Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

30 reviews

hanarama's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

hotaruhime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

5.0

Absolutely stunning novel. It's written in a completely different style than Gideon the Ninth so it can initially be difficult to get started. However, it immediately begins to weave a mystery connected to the previous book that kept me hooked through sheer frustration. It's lesbian necromancers in space; what's not to love?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, and Violence

jmcordero's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Terminal illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Medical trauma, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Genocide

avadore's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I did have some more trouble getting into this one than the almost... locked room mystery? shenanigans of the first one but I really loved getting to know sooky spooky skeleton nun Harrow and just like... the bonkers world that is The Locked Tomb. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

caitsidhe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

HOLY SHIT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

danawfaith's review against another edition

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

5.0

I felt like I was going crazy for like 2/3rds of the book. then in the last act I finally got it and the payoff was incredible. And then in the last chapter, just kidding you don't understand anything. Which is what I've come to expect from the Locked Tomb, so five stars.

Excellent use of the second person. The worldbuilding feels very indepth and detailed, despite the fact we spend so little time out in the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, Murder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Genocide

saestrah's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm usually on the side of 'don't put memes in literature' on the basis that memes get outdated very quickly and are hard to contextualise for readers unfamiliar with the memes. In Gideon the Ninth the narrative got away with it very well, as they were more like easter eggs that are easily glossed over. In Harrow the Ninth the memes are a little more.... 'obvious'? If you recognise the meme then it's funny, but for anyone unfamiliar with it, it would be hard to understand what it meant and why the character said it.

The POV change to second person is as jarring as it is compelling, and it's justified with the plot as well as making the world-building and unfolding mysteries all the more immersive. As confused as I was for the majority of the book, everything pulls together in the last quarter as mysteries were finally explained and the strings throughout this book and Gideon the Ninth started to come together. Harrow's narration is incredibly unreliable, and it reflects Muir’s ability to create such distinctive characters and their voices.

Despite the narrative differences, Harrow the Ninth still stays true to the rest of the Locked Tomb series, with internet meme references and sword fights, but also textually explores themes of grief, guilt, and trauma, and the intersection between the three. It’s certainly an ambitious sequel, and tests the reader’s patience at times, but it was impressively executed and guarantees several re-reads to fill the time before Alecto the Ninth is released.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Genocide

Minor: Child death and Kidnapping

brenticus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

Gideon the Ninth was a crazy ride, I thought. Tone and worldvuilding were a bit off at times, but largely more than good enough to excite me for this one.

Harrow the Ninth has you wading through the grueling psychosis of Harrowhark as you question how much of what she's seeing, experiencing, feeling, remembering is real. Because very quickly you find that something has changed in the brief period between this book and the previous, and while I don't think it was hard to figure out why there were still a lot of questions to work through.

Mostly I want to call out the best case of second-person narration I've ever seen. The reason why is pretty obvious from the get-go, I think, but still, it works so well and I love it.

Really don't know where the third book is going to take this, but definitely excited to see what disturbing monstrosity Muir cooks up next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual content