Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

364 reviews

alica2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ough......this one was rougher to get through than Gideon the Ninth, and way more confusing LOLOL but when it all came together it was worth it. I also felt super satisfied in calling one of the main twists, and I LOVE a good use of second-person POV (it was cool when NK Jemisin did it in The Stone Sky and it was still cool here). Much more chilling and creepy than Gideon the Ninth, I felt tense almost the whole time what with

the stalkeresque threat to Harrow on the ship, iykyk

. I LOOOVED the soup scene, like

the way that I wasn't expecting it all, the way that I could practically FEEL Harrow's paranoia and deliriousness from lack of sleep, the way she used her own freaking bone marrow, like girl??????

. Huge content warnings for self harm and just poor mental health in general. Harrow's visions and psychosis were particularly triggering for me and rough to read...

I cried again when

Gideon's POV kicked in

because like eugh the yearning and loneliness and despair... Also I really loved Ianthe in this one, like I hate her but I love her LOLOL she's an amazing character and I want to study her under a microscope. Ending spoiler

I almost yelled out loud when she saved the emperor from the hell hole or whatever, like girl!!!!! We were all rooting for you and you fumbled it big time!!!!!!!

Also

John's whole deal in general...I got completely fucking taken in by him and kept making excuses for why he wouldn't help Harrow and then he just like. Of course ends up being evil!!! Because no one should ever live as long as he has!!! But it was terrifying to see how frank and unconcerned he was about everything during the final confrontation with his Lyctors...like damn top ten villains for sure

.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kejjywithcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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'll remember this book for a very long time. What a wild ride.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Body horror

aimnorth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

A wonderful book full of twists and turns. A beautiful look at grief, as well as religion and our relation to religious ideas. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Body horror

They're necromancers, so death and gore is a huge thing.

larbster90's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.5

I never know what’s going on in these books but I enjoy them anyway

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, War, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Child death, and Terminal illness

coolfijiwater's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Grief

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

---

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

ladythana's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Dementia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Gun violence, Self harm, Abandonment, Bullying, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Body shaming and Colonisation

maloriegracereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Honestly, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Tamsyn Muir has perfectly crafted and curated each chapter in this incredible story. I loved the pace, even if it was a bit slow, and found myself truly savoring each moment. I adore these characters, and it is heartbreaking to watch what they go through. But Muir handles this in such a unique and humorous way, without losing any depth and honesty. I wish I could reread this for the first time again, even though I finished it moments ago. I cannot wait to see what else this author has cooked up in the remained of this series!! Thank you for changing my life, Tamsyn Muir. Now I’m going to go make the best damn soup. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Body horror, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment and Panic attacks/disorders

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Genocide

shottel's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.75

Like Gideon the Ninth, the book-cover reviews and summaries don’t do it justice. Harrow the Ninth is a fantastic, funny, unique, genre-blurring novel whose worldbuilding and mystery-oriented storytelling makes it worthy of reading on their own. To an even greater degree, it is a poignant picture of psychosis and grief. I was not expecting to see in such detail a broken mind, agonized by self-doubt and the mistrust of others, and the crushing weight of immense loss.

Outside of the deep themes of regret, loss, absence, grief, and psychosis, there is much to say positively. Harrow manages to pull off pop culture references and memes humorously, without making me want to throw the book across the room. (Minimally spoiling example: A subtle joke invoking none pizza left beef.) This, combined with a tamer but still present version of the sense of humor that made Gideon distinctive makes for an enjoyable time. It doesn’t lag so hard in the first half like Gideon does (although I do feel it could’ve likely been shortened a good 50-100 pages). The ending was exciting, the payoff for working through over 400 pages of confusion (albeit a well-written 400 pages) deeply worth it. My only gripe is that, without spoiling anything, the last 5 or so pages are a bit confusing and sad in a way I don’t think fits, but this doesn’t harm it enough for me to say the ending was anything but excellent.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who has read Gideon the Ninth and would be interested in a good mystery or an evocative portrait of disturbed mental faculties.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Self harm

Minor: Pregnancy, Dementia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content