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perleerose's review against another edition
- 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
I would say read the bits at the end if you haven’t already as they contain important plot info.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual content
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
There are times where I wish I was capable of reading proper, honest to goodness, paperback books, but seeing as I'm bound to Audiobooks due to my infirmities, all I can say is OUCH.
Tamsyn Muir writes with a sensual love of words, that does not make the content of her prose accessible to most people. To say it plainly - she uses big words, and weird words. a lot. I am well at home in anatomical and psychological textbooks, and literary critique; one of my friends suggested that in conversation with me it would be easiest to carry a notebook to write down all the odd words I use to look up later... and even _I_ needed to read this with a dictionary nearby. It seems quite clear that the author was mauled or possibly traumatically wounded by a feral thesaurus as a child.
I'm sorry, Moira Quirk. Your work on this audio narration was ok, but you fail to catch the Kiwi parlance. It sounds SO weird to hear kiwi idioms in your accent (we don't pronounce a$$ like that) and your attempt at te reo Māori words was wince-inducing. Thankfully that was only one line.
I'm doubling down on my comparison from the first book. This is definitely like an anime. Great chunks of this book feel a bit like watching Neon Genesis: Evangelion. A good proportion of the narrative is in second person perspective, which definitely leans hard into the claustrophobic and unhinged aesthetic. You spend the first half of the book trying to figure out why things in this book don't tally with the happenings in the previous book. That was kind of cool and didn't leave me feeling anywhere near as confused as I thought I would. There were enough breadcrumbs to keep me from feeling too lost in the woods.
Upside of the audiobook was the similarity I was amused by in the fast travel; I was reminded of Douglas Adams's, Hitchhiker's Guide, specifically his description of hyperspace, and the Infinite Improbability drive. "The River" having weird brain melting effects on a backdrop of a woman's voice calling out time-stamps felt so much like HHGTG with Trillian in the Heart of Gold.
Many twists and turns, the reappearance (in various forms) of characters who were bumped off in the last book, the list at the front of the book of the dramatis personae (alive and dead) being actually useful, and a sense that you still don't know quite wtf is going on.. all leads me to think that the third book could go either way in my estimation. I'll have to see what it's like.
Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Blood, Dementia, Dysphoria, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic friendship
Minor: Miscarriage
solarel's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Gun violence, Vomit, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
entityj's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Body horror, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Blood
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content
knerys's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Confinement
pbarrett5275's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Cancer, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, War, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol
avsmka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
hanarama's review against another edition
- 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
The Good:
• Expands worldbuilding
• Genre busting
• Complicated characters
• Wild reveal
The Bad:
• Can be hard to remember who all the side characters are.
You Might Like this if You Like:
• Necromancers
• Goth aesthetic
• Non-linear storytelling
After the end of Gideon the Ninth, I wasn't sure what to expect, but Tamsyn Muir truly delivers. Harrow the Ninth builds off of what the first book set up. With Harrow as the main POV this time around, the cruel and distant necromancer is revealed to be vulnerable, perfectionist, and very relatable.
Beyond the exploration of Harrow's character, Muir expands the setting a lot, showing the reader so much of the history of the empire, despite the somewhat minimal setting that the story takes place in.
The storytelling is really unique. Totally unexpected from what happened at the end of Gideon the Ninth. The non-linear storytelling and inconsistencies with the previous book clue the reader in right away that something is wrong. However the slow reveal of what happened really deepens Harrow as a character.
It can be difficult at times to keep all of the side characters sorted, because there are loads and loads of them. The main characters stand out though, and the issue is mostly a minor one. It's just that with so many characters, it's difficult for them all to be developed or to make a mark.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence
peach_pie's review against another edition
- 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
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