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purplepenning's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Pregnancy
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
5.0
Why don’t you just stab a dagger through my heart Tamsyn Muir
Reread April 2024.
——————
Where do I even start to review this absolute masterpiece of a second novel? It has taken me an embarrassing amount of time to pick up Harrow and I’ll fully admit it’s because I wasn’t quite as in love with Gideon the Ninth as I expected to be. But I saw this book in the library and thought what the hell, it’s time. And what a fucking idiot I’ve been when I could have made this book my entire personality OVER A YEAR AGO if I’d only read it then.
This book is a master class in point of view, plot structure, horror as comedy, the exceptional use of gothic genre, and divinity. I’d like to discuss each of these in turn.
Point of view
I think second person POV gets a real bad rep in the book community but I am a big fan of it, it’s one of my favourite tools Muir used in this book. I think this showed the same expertise that Jemisin showed in her use of second-person POV in the The Broken Earth trilogy. This tense creates such an element of mystery and omnipotence and horror - it is a POV for horror and it is used expertly in Harrow.
Structure
I know lots of people found Harrow’s structure confusing, but somehow I actually found this one less confusing than Gideon. Maybe because of my love of books with timelines that jump around and you kind of just accept not knowing what’s going on and go along for the ride?? But I loved not knowing what the fuck was happening, loved the timeline structure that gave us past and future Harrrow, I thought it allowed us a much deeper sense of who Harrow was and a much closer connection to her which made the events of the book so much more horrific for the reader and so much more unbearable in their grief.
Horror as comedy
Have I ever read a funnier book? I definitely can’t quite remember ever laughing at one quite so much as this. Page after page, I just could not stop laughing. The soup scene absolutely undid me, and I want it to get the love it deserves as peak humour and utter genius.
Gothic
Where do I even begin? This entire book is a masterclass in the idea of gothic genre as haunting; Harrow as haunted by past, by trauma, by loss, by the genocide of her conception, by grief. It it fantastic, and it is so deeply traumatic to read, I never wanted to stop and yet it also felt like I was being repeatedly punched in the chest, and then I read the author's note and it made sense. Muir gets Harrow because Muir has lived Harrow.
Divinity
The twist to such has intimate relationship with, and worship of, divinity in Harrow was an interesting choice but one which I loved because I am of course always obsessed with the portrayal of religion in SFF. I am deeply looking forward to delving closer into divinity on reread as I feel this will be an area that so much more is noticed on reread. But all I can say is I loved the fatherly vibes, I loved the subtle darkness below the surface, I loved the relationships God had with each of his companions and how that manipulated the relationships they had with each other, I loved loved loved it.
This book is a masterpiece of gothic science fantasy, it will emotionally haunt me as Harrow is haunted by a 10,000 year old corpse.
Content warnings: hallucinations, depictions of severe mental health crisis, grief, mass child death, genocide, graphic blood and gore, war, body horror, vomit, self-harm (for magic), graphic descriptions of corpses, murder, necrophilia, sex, death of parent, death of loved one, suicide, physical abuse, emotional abuse, amputation
----
Finished it with 3 minutes left of sapphic September to spare!! A MASTERPIECE. Full review incoming after I sleep.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
emilyplun's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual content
hidemybook's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cannibalism
jayecard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
cattails's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Infertility
jkpiowa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book picks up immediately after Gideon and is not remotely a standalone story. The story is intentionally left obscure and confusing until the ending, where it is revealed this obscurity is a piece of the plot. The ending is a cliffhanger, though I don't know if it's a cliffhanger that will be picked up in Nona the Ninth, or if it's just a cliffhanger ending to Harrow's story.
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and War
Minor: Emotional abuse and Sexual content
lolajh's review against another edition
- 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
On top of this, Harrow has to deal with her strange memories, and assassination attempts
“My soul is under seige, and I overwrote my real memories with a ghost-filled pocket dimension, which has not apparently been co-opted by some kind of poltergeist.”
It had bewildered her, back at Canaan House, how the whole of her always seemed to come back to Gideon. For one brief and beautiful space of time, she had welcomed it: that microcosm of eternity between forgiveness and the slow, uncomprehending agony of the fall. Gideon rolling up her shirt sleeves. Gideon dappled in shadow, breaking promises. One idiot with a sword and an asymmetrical smile had proved to be Harrow’s end: her apocalypse swifter than the death of the Emperor and the sun with him.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
pbarrett5275's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and War
cal_the_queer's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy