Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Gideon z Dziewiątego by Tamsyn Muir

87 reviews

maddierandolph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Cannibalism, Bullying, and Mental illness

eleonorehilbig's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

ugh i don't know where to start with this review....
it's basically the hunger games in an agatha christie murder mystery but really badly executed....

things i liked: 

• gideon, our main character. she's snarky and to the point
• the sixth house (sience for the win) 
• the general magic system. 

things i didn't like: 

• the writing. (the author is using a lot of "grown-up words" which doesnt help you understand the book amy better. 
• the world building (if you can even call it that) we're in a house, on a planet, the house has doors and rooms. but mostly doors. also there are skeletons, and necromacers. and nine houses. why? who knows....
• the naming of the characters (everyone -even REALLY unimportant characters have like 3-5 different names and while
  they're being killed off
  you're just too busy trying to remember who that is to give a f*ck.
• and this might just be about the marketing - but i feel VERY iffy about how this book is promoted as "enemies to lovers" when it is absolutely a story about abuse. also wtf about the ending.
  not here for the romantasized abuse!

so basically it's a book about some characters in a house and one is a murderer. also there is necromancy and swords. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Child death

lunarlibra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

To everyone who has been talking about how much they love this book for years: I get it now
For some reason it took me a long time to really get into this book (like over 100 pages) but once I did, I could not put it down! (I think it's a me-problem, and for someone else the early chapters would have been immediately captivating.) 
The character development, the mystery, and the increasingly heightened stakes of the book make this a truly compelling read. Also some parts are truly so funny I laughed out loud! That said, it is deeply tragic. I don't usually love tragedy, but something about how the characters handled it felt very real to me in a way that didn't leave me feeling hopeless. 
I think Tamsyn Muir did something truly special with this book, her writing style is very visceral (no pun intended) in that I found myself deeply understanding the characters' emotions from her descriptions of things like time passing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, and Slavery

sabrina_marvil's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-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

3.0

Wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Incest, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Colonisation, Self harm, Stalking, Trafficking, Torture, Medical content, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Body shaming, Vomit, War, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

Not in space

schoha01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Body horror, Confinement, War, Violence, Grief, Child death, Death, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, and Chronic illness

beebidon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I think about this series at least once a day. I put off reading it bc I fully believed my friends who warned me that it would be consume  me.  They were right and I regret nothing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child death, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Vomit, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, and Confinement

pacifickat's review against another edition

Wasn't into the main character, didn't like the prose, thought I would love this series but felt let down (overhyped)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Torture, Confinement, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

supernova_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Good suspense throughout. Strong opening. Spooky vibes. Lots of death and skeletons but not in a way that jolts you out of the plot. Excited for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Body horror, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Slavery, Child death, Chronic illness, and Confinement

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

As well-written and funny as I found this book, I also can’t deny that it disappointed me.

I personally found the writing style very unique and enjoyed it a lot. I thought the narration was funny and it really suited the main character’s personality. It felt modern, but not in a way that was poorly executed. I’ve read books set in the modern day that didn’t even come close to using modern slang/terms as well as this did. The use of language was also expertly used to convey descriptions of spaces and people.

I also really liked all the characters, they all felt very distinct from each other and well rounded. When allowed to be in smaller groups with Gideon it was so clear who was who and why they might act the way they do. However when in groups it felt more like they blended together and I quickly lost track of who was who. The narrator did help some with this, but I did still occasionally still mix them up. With the  distinctness of the characters it also lends well to interesting and complex group dynamics and conflicts.

I also really enjoyed early in the book when Gideon wasn’t speaking. It’s not a slight against the character, I just found the way she navigated interacting with others (and how they interacted with her in return) extremely interesting.

The narrator was also excellent. I felt like she really captured the main character and her voice acting ability really shone through with the large cast of characters.

However despite all I liked about the book it had its pitfalls.

I personally found what world building we got was really interesting, but it was giving so sparingly and in such little doses I found myself confused and lost on the regular. Some bits of information were mentioned like they were common knowledge and I had a hard time keeping track of if and when the information had been mentioned.

The confusion continued into plot beats and elements. Especially near the end of the book. Information was presented and treated as if it had been hinted at the entire book when it felt very sudden and out of nowhere.

My final issue was Gideon and Harrow’s relationship. They grew closer over the book, but considering where their relationship started (and that Harrow OWNED Gideon) it didn’t feel warned or well developed. Especially as it seemed to be building towards romance. It felt so gross considering Harrow’s ownership of Gideon and the awful terms they started the book on. Overall it was the most disappointing part of the book to me.

In the end I think the book had a lot of positive qualities and the author is clearly skilled, but in the end just fell short and was lacking in plot and relationship development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Self harm, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Cancer, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death, Child abuse, and Death of parent

alainral's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Gore, Terminal illness, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Cannibalism, Cursing, Medical trauma, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Cancer