Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

42 reviews

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, and Infertility

jonie_rich's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Vomit, War, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Cannibalism, Genocide, Gore, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

froyobaggns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Cursing, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Genocide, Slavery, and War

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

4.0

I was suggested this read by my co-parent. When I started reading I was almost overwhelmed by the world building. I think it would have been easier to take in as a novel than an audiobook because it started with a list of dramatis personae (characters) and as I did not know anything about the world it was a lot to take in. As someone who was a gothic teen I fully got behind the aesthetic of robes and dinge, and wearing sunglasses inside. The setting feels low tech but then you remember that there are spaceships, and you are just hanging out in ruins of centuries past.

This is a story about a group of necromancers, each paired with a fighter, who are attempting to unlock the secrets of a complex that will allow them to ascend to semi-godhood. They are needed as the tools of a mighty god necrolord who is .. running out of minions (which could cause the end of the empire?). The plot flow runs like a party based RPG and the challenges feel a bit like a videogame. I was reminded of Portal more than once.

This book is a confluence of nerdinesses. The language was appealing to me because the author is a New Zealander (like me). Many of the quirky idioms are from my local Kiwi dialect and from internet memespeek, which meant that I was right at home with the queer parlance. There was even a "yeah nah" in there which made me chuckle, and, until now, I have never once heard of someone referred to in a novel as "a bit of a d*ck". As someone who is interested in anatomy, I found myself familiar with medical terminology that was liberally peppered through the book, and as someone who reads psychology books, I was also familiar with random gushes of pop-psychology neuroscience. This might make the book a little impenetrable or, just exotic? to some readers.

As far as the action in the story is concerned, combat flows like an action anime. There are rapier duels and magic duels and combos of the two. There are weird undead things and so much rot, bone, teeth, goo, viscera, flesh, blood, body parts.. unidentifiable liquids. Things jab and pierce and stick and gloop and spray. I was reminded of Akira, Elfen Lied, and Attack on Titan (and many other newer and less well known titles). The plot turns on a dime and the antagonists launch into expository monologues that reveal that you were completely in the dark in so many ways, but I don't hate it.

Also as in anime there are some .. kind of problematic moments that are pure "fanservice". The main character is continually eyeing-up and sexualising other characters, which comes across as funny, and also very gay, but also a bit eyerollingly cringe.

Wrap this all together with some deep lore,  trauma-informed tragic backstory, a few (deliberately) disastrously toxic relationships, and some feels, and you get a recipe for a book that launches a fandom. Yeah, I'll read the others, even if parts of it are a hot mess and I don't actually enjoy all the fight-scenes and battles. The characters are fun and there is enough deliberately left unrevealed that I am intrigued to find out what comes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Death of parent, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, Violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

tigerproofrock's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

2.5

This book is not what I expected. By leaps and bounds it’s main strength is the narrator’s hilarious, irreverent tone. The plot itself couldn’t be less interesting to me. I kept expecting I was going to stop reading it, but finished it solely to keep hearing the protagonist talk shit about everyone (including, and especially, herself). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Abandonment

ivan_tw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

3.25

Hardly great literature, but fun and easy-reading, with a charming cast of characters and a few legitimately surprising twists along the way. My only criticism would be in the length; it didn't need to be 500 pages long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Gore, Death, Self harm, and Body horror

Moderate: Vomit and Cancer

hannahsmanyhobbies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I’m confused in the best way, and it’s pretty much exactly what I thought it would be. And I don’t do zombies but that’s basically what this is and somehow it’s working for me. Picking up the second book literally tomorrow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Bullying, Death, Grief, Murder, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

The first 16 chapters were very very slow. But once I hit the halfway mark it picked up, and after 2/3 in, I finished in a day. 

The characters are fun and the tone is very fresh. It was great and I am devastated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Cancer, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

eyan_birt's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense

• 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 listened to this book, after having read it once last year. Because book 3 in the Locked Tomb is forthcoming, I am reminding myself of all I missed. Y'all. The foreshadowing on a second read through makes this book so much deeper and more gorgeous. It's deeply creepy, feels like it's moving slowly until a twist smacks you in the fact, and Gideon Nav is hilarious. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Death

entityj's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Blood