Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

187 reviews

ailsaod's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

 This book was not what I was expecting! It is well known as 'that space lesbian book' and while this is correct there is a lot of other things also going on - such as this actually being a whodunnit.

I think the one thing that really stuck out to me was the setting of this book. For some time I was been wanting to find a book where a spooky, deserted sci-fi structure is explored and while that is the premise of a fair number of sci-fi books this is the first I have read to do it justice. The Canaan House has a strong atmosphere and I really enjoyed Muir's flowery way of describing it.

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

anneroza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, Body horror, Death, Violence, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Genocide

hzamrzla's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Amazing transcendent perfect beyond reproach. It cured my acne watered my crops patched my roof and did my homework. 

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Content Warnings

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

firstknight's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Self harm, Cannibalism, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

vintovka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

First impression, just finished it the night before.

GtN has a very strong beginning. I love the tactic of giving zero exposition. It makes you instantly intrigued in trying to figure out what is even going on with all these people, and also makes you focus on the characters and their dynamics more, since it's the only thing you somewhat understand. These are very strong and eye-catching from the very beginning. GtN has about fifteen characters who are all in some way relevant to the plot, and they're all delightfully distinguishable and colourful. 

Gideon is pretty standard as far as heroes of the story go, but she's very likeable. Empathetic, rebellious, moves before she thinks, has mysterious origins; I've seen it all before, but Gideon manages to sold me on these concepts once again through sheer force of her personality.  She works best with Harrow, Gideon's relationship with her is the backbone of the whole book.

I love unreliable narrators as much as the next guy, but this particular rendition of it left me a little unsatisfied. For like, half a book Gideon has no idea what is going on and just stumbles around, getting into situations, while you see glimpses of something you don't grasp happening in the distance. The final twist left me absolutely dissapointed, and the book was saved only by the last thirty pages. GtN reads very much like a book that's supposed to bloom only during rereading, which I don't particularly appreciate.

In general, GtN is a good fundament for a series, in the sense that I will be buying the next book. The only thing is I'm not sure I will like it that much.

((also lol russian translation sucks ass, why are the originals so expensive man))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Gore, Child death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Cannibalism, Slavery, Stalking, and War

yorgosson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Gore, Death, Child death, Cancer, Violence, Vomit, Terminal illness, Slavery, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide

quirkykayleetam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

Forget the "in space" part of "lesbian necromancers in space."

This is a locked room necromantic thriller told from the point of view of a snarky narrator who never wanted to be in this plot (or genre) in the first place.  But once there, she cannot help but care about the people around her.

My main issue with this book was pacing.  The beginning is a sightly too-long introduction to the world which, while I'm sure it will be important later in the series, plays much less of a part in this book than the interactions between characters.  Then the mystery begins with wonderful challenges and character moments...until the book becomes so concerned with narrative twists and surprises that it picks up pace to culminate in a fight scene that takes up literally a 4th of the book.

I found the characters, their growth, and their dynamics incredible.  And yes, that includes the side characters.  I wish we were given more time to focus on that and their REACTIONS to the mystery's twists than the loose worldbuilding that has little payout here.  I will never forget Gideon's character arc, but it felt downplayed in sequel setup.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Murder, Terminal illness, Death, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: War, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, and Cannibalism

possibilityleft's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

madamenovelist's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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: Gore, Cursing, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Classism

netflixismyroommate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Medical content, and Colonisation