back-story about John, the first necromancer and it all gets pretty trippy. The relationships developed between the characters all begin to feel irrelevant, like everything is falling into a huge pit of nihilism, as everything loses cohesion. There is a travel sequence for which Nona's part or skills seem to have had no lead-up or explanation, and as a result it did not hold tension or deliver a feeling of success at its climax. (yes that could be an analogy.. get out of the gutter :P )

Honestly I don't know if the story put me to sleep or if I am just finally having to succumb after an ongoing pattern of weather related insomnia. I have clearly not invested enough energy or legwork into understanding everything going on. I was excited about one revelation in this entire book, there was a whole lot more "huh?" and "uh, ok" than "oooh riiight!" in this leg of the trilogy, and its conclusion was seriously unsatisfying. Not quite a 3 star for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Murder, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

chellyfishing's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Eating disorder

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

I can’t stop thinking about it. As usual the last quarter of the book is so intense I couldn’t put it down. The world building is so amazing and well written. 10/10

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Eating disorder, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir's third book of four in the Locked Tomb series, is a sudden but welcome shift from the previous two books. Nona is just a nineteen year old relearning how to interact with society with the help of her three parental figures. But it is later discovered that

the three parents are necromancers from the Nine Houses and that Nona herself is piloting the body of someone named Harrowhark Nonagesimus, and the Nine Houses want them back

. An astounding dual point-of-view familiar to readers of Harrow the Ninth and a cast of loveable characters familiar of the same. The explosive ending leaves me wanting more!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Abandonment, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual content, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

The Blood of Eden's attack on necromancers comes with a lot of slur-like terms and bigotry that is reminiscent of (but not a direct copy of) religious bigotry in real life.