Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Nona la Novena by Tamsyn Muir

24 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

This audiobook is completely the wrong way to get the most out of this story. Not only does it fall into the fantasy trap of having cool names that look good on paper but that your average narrator can't pronounce well, and the same issue as the previous book in that there are occasional phrases in Māori  that are familiar to a New Zealand audience, but that this narrator struggles with... it also has a sprawling cast and appendices that list these, and that you can't just flip back to in an audio context.

In an improvement(?) from the second book, this third installment does not have more medical terms than your average first year anatomy text book. It is still a little wordsy, but I didn't encounter the word nacreous even once! (despite it being  applicable at one point). As per usual you are, metaphorically, chucked in the deep end and held there until you get used to it. Maybe this time around I was just too tired to take it all in, because I spent quite a bit of time just feeling lost and wondering what was happening.

Most of this book takes part in a semi-domestic dystopia. Surrounded by refugees, and with limited resources, some familiar characters look after Nona, while trying to find out how altered she has become by her own semi-Lyctoral transformation. Nona becomes a teacher aide working at a school for a ragtag gang of kids. There are factions vying for power, and people being executed, and militia on the street as enforcers.. but through the eyes of Nona we aren't privy to the machinations of the State.

I'm sticking with my original feel that this series is quite a bit like the Evangelion anime. Through a series of Nona's dreams (that really seem more real than what is going on for her in her life) we get some more back-story about John, the first necromancer and it all gets pretty trippy. The relationships developed between the characters all begin to feel irrelevant, like everything is falling into a huge pit of nihilism, as everything loses cohesion. There is a travel sequence for which Nona's part or skills seem to have had no lead-up or explanation, and as a result it did not hold tension or deliver a feeling of success at its climax. (yes that could be an analogy.. get out of the gutter :P )

Honestly I don't know if the story put me to sleep or if I am just finally having to succumb after an ongoing pattern of weather related insomnia. I have clearly not invested enough energy or legwork into understanding everything going on. I was excited about one revelation in this entire book, there was a whole lot more "huh?" and "uh, ok" than "oooh riiight!" in this leg of the trilogy, and its conclusion was seriously unsatisfying. Not quite a 3 star for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Murder, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

kers_tin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, War, Eating disorder, Gore, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Addiction, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Drug use

mossgoblins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Violence, Abandonment, and Confinement

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Vomit, Self harm, Murder, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Death, Blood, and Gore

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, War, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Ableism, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Eating disorder

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

I can’t stop thinking about it. As usual the last quarter of the book is so intense I couldn’t put it down. The world building is so amazing and well written. 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Eating disorder, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

"You can't take loved away."

This sentence just floored me. I love all of The Locked Tomb series, but Nona is where I feel like we're really starting to see the themes of what forgiveness is, the way imperialism cannibalizes identity, what does it mean to heal in an unclean way, the emptiness of revenge, the uselessness of punishment as justice, and the power of love to (in the book's case literally!) turn you into someone else. And it's just so lovely. And it's just fantastically written. It's amazing how Muir can swing the wild tonal shifts of each book, but they all work so well together and give each protagonist such a unique voice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Suicide, Gun violence, Blood, Self harm, Murder, Gore, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content and Colonisation

Minor: Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Drug use, and Child death

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

funny reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir's third book of four in the Locked Tomb series, is a sudden but welcome shift from the previous two books. Nona is just a nineteen year old relearning how to interact with society with the help of her three parental figures. But it is later discovered that

the three parents are necromancers from the Nine Houses and that Nona herself is piloting the body of someone named Harrowhark Nonagesimus, and the Nine Houses want them back

. An astounding dual point-of-view familiar to readers of Harrow the Ninth and a cast of loveable characters familiar of the same. The explosive ending leaves me wanting more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Abandonment, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual content, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

The Blood of Eden's attack on necromancers comes with a lot of slur-like terms and bigotry that is reminiscent of (but not a direct copy of) religious bigotry in real life.

centrifugepolitics's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Self harm

nicnevin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book and Nona loves me.

I pulled the book apart and devoured it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, War, Deadnaming, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Suicide attempt