Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

29 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.

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

After HtN, Nona's perspective was like eating cotton candy, especially at the start. Oh we're going to school! There's a dog! She wears shirts with silly designs! Then you get Nona's No Good Very Bad Day that starts with getting kidnapped and ends with someone missing and, just like GtN, the plot keeps getting faster as we go along. This one has the purest feelings of grief, for loss and change and now it's all just sitting in my ribs keeping me company. I'll admit I forgot who was who in Blood of Eden except Wake and Suffer, so trying to follow their convos I really felt like Nona, dazed and confused. I am thrilled for Alecto, her rage was so visceral and I need MORE.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Colonisation, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Minor: Alcohol and Fire/Fire injury

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

balina_elah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Police brutality, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, and War

Minor: Bullying, Addiction, and Colonisation

kierank's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

I sobbed like a baby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Suicide, Colonisation, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and War

hayleyvem's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, Grief, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Drug use and Bullying

elizmoe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

i read this book in less than two days even though, i cannot emphasize enough, i had a <i> lot </i> of other things to do. 

tamsyn muir, waht is WRONG WITH you. what is. what is WRONG. IS wrong??? with you??????????

in typical muir fashion, she transitions seamlessly to a new POV character, leaves the reader mostly in the dark, and continually throws crazy world-building stuff that you didn't even know you wanted to know. but you did. <i> really </i> want to know. 

essentially, this book answered many of the questions raised by Harrow the Ninth, but somehow ends up raising about a million more. 

was harrow's soul in alecto's body or did it get transferred to the river, and is it now on earth having a chat with john, or john's abandoned once-human soul?? what's gonna happen to harrow's body? was nona the personification of the earth's spirit or was she alecto or was she alecto AND alecto is the personification of  the earth? also, why is kiriona!gideon such a dick, and why is she friends with ianthe, sorta? who has her two-hander sword?? will tamsyn ever give us a griddlehark reunion that makes a lick of sense? will the next book have even more body/soul/etc swapping, and how is that even possible given the amount of bodily musical chairs was happening in this book? also, pAUL???????????????????????????

all i know for sure is that i am pre-ordering alecto right now and blocking off my calendar for the entire week of the release date.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Child death

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, War, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence