Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

45 reviews

saestrah's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm usually on the side of 'don't put memes in literature' on the basis that memes get outdated very quickly and are hard to contextualise for readers unfamiliar with the memes. In Gideon the Ninth the narrative got away with it very well, as they were more like easter eggs that are easily glossed over. In Harrow the Ninth the memes are a little more.... 'obvious'? If you recognise the meme then it's funny, but for anyone unfamiliar with it, it would be hard to understand what it meant and why the character said it.

The POV change to second person is as jarring as it is compelling, and it's justified with the plot as well as making the world-building and unfolding mysteries all the more immersive. As confused as I was for the majority of the book, everything pulls together in the last quarter as mysteries were finally explained and the strings throughout this book and Gideon the Ninth started to come together. Harrow's narration is incredibly unreliable, and it reflects Muir’s ability to create such distinctive characters and their voices.

Despite the narrative differences, Harrow the Ninth still stays true to the rest of the Locked Tomb series, with internet meme references and sword fights, but also textually explores themes of grief, guilt, and trauma, and the intersection between the three. It’s certainly an ambitious sequel, and tests the reader’s patience at times, but it was impressively executed and guarantees several re-reads to fill the time before Alecto the Ninth is released.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

oraclebykittie's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

i am going to explode

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Body horror, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Child death

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Genocide

Minor: Child death and Kidnapping

lotus's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Medical trauma, and Vomit

toopunkrockforshul's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What an amazing book. I enjoyed the first in the series but this book was fantastic from beginning to end and honestly made the first book more amazing in retrospect. So excited for the 3rd book when it comes out, this world is so intriguing and I just want to know everything about it. It's really a story and world you can dig you teeth into and get lost in, and manages to mix fantasy and magic with scifi in a unique and compelling way. Definitely will be rereading 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

This book deals with a lot of dark themes and death and body horror, due to the nature of its focus on necromancy. Lots of complicated and possibly manipulative and toxic relationships