Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

73 reviews

purplepenning's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I've never read such a fascinating, brain-breaking, frustrating, stomach-turning, compelling, off-putting, word-feast of an epic science fantasy horror mystery in my life. Muir is a heck of a writer (the humor! the viscera! the metaphor! the meter! the characters! the action!) but I'd have to read both Gideon and Harrow again to feel like I understand enough to say more. And I'm not likely to do that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Mental illness

Minor: Pregnancy

necrophilia

emilyplun's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual content

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.75

this whole series is absolutely brilliant. no idea how the author managed to plan all of THIS but consider me impressed. 
i saw someone descrive this book as “an acid trip written in second person” and i can’t help but agree, loved it. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Child death

fjalar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content

entityj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Body horror, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Blood

Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content

bubblyfemme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I think I liked this book more than the first.

This book had so much more world building,  which really cleared up a lot of the confusing aspects of the first book. Also I learnt a lot more about Harrow, which was something I craved after finishing the first book. 

I think the writing style could be a deal breaker for some people, as the author chose to write in mostly second person. This threw me a bit when I started the book, but as things are revealed the decision makes a lot of sense, and I think it was a great choice. 

This is one of those books I will have to re-read, as there are so many minor details that will be much more meaningful upon a second read. 
Plus I’m a sucker for an unreliable narrator and morally grey characters, so I know I’ll be reaching for this book at every opportunity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content, Child death, and Vomit

mcbenzie's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Delivers on the promise of the first book but comes at you sideways. Provides some answers and revelations, and expands the universe of the Nine Houses, but preserves enough mystery that you’ll be hungry for the next one. It’s really hard to say much else without spoilers!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Self harm, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content

prettyfunctional's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I was delightfully confused for about 350 pages straight. I thought about this book way too much and finished it way too soon. 
Highlights are the Shakespearian insults, the maddening confusion (and need to know if my theory was right), the casual queer representation, and the way the author left the reader to fill the gaps. I’ll be thinking about this one for a looong time 
Lowlights are the cliff-hanger but that’s what preordering the sequel is for 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Death, Gore, War, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content

mjwhitlock18's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

I was confused for the first 60-70% of this book, for multiple reasons. A good portion of this book is written in second person, Harrow is an unreliable narrator, and there’s a non-linear timeline. But I absolutely had to keep reading because I just really wanted to understand, and boy was the pay off worth the struggle! 

I enjoy Muir’s writing style and the inclusion of (somewhat silly) jokes and memes. I have a few gripes with this book, including that

All the second person chapters in the first 60% of the book that are supposedly 2nd person POV from Gideon don’t have her Voice, which is what made the first book so enjoyable

. 

I do still think I liked Gideon the Ninth better overall, this one definitely left me with more questions than answers, and I’m not sure I can wait until I can get my hands on the next one in September! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Minor: Sexual content

gayghostprince's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

I'm sad wtf :'(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Death, Violence, Suicide, Body horror, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cursing, Child abuse, Mental illness, War, Vomit, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Cancer, War, Chronic illness, and Suicidal thoughts

cw for lobotomies and brief apocalypse mentions