Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

8 reviews

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-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: Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual content, Body horror, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Gore, Eating disorder, Infertility, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Confinement, Bullying, Cancer, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Violence, Vomit, and War

Minor: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Animal death, Genocide, and Suicide

iane_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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: Blood, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Violence, Self harm, Stalking, Torture, Body horror, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Genocide, Ableism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Suicide, Cannibalism, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Cancer, Terminal illness, Animal death, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War

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

saucy_bookdragon's review

dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

 This series is deeply unhinged.

Harrow the Ninth is even weirder than its predecessor. Written in second person from Harrow's perspective, the book spends its time having Harrow be absolutely unhinged and difficult to predict (in a good way) and gaslighting you about book one. It continues to mix horror, comedy, space opera, fantasy, and other genres into a unique blend, though this book is a bit less comedic than the first and a little more mysterious.

What makes this series work as well as it does is its use of POV voice. Gideon and Harrow both have such distinct voices that work for their perspective stories. Gideon is much more sarcastic and straight to the point while not straight herself. Gideon will fight you on a moment's notice and make your mom jokes the entire time. Harrow is more calculating, but also unpredictable. She often surprises the reader despite the fact we're in her head, despite the fact that due to the second person narration, we are her. She's dealing with a host of mental health issues such as trauma and psychosis which heavily effects her POV, her mental health isn't great to say the least. Thankfully her mental health issues aren't used in a stigmatized way and aren't used to play into tropes such as the mad woman or whatever the fuck was Joker (2019). Harrow is more so a well rounded character.

I do have some critiques. First off, there are some blind spots in the world building. Two books in and I still don't I quite understand what this world is like, especially just to live in it. We spend so much time with the necromancers and cavaliers and God, I wish we got more time with the normal people who live in this world and how they deal with all this. I also still find the magic system confusing, though it is a bit easier to understand in this book since the POV character is a necromancer. I get the basic principles and powers of it but don't quite understand its limits.

I honestly regret not getting to this book sooner, it's even better than the first one and had me hooked and gasping as I tried to piece together what was happening. The Locked Tomb series is perfect for anyone looking for something a little weird, especially if your branch of weird and branch of humor are the Tumblr variety. There's something very Tumblr-esque about this series. It's difficult to explain but Tamsyn Muir spent many years on the hellsite and it shows.

TWs: psychosis, trauma, mentions of genocide, death of animals, grief, lots of gore especially related around corpses 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death of parent

isleoflinds's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, Animal death, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment and Pregnancy

eleanorcd's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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 cannot recommend The Locked Tomb series enough to fantasy lovers. Muir's writing is exquisite. The series is a breath of fresh air from the male-dominated genre. I was worried that this book wouldn't be as good as Gideon, but it was just as good for different reasons. GtN sort of felt like it was confusing by accident, but HtN was confusing on purpose, which makes all the difference. You see the world through Harrow's eyes and the second-person narration is so immersive.

I laughed because Muir is hilarious, and I cried because the way she writes about grief is so poignant. A story in a post-apocalyptic necromancer universe where the MC lives with God feels more human than anything I've read in a long time. The Locked Tomb has become my new favourite series. I have not loved any fictional world this much since I was a child.

I want everyone to love this book. Read it. Embrace the confusion; scream. Love every moment. Someone hold my hand while we wait for Nona. 

edit: returning just because i want to emphasize how much i love this book. gtn walked so harrow the ninth could run. i loved gideon the ninth but i loved this even more. tasmyn muir has set a VERY high bar for nona. 

ALSO THE PART AT THE END WITH ALL THE AUs AND HARROW NOVA I SIMPLY CANNOT HANDLE THIS

 

harrow wants the d and the d is death

 

soup

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Grief, Body horror, and Animal death

peach_pie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

katie_the_librarian's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-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

I'd give this 10 stars if I could. It needs re-reading and savoring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Animal death