Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Harrow la novena by Tamsyn Muir

96 reviews

mcbenzie's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Delivers on the promise of the first book but comes at you sideways. Provides some answers and revelations, and expands the universe of the Nine Houses, but preserves enough mystery that you’ll be hungry for the next one. It’s really hard to say much else without spoilers!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content

prettyfunctional's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I was delightfully confused for about 350 pages straight. I thought about this book way too much and finished it way too soon. 
Highlights are the Shakespearian insults, the maddening confusion (and need to know if my theory was right), the casual queer representation, and the way the author left the reader to fill the gaps. I’ll be thinking about this one for a looong time 
Lowlights are the cliff-hanger but that’s what preordering the sequel is for 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

mjwhitlock18's review against another edition

4.5

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I was confused for the first 60-70% of this book, for multiple reasons. A good portion of this book is written in second person, Harrow is an unreliable narrator, and there’s a non-linear timeline. But I absolutely had to keep reading because I just really wanted to understand, and boy was the pay off worth the struggle! 

I enjoy Muir’s writing style and the inclusion of (somewhat silly) jokes and memes. I have a few gripes with this book, including that

All the second person chapters in the first 60% of the book that are supposedly 2nd person POV from Gideon don’t have her Voice, which is what made the first book so enjoyable

. 

I do still think I liked Gideon the Ninth better overall, this one definitely left me with more questions than answers, and I’m not sure I can wait until I can get my hands on the next one in September! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death

Minor: Sexual content

gayghostprince's review against another edition

5.0

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: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I'm sad wtf :'(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, War

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, War

cw for lobotomies and brief apocalypse mentions

ababbabby's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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the only reason why i feel like i can’t quite give it 5 stars is that the first book set my expectations very high. i really enjoyed this one! it’s a great sequel, loved the different povs and seeing the way all of the nonsensical pieces came together to sort of make more sense in the end. 

i did find myself re-reading bits a few times because i got a bit confused, but overall it was a really good read and i think it works great as a follow-up to gideon the ninth. however it has left me with So Many Questions this is horrible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content

tenpn's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

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Spectacular. Thrilling. Really loved the split structure and the mysteries of the book, as well as the cast of characters. The violence is as explosive as ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Sexual content

jkpiowa's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The first book in this series, Gideon the Ninth, is known for being extremely confusing until everything sort of clears up in the last chapters of the book. Harrow the Ninth is the same, except I was left with even more questions at the end than I was with Gideon. 

This book picks up immediately after Gideon and is not remotely a standalone story. The story is intentionally left obscure and confusing until the ending, where it is revealed this obscurity is a piece of the plot. The ending is a cliffhanger, though I don't know if it's a cliffhanger that will be picked up in Nona the Ninth, or if it's just a cliffhanger ending to Harrow's story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, War

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual content

pbarrett5275's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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At first I wasn't sure if I'd like where the plot was headed after I finished the Gideon of Ninth. I soon released it didn't matter what I thought because I had no idea what was going on. The beginning of Harrow the Ninth can be tough, but ultimately this sequel lives up to it's predecessor and possible even more. Despite being quite perplexed, I found myself enjoying the new storyline as much as I was confused by it. This book is a bit darker, but still had plenty of good laughs, mystery, and soup. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters added to the mythology as well as those with newly expanded roles from the returning cast. Unlike Gideon, Harrow the Ninth actually takes place in space, and is filled with plenty of new adventure, expanded world building, and easily the best fight scene in the series to date.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Blood

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War

bookspaperink's review against another edition

5.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

olivia_manes's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Colonisation, War