Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

80 reviews

wogslandwriter's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, Bullying, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Cancer, Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Sexual content

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

Kelsey has been trying to get me to read this for a while. Glad I finally listened. 
I will say the audio book specifically is done very well. I switched to it from the paper version and was able to follow much better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery, War, and Self harm

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Hate crime, Miscarriage, Dementia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

5.0

A re-read to remind myself of the plot before reading Harrow the Ninth; still just as enjoyable, if not more since I felt I could understand what was going on a little better. This Google Doc was an immensely helpful guide (but only for use of a re-read as it does contain spoilers):
https://shorturl.at/ptz28

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, and Cancer

Minor: War and Vomit

celestriakle's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

Man, not gonna lie, I had a complicated experience with this book. It had been hyped to death for me: I went in expecting the highest quality writing, a deep and subtle complex plot, really fascinating complex characters and relationships, and I got... not that.

The whole book could have used another round of editing. Stylistically, it comes off as rough and amateur. There are moments where the motions are awkward and confusing, and I cannot tell you how many times I saw the word "smilingly". The dialogue is at times stilted and awkward, with inconsistent character voice for Gideon in particular.

A consistent issue is the way the narration and dialogue are in conflict with each other. I understand that Gideon's supposed to be a somewhat unreliable narrator, but that's not really the conflict I'm talking about. Particularly in the beginning of the book, Harrow and Gideon supposedly hate each other passionately, but I never believed that for a moment. They kept saying the words, but it never matched what was on the page, even when they were in direct conflict and supposedly feeling all this hate. It felt awkward and out of sync. There were also a lot of moments when characters or the narration would call Gideon incredibly stupid when she's constantly offering intelligent, insightful ideas or observations. It'd be one thing if someone acknowledged Gideon's intelligence, among this very large cast, but that never happens.

I also can't write this without mentioning the INCREDIBLE levels of fatphobia in this book. In this book of nearly 20 characters, there's only one minor character who's fat, and he's one of the worst, most offensive fat caricatures I've seen in a long time. If he played any larger of a role, I would have had to quit the book. Muir can't go two seconds without mentioning his "softness" or fatness and directly connecting it to his cowardice, laziness, and hatred of hard work. At one point, he's directly compared to a donut.

ALL THAT SAID.

I did enjoy the book overall. Taken as more of a YA style adventure narrative, it's a lot of fun! It's a murder mystery. The magic's neat; the characters aren't that deep but they are distinctive and memorable and fun; the mystery is fun and intriguing with multiple angles and questions to sink your teeth into. It's an easy read. Once I readjusted my expectations, it was a lot of fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Child abuse

Minor: Child death

bezarue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

No one is surprised that I loved this. The tagline says lesbian necromancers in space exploring a gothic castle. Ofc this was right up my street.

Genuinely shocked by just how many people died. Like christ on a bike I was expecting one more death after the kids not like ten. Also Gideon better not actually be dead or I am going to lose my shit. She's gotta keep being reincarnated right? RIGHT?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Death, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Violence, and Gore

grrrbinsky's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Body horror, Death, and Gore

tbd24's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

fantastic read. the only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 stars is that it’s a bit confusing in the beginning, trying to figure out who everyone is and how they relate to each other. I wish the author gave us just a cursory background in the beginning. But once I hit the middle of the book it was like a switch flipped and I felt like I understood everything and also I loved it. The cavalier/necromancer relationship is MY SHIT.  Fuck enemies to lovers, how about enemies but they’re duty bound beyond every fiber of their beings to back each other up and they eventually learn that they’re secretly best friends AAAAAH i’m incoherent. Jovial prose, tidy plot writing, characters you can love and hate and relate to and judge,  the perfect amount of sexiness in the face of danger, seriously this book had it all for me. Can’t wait to read the next one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cancer, Cursing, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Minor: War, Slavery, Confinement, Torture, and Religious bigotry

fishbones's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Chronic illness, Gore, Death, Cursing, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

widgetknits's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Child death, War, and Self harm