Reviews tagging 'Death'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

343 reviews

apparentlyalix's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Forced institutionalization

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Really struggled through the first half, but the book does redeem itself. I enjoyed it a bit less than Gideon (probably because seeing the world through Harrow's eyes is a lot less fun), but I'm curious to see what the rest of the series brings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Genocide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

starryfran'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The first half of the book felt rather slow, the second half was action packed. I read the 2nd half in less then 2 days 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

psitstorrie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Genocide, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

maplewrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

It truly was "weird and confusing" in the best ways. It only pulled it off because it's a sequel. My friends told me it would be weird and confusing and it was and I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Necrophilia

le_mur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Suicide

crashjaycintha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

Two months into 2023 and I have definitely found one of my favorite books of this year. I wasn’t super ecstatic about the second person POV, but this book is so well-written and interesting that I didn’t mind it at all - I actually enjoyed it!

This book is filled with twists I truly never expected, hilarious dialogue and narration, and unique and interesting concepts. I read almost a hundred pages every time I sat down to read this, and found myself dreaming of the Nine Houses.

P.S.

Camilla Hect means everything to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Medical content and Colonisation

rlgreen91's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

A few days later and I'm still not sure what to think of the wild ride that was Harrow the Ninth.  Reviewing this is a bit tricky, because there's so many twists and turns I don't want to give away but I also don't see the point in a review with the majority of the text concealed by a spoiler tag.

One thing I can speak relatively freely about is the worldbuilding in Harrow the Ninth , and how superb it is.  I loved the reasoning behind one of the antagonists, because it naturally followed the rules and conventions set during Gideon the Ninth so well - it just made so much sense that that would happen as a result of the initial action set 10,000 years ago!  I also loved how Muir is gradually expanding the world and universe that all of this takes place in.  We started with a very narrow focus on a few characters at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth and have expanded to other generations and the Nine Houses in general

(plus factions outside of the Nine Houses)

.  And it looks like Nona the Ninth is set to keep expanding our universe even more.  This approach can throw things off a bit since so far we've learned off these expanded events when our main characters did.  At times things might seem random to us because we - the characters and readers - lack the context to understand why something is significant just yet.  But overall Muir has laid this out really, really well and I know I'm gushing over this but it takes a lot of skill and effort to do this type of worldbuilding well in a work that slides between fantasy and science fiction and has more than one mystery at the core of its plot.

Just like in Gideon the Ninth and "The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex", there's plenty of gorgeous language in Harrow the Ninth too.  A lot of great banter and comedic moments, like someone attempting to explain to Harrow where babies come from, but also a very kind and honest depiction of what it's like to suffer from depression, trauma, and the genuine feeling that you might be insane.  Not to mention all of the references, from the ones you only find by lurking Tumblr in the early 2010s to very Biblical/Christian ones that you only come across in advanced Sunday School.

Overall, a fantastic novel - no sophomore slump to be found here.  Looking forward to "As Yet Unsent."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy