Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Harrow the Ninth

I'd heard a lot of talk about how book two is jarring, confusing, and that it takes too long to make sense. Honestly, it's not that bad. Make sure you remember who characters are, and it's fine. It's a mystery, so nothing is supposed to make sense at every step, or even for a while.

The narrative switches between third person limited, usually during a flashback, and second person. Normally I really dislike second person; this is handled as though someone is narrating Harrow's actions and responses to her. It's not a narrative trying to get you to imagine yourself as the character, but someone explaining what is going on to someone who is having some memory difficulties.

The other thing I heard is that this is a book that gaslights you, and that is largely due to a lot of contradictory information that differs from Gideon and is clarified later. Spoiler explainer:

Harrow altered her own memories to forget what actually happened in book one, and regains true memories before the end of the book.

Content Warnings

garciaga's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.75

Content Warnings

helfire124's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

Content Warnings

solarel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.75

While I liked this one a fraction less than Gideon, the last third of the book hooked me yet again. The author is seriously phenomenal when it comes to unraveling a mystery one inch at a time.

and those terrible jokes! I loved it there towards the end. “Hi I’m not fucking dead, I’m dad. Shut up John Hahahha.

Content Warnings

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Much like Gideon, I finished this book with more questions than I started with. They were mostly different questions then the one I started with, but questions nonetheless.

Harrow was a most unreliable narrator, by her own admission most of the time, and the hardest part was not knowing why she didn't trust herself, whether for her own protection AND plot device, or just as a plot device. This was also the first time I've read second person POV outside of a romance novel. It took a bit of getting used to, as it often does for me, and because we kept switching in and out of the second and third person narratives.

As I expect from all the Locked Tomb books, Harrow is heavy with world and lore building, but only occasionally felt bogged down by it. I felt myself zoning out a bit in longer Harrow 2nd POV chapters, mostly because Harrow herself is such a pill most of the time and she was a bit draining for me as a reader. But I am dreadfully interested in the massive left turn that Nona is going to take us!

Piecing together the signals that the nine houses are actually our solar system over the course of Harrow felt truly mind blowing at the time. Little hints that, at first, you write off as fun nods to pop culture as a reader turn into "oh no... these characters actually know meme culture." And then you start realizing that John/God might just be an elder millennial and you start to panic because you, too, are an elder millennial and also know the left pizza none beef meme...

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