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blacksphinx's review against another edition
- 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 feel like describing this book as "lesbian necromancers in space" is really underselling it. In a galaxy ruled by a God Emperor divided into nine houses of necromancers ruling nine planets, the number of necromancer-followers who ascended into immortality alongside the Emperor have dwindled over the last ten thousand years. The time has come to test the houses to see who can ascend next. Our protagonist Gideon does not give a damn. All she wants to do is escape the Ninth House forever, but Gideon's childhood nemesis and the current heir to the house, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, traps her into acting as her sword and bodyguard for the dangerous trials of the Emperor that are to come. With nine necromancers secluded from the rest of the galaxy in a crumbling ruin of an earlier era, what will they do to attain godhood? Also this is a queer-normative setting and the protagonist is a lesbian that blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.
It's funny and irreverent most of the time, but Tamsyn Muir also knows how to raise the stakes and presented us with a twisty mystery that made me slap my forehead at the final reveal. Pay close attention to what doesn't add up, because in the end it will! (With just enough mysteries left over to make you want to keep reading the next book.)
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Gore, Death, Murder, Chronic illness, and Cursing
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Toxic friendship, Excrement, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, War, Infertility, Alcohol, and Colonisation
rbuhrke's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Child death, Blood, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Slavery, Medical content, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Incest, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Infertility
If the ending of the book was spoiled for you don’t panic. The series is worth it to keep going.wickedgrumpy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I went into this book knowing almost nothing beyond the tag line of Lesbian Necromancers in Space and that it was genre-bending for sci-fi and fantasy. That was enough to sell me on reading it, even though I heard mixed things.
Did it deliver on those premises? Mostly. There are characters that identified as women and showed attraction/flirted with others that also identified as women, some of those characters were also necromancers. With regards to being in space, there is very limited space shuttle travel, so I don't know that I would really quantify it that way, though there is ample room for that to change for the future in the series.
This book was indeed a crossover between sci-fi and fantasy in that it involved a technologically advanced civilization (space travel, and such) but with the deep roots of necromancy that almost took it into dark academia territory. The necromancers are all obsessed in learning new theorems/spells and figuring out things in their specializations, and there are also trials they have to pass and mysteries to solve before they can advance.
There's a lot of tension because it is a competition and you don't really begin to understand the stakes until Act II and then the full whammy hits you near the end.
Also, I feel like I have a conspiracy theory based on the epilogue/info peppered throughout the book so click for spoilers, I guess:
Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cancer, Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Terminal illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Child death, Stalking, and War
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- 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
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
lajoy's review
- 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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Infertility
carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Death, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Terminal illness and Cancer
Minor: Body horror and Infertility
purplepenning's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Classism, and Confinement
Minor: Religious bigotry
rlgreen91's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Gideon is a great character - I really enjoyed how the author managed to hit a personality sweet spot of self-confidence, compassion, and self-deprecation. I enjoyed a lot of the characterization honestly. I also liked that a good chunk of the dialogue made me laugh - the style of humor reminds me a bit of A Confederacy of Dunces. It can be easy to run into fantasy stories that take themselves a little too seriously, so it was really refreshing to chuckle at some of the interactions.
I also really enjoyed the fight scenes. I can't say I read a lot of stuff with fight scenes, but that's always struck me as something that's particularly difficult to convey as an author. But the fight scenes were so excellent because they were so engaging - you would start one and get caught up in the scene at hand. There was no way you could stop reading mid-scene. That was a very big highlight of the book, so if fight scenes are something you're looking for or picky about, I highly recommend you pick this up.
Like I said above, it's been a bit since I've been this hooked by a mystery. There were definitely moments throughout that made me suspicious about what would ultimately happen, and how that would be a twist on the plot points we were seeing happen. I know that if I were to re-read this, I would find even more breadcrumbs. However, that won't be happening any time soon - I've already ordered the next book, Harrow the Ninth, which I'm hoping contains a lighthearted origin story of the nickname "Griddle". 5 stars.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Child death, and Grief
Minor: War and Infertility
lisa_m's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It took me some time to understand what was going on but once I got into it I started to really enjoy it. This book is absolutely hilarious at times and I was actually laughing.
The setting is something I did not quite understand and I still have a lot of questions about the whole world building and everything. I do think that most of the information is actually in the book but it was a bit difficult at times to understand everything. Also there are a lot of characters that I continuously got mixed up.
The ending was a unexpected though predictable. I thought this might happen but I also thought the author would dare.. I am really interested to read the rest of the series and I hope it will be easier to read since I already know the world kind of.
I also thought the book would be more explicitly lesbian since that was one of the main selling points for me. But who know maybe in the following books.
I did love the relationship between Gideon and Harrow though. It was a bit frustrating at times but also super fun.
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, and Death of parent
reading_grin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Infertility