Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

68 reviews

soupqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I disagree with some of the structural/editorial/writing choices of the book. Also it takes too long to get to the point. Still entertaining and I still read it and I am going to read the next one, so. Do with that what you will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Cursing, Gun violence, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

baileythebeagle04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious

5.0

What the fuck did I just read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Murder, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a book you really need to read at least twice to appreciate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, Child death, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder, Infertility, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Cancer, Incest, and Abandonment

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

lunarlibra's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

Love love love. I read through the night so I'm not very coherent rn but as much as I loved GtN, I LOVED HtN!! I plan to reread both before moving on to NtN and will update my review with more coherent thoughts, but one thing: I deeply appreciated the depiction of hallucination and different perceived realities, especially after reading the acknowledgements. Anyway. God what a great book

i love killing(???) God in fiction, even if it doesn't keep

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, War, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Eating disorder, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Racism, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Cancer, Gaslighting, and Child death

trash_candra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

HtN makes the bold choice to not be anything like the previous book and instead use the intricate world building and magic system to spin a truly bizarre mystery with so many open ended questions, as well as multiple whodunnits where the concepts of death and identity are ambiguous at best because of the bizarre engine the world runs on. 

This book is a mystery book and figuring that out is the first mystery. I have never been so utterly confused by a book I've read for fun, yet somehow I managed to stick through the grueling first 30% of the book. Harrow the Ninth managed to give me a sense of rabid fan-theory crafted that is so rare to come across but absolutely thrilling to experience. Whenever I wasn't reading the book I was always thinking about it in the back of my mind.

I think HtN is a must-read for a very specific crowd of people who love mysteries and are okay going extended periods of time not knowing what's happening and struggling to make sense of everything. Think ARG fans and cryptic games enthusiasts (like Yume Nikki or Pathologic). I think it's absolutely worth the struggle and time investment but it's definitely not for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Genocide

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Stock up on red string and push pins  because this book is wild!!! You will say “what the hell is happening?!” many times. You’ll re-read (or replay the audio book) for many sections. You’ll check character lists. You will be frustrated that the puzzle pieces aren’t coming together and don’t seem to even be from the same puzzle.

But Woaw is it worth it!!! This is not an easy or quick read, though. Two things kept me going: reviews that (correctly) said the final quarter brings it all together in a satisfying way and my absolute adoration for Gideon the Ninth. The majority of the novel alternates between two plot lines, with one written in second person to distinguish it. That choice irked me at first, but the function and the reason were eventually borne out. There’s a glaring difference from Gideon the Ninth for most of the book that will also disappoint many readers (but that you can’t really say without spoiling GtN), but it’ll make sense eventually.

This curious, dark exploration of grief, trauma, ethics, love and mortality asks as many questions as it answers. It is rare that a novel is so carefully plotted, complicated and connected, featuring a world and characters full of surprises.

Same as with GtN though, CONTENT WARNINGS for violence, gore and body horror. I’m still kind of shocked at how well I’m tolerating that content, but somehow the intense plot and beautiful writing make the gross bones and body stuff worth it to me?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide, Child death, Cursing, and Murder

Minor: Cursing

notthatkat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is bonkers, but in some really good ways. As I was warned, a large chunk of the book is confusing and doesn’t line up with events that happened in Gideon. Harrow does say several times that she is insane. Readers should take her at her word. In the latter part of the book, things become clear with payoffs for the things that don’t make sense. In addition to continuing the overarching plot started in Gideon, Harrow is a poignant explanation of mental illness and grief. Some questions left hanging in Gideon are answered and even more are raised.  Overall I thought it very good and look forward to continuing with Nona. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Cursing, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Genocide and Child death

iamcortney's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: War

Minor: Genocide