Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

174 reviews

alainral's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Gore, Terminal illness, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Cannibalism, Cursing, Medical trauma, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Cancer

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

Quick review: this book was so much fun but it takes the completely wrong lessons form action animes. To the point many things were contradictory, cliche or predictable when you know Muir is capable of much more if she pushed herself or even reread and noticed she got ahead of herself and didn’t always keep track of characters or why a location change in a fight makes sense. 

Muir’s character dynamics and character multidimensional and the way she writes women so central though is incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Infertility, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Bullying, Suicide, War, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, Death, Blood, Cancer, and Body shaming

beefthedwarf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

Edit: after a few years, I've bumped this up to 5 stars. I'm obsessed with the series and the gripes I had were resolved after re-reading (high re-read value!) and understanding the characters better.

The writing was incredible and unique, and I found myself loving Gideon more than I ever thought I could love a main character. Due to the later plot twists and complex story, it also has a very satisfying re-read value. 

My biggest gripe is that Harrowhark did very little to redeem herself, and it was consistently difficult and heartbreaking to see Gideon be treated like absolute garbage, yet still cow to Harrow in a heartbeat. In my honest opinion, it takes more than a tearful apology and a confession of suicidal guilt to make up for the years of slavery, beatings, and abuse Harrow and her family put Gideon -- and all their slaves -- through. 

I think the book also suffers a bit from being the prequel/world building intro to the rest of the series. 

Regardless, the book left me enamored and intrigued enough to add Harrow the Ninth to my reading list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Incest, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Cannibalism, Body horror, Colonisation, Child death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Death

The author depicts characters of color, particularly men of color, in a poor light. There is rampant colorism. An indigenous man is a perpetrator if colonial violence.

smugblueenby69's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

This book and series is genuinely the best I’ve read so far. It kept me engaged the whole time, and I will absolutely reread this series as many times as I can. I love Gideon and Harrow so much! They’re so funny and sad and you just want to hold them. I definitely recommend this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Suicide, Child death, Body horror, Cancer, Cannibalism, Grief, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Death, and Toxic friendship

nefariousbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

read it for the third time, it just doesn't get old. each time I find something new, something I missed, something I can appreciate more with knowing more from other books or fan theories. it's hard to get into it once you do... I haven't read a more impactful book series. there is just so much depth to everything. we could study this thing for entire semesters and never run out of stuff to talk about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Vomit, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Cancer, Cursing, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Emotional abuse

wogslandwriter's review against another edition

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

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

The first 35% or so took me almost a month to get through. I struggled especially from when Gideon arrived at First House up until the end of Act II. So many characters, all referred to in multiple names, were introduced that were hard to keep track of. Most of them were indistinguishable (

and they die anyway

). The plot's direction wasn't clear, as nothing seemed to happen for a while at Canaan House. The writing style also took me time to get into; it was dense and felt like reading filler at times. A lot of what was going on flew over my head and I found myself constantly rereading parts.

Despite these challenges, I loved the two main characters, the setting, and the murder mystery that unveiled. I loved Gideon's feistiness, insults, and her dynamic with Harrow. I know Gideon's quips and the story's very Millennial (and already dated) sense of humor turns off some readers, but I kind of enjoyed it. The world was very unique and intriguing, though grim and disturbing. It leaves a lot of questions to be answered, which I expect will be covered in later books.

I heard the Harrow sequel is just as confusing and chaotic, but the reveals toward the end have convinced me to continue. I'll definitely reread Gideon the Ninth sometime. With a better understanding of what's going on, I'll probably appreciate it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Child death

nixieba25f's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Medical content, Slavery, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Violence

therealratking's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, and Suicide

whooliio's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Terminal illness, Death, Suicide, Child death, Violence, Gore, Slavery, and Cannibalism