Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

62 reviews

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

zannayo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Almost lost me at the 40% mark but at about 45% it got really wild.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, and War

(Mentions specific character deaths)

Both kids (13-14yo) die in this. I usually can't handle books that include kids being hurt or dying (and I still struggled with this one) but the way it was written and the fact that the very intense part was only about 2 pages long made it manageable for me.

ekcd_'s review against another edition

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

One of the first queer lit books I read that wasn’t even remotely queer (in a good way). Being gay was at once core to and irrelevant to the characters and instead of contributing to or juxtaposting the plot it just was. 

One of the few books I’ve read where I had to physically shout HOLY FUCK during it.

Right now I have it a 4.75 and I’m not entirely sure where the deduction comes from. Maybe the gore? Maybe I’ll change the stars later 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

possibilityleft's review against another edition

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: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

madamenovelist's review against another edition

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

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

At the end of this book I experienced emotional damage and I fully expect it to make me cry again on re-reading in the future.

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:

Okay, so Gideon did not die with all the other children even though she was close to the vents for 10 minutes and her parents were hella scared about that.  In the epilogue, the Emperor says they couldn't retrieve Camilla (who was last seen alive) or Gideon's bodies so what if Harrow has Gideon's soul, but like, the body/vessel is still alive?  And Camilla managed to be resourceful because she definitely is wicked smart and they escaped the First planet...?  Or hid until they left?  I dunno.  Maybe I just don't want Gideon to be dead because her gay panic was so relatable.  And everyone else.  I loved the Fourth teens with their perpetual embarrassment and the Fifth cav Magnus was so sweet...

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thewickedbookworm'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is immediately my favorite book of January, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes my top 10 of the year. I was not expecting the emotional toll and I need to read the sequels immediately. Tamsyn Muir is now an auto-buy author for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Torture, Blood, and Cannibalism

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War

Mass child murder/sacrifice is a major plot device. Two teenagers are murdered in violent ways. Suicide is a major plot device, including parental suicide.

This is a bloody book full of necromantic characters, supported by personal warriors, who have varyingly dubious morals frequently caused by childhood trauma. There is no sexual violence or animal harm, but most other triggers can be found in this story.

huntress's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cannibalism

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

I was suggested this read by my co-parent. When I started reading I was almost overwhelmed by the world building. I think it would have been easier to take in as a novel than an audiobook because it started with a list of dramatis personae (characters) and as I did not know anything about the world it was a lot to take in. As someone who was a gothic teen I fully got behind the aesthetic of robes and dinge, and wearing sunglasses inside. The setting feels low tech but then you remember that there are spaceships, and you are just hanging out in ruins of centuries past.

This is a story about a group of necromancers, each paired with a fighter, who are attempting to unlock the secrets of a complex that will allow them to ascend to semi-godhood. They are needed as the tools of a mighty god necrolord who is .. running out of minions (which could cause the end of the empire?). The plot flow runs like a party based RPG and the challenges feel a bit like a videogame. I was reminded of Portal more than once.

This book is a confluence of nerdinesses. The language was appealing to me because the author is a New Zealander (like me). Many of the quirky idioms are from my local Kiwi dialect and from internet memespeek, which meant that I was right at home with the queer parlance. There was even a "yeah nah" in there which made me chuckle, and, until now, I have never once heard of someone referred to in a novel as "a bit of a d*ck". As someone who is interested in anatomy, I found myself familiar with medical terminology that was liberally peppered through the book, and as someone who reads psychology books, I was also familiar with random gushes of pop-psychology neuroscience. This might make the book a little impenetrable or, just exotic? to some readers.

As far as the action in the story is concerned, combat flows like an action anime. There are rapier duels and magic duels and combos of the two. There are weird undead things and so much rot, bone, teeth, goo, viscera, flesh, blood, body parts.. unidentifiable liquids. Things jab and pierce and stick and gloop and spray. I was reminded of Akira, Elfen Lied, and Attack on Titan (and many other newer and less well known titles). The plot turns on a dime and the antagonists launch into expository monologues that reveal that you were completely in the dark in so many ways, but I don't hate it.

Also as in anime there are some .. kind of problematic moments that are pure "fanservice". The main character is continually eyeing-up and sexualising other characters, which comes across as funny, and also very gay, but also a bit eyerollingly cringe.

Wrap this all together with some deep lore,  trauma-informed tragic backstory, a few (deliberately) disastrously toxic relationships, and some feels, and you get a recipe for a book that launches a fandom. Yeah, I'll read the others, even if parts of it are a hot mess and I don't actually enjoy all the fight-scenes and battles. The characters are fun and there is enough deliberately left unrevealed that I am intrigued to find out what comes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Cannibalism

ivan_tw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-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

3.75

Hardly great literature, but fun and easy-reading, with a charming cast of characters and a few legitimately surprising twists along the way. My only criticism would be in the length; it didn't need to be 500 pages long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer and Vomit