Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

65 reviews

snackattackisback69's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

I am obsessed with this series. Just like Gideon the Ninth, this book has a slow start but the payoff in the last third of the book is more than worth it. I wasn't too keen on the second person narration when I began the book but I got used to it after a few chapters. I was pretty confused for the first third of the book but I had fun picking apart the mystery. I feel the author does an amazing job of hiding hints or meaning in even the simpliest of interactions so I was gripped even before the big reveals began. I did find the vaguenes  of the end of the novel a bit unsatisfactory but I am excited to see where it leads in Nona and Alecto. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cannibalism

vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism, Child death, and Sexual content

baileythebeagle04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious

5.0

What the fuck did I just read. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Chronic illness, Murder, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

ebp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Self harm, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: War, Classism, Cannibalism, and Cursing

Minor: Cancer

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual content, Body horror, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Gore, Eating disorder, Infertility, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Confinement, Bullying, Cancer, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Violence, Vomit, and War

Minor: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Animal death, Genocide, and Suicide

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

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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

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.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Genocide

skudiklier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense

• 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

4.75

Oh my god this book. I have no idea what to say about it. I don't know how else to say this but reading it made me feel like I was going crazy. I'm so glad I was reading this well after it came out and I could look up just enough people talking about it online so that I could know I was actually having the intended experience and not wildly misunderstanding something. For a book that made me feel like I had no idea what was happening, I loved it. I definitely want to read the next one. It made me scream at the people who recommended it to me. It has such a good payoff after all the confusion and disorientation. I wish all books were this devastating and this satisfying and this funny.

mild spoilers

NONE HOUSES LEFT GRIEF???? what the fuck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Cursing, Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

woundworship's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

tamsyn muir fight me 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cannibalism

raybudbury's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

This was crazy. Like tamsyn Muir didn’t have to go so hard but she did. How did she write first/second/third person all in one book and I was eating it up. Amazing.

I read this on audio and made lil notes for myself while I was at work so I’ll put those under this first spoiler tag

 
- severely gay in a weird way
- soup making turned deadly
- “jaded tones of a fagged-out socialite” harrow describing ianthe talking 😭
- necro ménage 👁️
- coffee shop au but also a lobotomy
- the girls are fighting
- “she wants the D and the D stands for the Dead”
- reading a threatening letter but the other person reading it sees a middle school ‘S’. Had me dead

JSSKSK. Really loving this series actually but I loved this one better because it kind of flips expectations and I also love a good soap opera situation

gideon’s parental situation JAJSKSOSSKDNDNSNDND LMAOOOO

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism