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atomicrobin's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Abandonment
tbd24'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
4.75
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
harrimyers's review against another edition
- 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: Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Colonisation, Child death, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Blood, Confinement, Violence, Terminal illness, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, and Death of parent
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
tiana_king's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Chronic illness, Vomit, Body horror, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Cannibalism, and Murder
Minor: Religious bigotry and Suicide
smbd_the_reader's review
- 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
4.75
Can you sue the person who introduced you to this for emotional damages?
This sure was about lesbian necromancers in space.
This actually pulled off a situation where the main character is not the only important person/the only person doing things and driving forward the plot fairly well without resorting to giving most important people a POV*?
Definitely played a lot with what's expected in terms of what the main characters actually have to know (and convey to the reader) to make for an effective story, I think some found that frustrating, but in my opinion you generally get enough hints to figure out what you need to know.
Also has a lot of touches of what I almost want to say is classic (Greek?) tragedy where the characters traits cause their downfall, but I'm not sure if I got my knowledge of tragedies correct. Definitely delicious in a "I appreciate this technique, but stop stabbing me in the heart" way.
If you're using a e-reader and are bad at names I recommend getting yourself quick access to the character list at the front of the book in one way or another because while the author does a great job of fleshing out a ton of characters and juggling them, there's still a lot of characters and some of them occasionally go by titles so a reference is helpful.
Something, something, I'm getting the impression that my reviews continuously lose legibility.
*I have nothing against multiple POVs, but this was definitely a breath of fresh air.
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Religious bigotry, Gore, Abandonment, Cancer, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail
kalmia31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Child death, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cannibalism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
ailsaod's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
The worldbuilding and plot are rather opaque and although it is interesting to try and figure out it makes the beginning of the book difficult to get into. Muir is not an author who believes in exposition for better and for worse! I also initially found the characters difficult to connect with - Gideon refuses to cooperate with the plot for portions of the book and the other characters are quite strange but by the time things really kicked off I had gotten pretty attached.
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Suicide
hzamrzla's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cancer, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Gore
Minor: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship
possibilityleft's review against another edition
- 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: Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gore, Child abuse, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Body horror, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical content, Genocide, Death, Cannibalism, Blood, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child death, Abandonment, and Physical abuse