Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

682 reviews

ayomason's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and War

(no spoilers) If you're worried about the CWs, it may be a good idea to google details to gauge your own comfort level. IMO, even if you know spoilers, it's still enjoyable and definitely worth reading. That being said, I usually don't mind spoilers in general as I'd rather be prepared before engaging with potentially triggering media. I know other people find that spoilers ruin the experience, so to each their own. On a similar note, this is a great choice if you enjoy books that you can read multiple times. Knowing what happens does not at all take away from future re-reads. I've read it twice, and the second was just as enjoyable, if not more. I know I will return to this book over and over.

heir_of_regulus's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It's a really cool idea, but I feel like it wasn't executed well. Pretty much the entire time I was reading it I was waiting for the plot to get going. The romance felt forced instead of natural. Honestly a lot of this book felt forced. Maybe it's just me, and I read it when I was in the wrong mood/headspace. But I had a really difficult time feeling anything for these characters and also a hard time trying to get sucked into the world. Which is pretty abnormal for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Minor: Genocide and Slavery

shadowearitei101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

That ending… everything leading up to it… holy shit.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Gore

forestfloor's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• 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

I loved this! I think the concept is original and it's really strongly executed. I found the balance between humour and creepiness worked really well. The creepiness itself was excellent, I think this is a great example of body horror done right. I found that even though most of the characters were described very negatively they were still lovable, which was great. 

My main drawbacks are that the story doesn't do much (any) handholding about the world building - I like that we avoid big exposition dumps but it does mean that you end up with that high fantasy thing of needing to get a third of the way into the book before you get the hang of who's who and how the world works. Additionally, I still have questions!! This is a series so I can't be too mad about every element of mystery not being wrapped up until I see how they're addressed in later books, but I do think some pretty key plot points go unexplained. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Genocide

joensign's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer and Cannibalism

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I had a blast with this book and the ending emotionally wrecked me 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

kelisabeth's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I found the first half of this book so tedious that if it had not been a book club book I would have DNF’ed it. 

I agree with other reviewers that it picked up in the second half but I didn’t love the way it ended. Hopefully things take a turn for the better in the second two books of this series but I feel like a break is necessary before attempting them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

gladiusglave75's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

For some reason, I had a tough time getting into this book at first, but 250+ pages in I really got invested!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

megamo35's review against another edition

adventurous 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

This book may be hard to get into for people who like to know what’s going on at every step of a story, but I promise it is so totally worth it.
The characters are amazing and have so much depth. There are little things and hints you’ll pick up on with each reread, and you’ll love Tamsyn Muir as much as you hate her for feeling things.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, and Death

For your sanity, make sure you have the second book on hand when you near the end.