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beandream's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
Confused for about 90% of the book but Muir's writing transports you to a whole other universe. I had a hard time putting it down it was that good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
arobear's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
Wow, what a trip! Started out slow, but I loved how the narrative was crafted and everything was revealed bit by bit. There's still a TON of questions I have, but I'm hoping they're answered in the next two books.
I love Harrow - she needs to be protected at all costs even though she is a badass! I have so many feelings (confused? yes; but good confused??) and I've been so torn up over comparing Harrow/Gideon to Orpheus/Eurydice because Harrow can't acknowledge her at all and Gideon thinks that means she doesn't like her.... but she literally CAN'T without killing her soul1! sdflskjdflsjfdls
I thought my heart would be healed, but it is sadly still in disarray.
What I was NOT expecting: BONE SOUP, liking Ortus by the end, or liking Ianthe, let alone thinking she's sexy... And God's dad jokes. So many dad jokes.
I thought my heart would be healed, but it is sadly still in disarray.
What I was NOT expecting: BONE SOUP, liking Ortus by the end, or liking Ianthe, let alone thinking she's sexy... And God's dad jokes. So many dad jokes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Alcohol and War
Minor: Child death and Self harm
elizmoe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tamsyn Muir, meet me in the pit. So I can give you a <i>hug</i>. And then sue you for emotional damages.
i'm screaming, i'm crying, i'm throwing up even more than harrow in the first 5 chapters of this book. gideon and harrow have forever altered my brain chemistry. i understand that these books are perhaps not for everyone, but they are definitely for <i>me</i>; every reality-bending, viscerally disgusting, brow-furrowing-inducing moment of this stupid lesbian necromancer and her stupider lesbian cavalier were for me, and i am wretchedly grateful.
too early to say for sure, but this book may have ruined me for other books? we'll see, but i have a bad feeling that anything else i will read that contains any of the following:
necromancy
swordplay
space
nonlinear storytelling
unreliable narrator(s)
enemy lesbians
will just leave me wondering why that book can't be her*.
*the locked tomb series
also the payoff of this book is CRAZY. if you are like 20% through and not seeing the vision and considering DNF, i urge you to carry on even if the 500 pages feel daunting. you won't believe your eyes when shit starts coming together, because so many pieces do. even pieces that don't, i am confident will be explained in the next two books, as there were many many setups from book 1 that made for some incredible reveals in this book.
i have so much more to say about this book but most of it is yelling. even the occasional ill-advised meme inserts couldn't mar this book for me! and that's pretty insane!!
i'm screaming, i'm crying, i'm throwing up even more than harrow in the first 5 chapters of this book. gideon and harrow have forever altered my brain chemistry. i understand that these books are perhaps not for everyone, but they are definitely for <i>me</i>; every reality-bending, viscerally disgusting, brow-furrowing-inducing moment of this stupid lesbian necromancer and her stupider lesbian cavalier were for me, and i am wretchedly grateful.
too early to say for sure, but this book may have ruined me for other books? we'll see, but i have a bad feeling that anything else i will read that contains any of the following:
necromancy
swordplay
space
nonlinear storytelling
unreliable narrator(s)
enemy lesbians
will just leave me wondering why that book can't be her*.
*the locked tomb series
also the payoff of this book is CRAZY. if you are like 20% through and not seeing the vision and considering DNF, i urge you to carry on even if the 500 pages feel daunting. you won't believe your eyes when shit starts coming together, because so many pieces do. even pieces that don't, i am confident will be explained in the next two books, as there were many many setups from book 1 that made for some incredible reveals in this book.
i have so much more to say about this book but most of it is yelling. even the occasional ill-advised meme inserts couldn't mar this book for me! and that's pretty insane!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
alexijai98's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
5.0
Two months into 2023 and I have definitely found one of my favorite books of this year. I wasn’t super ecstatic about the second person POV, but this book is so well-written and interesting that I didn’t mind it at all - I actually enjoyed it!
