Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

180 reviews

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, War, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Medical content, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Violence, and Body horror

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.

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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.

persephonefoxx'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

5.0

Life is too short and love is too long.

I need this series directly injected into my bloodstream. 

Five stars are not enough, I need to rate this series a whole galaxy worth of constellations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Gun violence, War, and Animal death

shottel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

4.5

Muir loves switching up her genres. While Gideon was moderately mystery-focused and Harrow was definitely a mystery novel, the mystery of Nona takes a back seat to how goddamn precious Nona is. Unfortunately, that fact makes an already sad series even sadder. It’s fortunate that Muir’s writing style is hilarious, because otherwise the entire plot of Nona the Ninth would’ve been pretty depressing.

Still, I would say it’s better than Gideon and a mark worse than Harrow - which is to say, it’s very good. I had a harder time following the plot than before, and while Muir makes great strides with diversity in this book, it sometimes comes off a tad awkward (like in the repeated misgendering of a character with they/them pronouns, just for them to correct themselves). But those are pretty small problems compared to the rest of this deeply dark and funny novel. If you liked Gideon and Harrow, I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Mental illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Toxic friendship, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Body shaming, Medical content, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

spookynerd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious slow-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

4.0

I was trying to explain to a friend how when I picked up the first book of this series, I thought, "Necromancers in space? Neat!" And how these books very much ARE that, but how they also shattered every expectation and then constructed those shattered pieces into a whole new framework of storytelling that blows my mind the further I get. 

The pacing got to me a little bit once again. It feels very much like you're slowly trodding through a day by day story, slooooowly unraveling little bits and hints until suddenly everything implodes. Explodes? Both? 

By now I'm getting used to Muir's characters and way of weaving all these intricacies (and that's a happy, familiar "used to," not a bored one). You start the book with, "This is a weird little creature with weird relationship dynamics" and end with an ache in your chest and questions about souls and love. 

And I'm so very intrigued and satisfied with the further depth of history we receive in this book. 

I have a hard time describing it without spoilers and ruining the ride and/or feeling like I'm incoherently rambling, but this series really is something different. Can't wait for Alecto!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

ngrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, and Grief

Minor: Murder, Gun violence, War, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Cursing

whooliio's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Colonisation, and Violence

bluestjuice's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

Oh my goodness. Sometimes a book just crawls inside your consciousness in the best way, you know? This is like that - this isn't the book I was expecting, and I had no idea what was going on through the first third and even less idea through the second third - but godsdamn, I was unquestioningly committed and on board for the entire ride. 

Nona is so, incredibly, real. This is one of Muir's great talents - despite writing a series that is utterly over-the-top space melodrama with gothic elements and skeletons and necromantic flourishes all over everything, they nevertheless create people that feel and act utterly peopley. Many authors can't convincingly write youthful characters even in ordinary circumstances; Muir portrays Nona's uncomprehending childishness in a way that is genuine and feels both true to the experience of the young without being the least bit saccharine. I loved Nona, entirely, and her protagonism resonated with me vigorously despite the twisty, adult, machination-y web of deceit and plotting that surrounded her nearly every step of the way. 

This is the third book in the series, which I have waited for a long time, and which I should clearly have bothered to do a re-read of previous to this because the lore here is deep and the references are layered in as thickly as Griddle's skull makeup back in <i>Gideon the Ninth</i>. On the other hand, having now skidded out the other side (I'm not kidding: I read the last 100 pages in a rare frenzy of <i><b>you don't understand I cannot put this down until I know what happens</b></i>), I have a burning desire to go re-read everything through again, to line up pieces and notice all the many things I'm sure I missed or didn't realize the significance of at the moment they were deployed.

Anyway, I don't even feel qualified to review this really because my emotions are leaking out all over the place and I don't know what to say to explain how enjoyable I find this series and this installment. In all its infuriating circuitous mystery. I can't believe I have to keep waiting to find out what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Body horror, Gun violence, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Mental illness, Dysphoria, War, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

Minor: Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and Child death

lujisa's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Murder

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

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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