Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

81 reviews

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

3 ⭐ CW: violence, self-harm, blood and gore, gruesome deaths, necrophilia? 

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is book two in the Locked Tomb series. This book was seriously a let down. The only reason this even got as many stars as it did, is because the action picked up near the end. I think Harrow suffers from second book slump syndrome. 

We follow Harrow after what happened last book, except everything is different and nothing makes sense. I figured there was a reason for the memory differences and jumps back and forth in time, but it was a sluggish story. It just took forever for anything to happen, and when things did happen, they didn't really make sense. Harrow isn't nearly as likable as Gideon. I spent most of the book feeling bad for Harrow. You really need Gideon's brand of humor for this dark and gruesome of a story. 

I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into detail, but things finally start coming together in Act 5 (this is entirely too late in the book for stuff to start making sense), but it threw me through a loop again and it turns out I didn't actually know what was going on. Look, I can appreciate an author playing the long game with the plot,  but so much of what happened was unnecessary or repetitive. It was just too dang long for what actually happened. 

The other problem is that I didn't find any of the other characters interesting or likable. We spend too much time with Harrow brooding and confused, and not enough time with the other Lyctors. The first book had a haunted space mansion and a murder mystery. This book had a 10,000 year long con that didn't make any sense to me, and a murderous dead planet that is trying to kill everyone. 

Still deciding if I want to continue this series. I have been told that Nona the Ninth is much better than this one, but we shall see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, Death, and Self harm

ivan_tw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

While "Gideon" was a fun and funny genre experiment, a sci-fi haunted house murder mystery, "Harrow" takes that basic setting and tweaks pretty much everything about it. It operates, at least at first, as a fun-house mirror version of "Gideon", where everything seems similar but just different enough to make you wonder what's going on. It plays with memory a lot, both for the characters and for you as a reader. And in those experiments, it shows just how strong of a writer Muir really is. I'm looking forward to Book 3.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

caspian_the_pauper's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, and Body horror

hayleyvem's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Genocide, Infertility, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Cancer, and Suicide

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

provo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

I knew before reading this that the plot would not make sense until 2/3 trough, so I was prepared for the confusion.
The finale was something else and bumped my rating from 4 to 5 stars, incredibly satisfying to unwind all the what-the-fuck-is-going-on.
But: check trigger warnings before reading, like there’s a lot of really graphic stuff.
Also maybe not a book anyone should read during an active psychotic episode (this is not a joke).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

livia_jewel's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

msradiosilence's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, War, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

possibilityleft's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Stalking, War, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dementia, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

A wild, confusing, horrifying, wonderful ride. You have to go into this knowing you will not know what the fuck is going on half the time, and even when you figure out what’s going on, there’s still so much we don’t know. 

I love the tone, especially in the second half. The humor and references sprinkled in kill me. “…none House, with left grief.” made me LOL.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual assault

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcohol and War

Minor: Child death and Self harm