This book is filled with twists I truly never expected, hilarious dialogue and narration, and unique and interesting concepts. I read almost a hundred pages every time I sat down to read this, and found myself dreaming of the Nine Houses.
P.S. Camilla Hect means everything to me.
This book is filled with twists I truly never expected, hilarious dialogue and narration, and unique and interesting concepts. I read almost a hundred pages every time I sat down to read this, and found myself dreaming of the Nine Houses.
P.S.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Medical content and Colonisation
rlgreen91's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
A few days later and I'm still not sure what to think of the wild ride that was Harrow the Ninth. Reviewing this is a bit tricky, because there's so many twists and turns I don't want to give away but I also don't see the point in a review with the majority of the text concealed by a spoiler tag.
One thing I can speak relatively freely about is the worldbuilding in Harrow the Ninth , and how superb it is. I loved the reasoning behind one of the antagonists, because it naturally followed the rules and conventions set during Gideon the Ninth so well - it just made so much sense that that would happen as a result of the initial action set 10,000 years ago! I also loved how Muir is gradually expanding the world and universe that all of this takes place in. We started with a very narrow focus on a few characters at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth and have expanded to other generations and the Nine Houses in general(plus factions outside of the Nine Houses) . And it looks like Nona the Ninth is set to keep expanding our universe even more. This approach can throw things off a bit since so far we've learned off these expanded events when our main characters did. At times things might seem random to us because we - the characters and readers - lack the context to understand why something is significant just yet. But overall Muir has laid this out really, really well and I know I'm gushing over this but it takes a lot of skill and effort to do this type of worldbuilding well in a work that slides between fantasy and science fiction and has more than one mystery at the core of its plot.
Just like in Gideon the Ninth and "The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex", there's plenty of gorgeous language in Harrow the Ninth too. A lot of great banter and comedic moments, like someone attempting to explain to Harrow where babies come from, but also a very kind and honest depiction of what it's like to suffer from depression, trauma, and the genuine feeling that you might be insane. Not to mention all of the references, from the ones you only find by lurking Tumblr in the early 2010s to very Biblical/Christian ones that you only come across in advanced Sunday School.
Overall, a fantastic novel - no sophomore slump to be found here. Looking forward to "As Yet Unsent."
One thing I can speak relatively freely about is the worldbuilding in Harrow the Ninth , and how superb it is. I loved the reasoning behind one of the antagonists, because it naturally followed the rules and conventions set during Gideon the Ninth so well - it just made so much sense that that would happen as a result of the initial action set 10,000 years ago! I also loved how Muir is gradually expanding the world and universe that all of this takes place in. We started with a very narrow focus on a few characters at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth and have expanded to other generations and the Nine Houses in general
Just like in Gideon the Ninth and "The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex", there's plenty of gorgeous language in Harrow the Ninth too. A lot of great banter and comedic moments, like someone attempting to explain to Harrow where babies come from, but also a very kind and honest depiction of what it's like to suffer from depression, trauma, and the genuine feeling that you might be insane. Not to mention all of the references, from the ones you only find by lurking Tumblr in the early 2010s to very Biblical/Christian ones that you only come across in advanced Sunday School.
Overall, a fantastic novel - no sophomore slump to be found here. Looking forward to "As Yet Unsent."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
boglord's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
barrybj's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
what. the fuck.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War
fifiisbored's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War
alexpaperandpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book was slow at first then rev’d up in the last 1/3. I couldn’t stop reading in the last 1/3. I had to keep going to figure out what was going on. The 2nd person narrative didn’t bother me once I figured out why it was being used.
Overall, this book make me want to read Nona the Ninth but I’m hesitant because I want to make sure I can get to Alecto ASAP… whenever it comes out!
Overall, this book make me want to read Nona the Ninth but I’m hesitant because I want to make sure I can get to Alecto ASAP… whenever it comes out!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
catboykit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and War