Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

87 reviews

tobibi'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This really reinvigorated my reading mood. It took a bit to build up, but the world building is presented very well (little to no infodumps) and the characters are introduced slowly, so you get a general feel for them throughout the book. The horror elements are good, though a bit less striking than I thought they would be, but that's likely due to our POV (Gideon). I enjoyed seeing the back and forth in Griddlehawk's relationship progression, and the ending was heartbreakingly good. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

favorite lines

 

"... Where I'm going, I promise to piss fidelity all the livelong day. I have lots of fealty in me. I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body. I fealt *hard*." (p. 43)

 

 

"With the proper motivation, Griddle could wield two swords in each hand and one in her mouth. While we were developing common sense, she studied the blade." (p. 53)

 

 

"Harrow said, "No."
"I want to go," said Gideon.
"This sounds impossibly vapid."
"I want to eat a dessert."" (p. 167)

 

 

Harrow's voice, almost a whisper: "A light, Nav."
"What?"
"You *did* bring a torch."
"This is a service I was unaware I was meant to provide," said Gideon. (p. 204)

 

 

... "Thoughts?"
Gideon said, "Did you know that if you put the first three letters of your last name with the first three letters of your first name, you get 'Sex Pal'?" (p. 274)

 

 

"Ask me how I am and I'll scream," she said.
"How are you," said Camilla, who was a pill.
"I see you calling my bluff and I resent it," said Gideon... (p. 305)

 

 

Once Gideon would have loved to hear Corona talk to her with that low, breathy intensity, maybe saying "Your biceps... they're eleven out of ten," but right now she did not want anyone to talk to her at all. (p. 327)

 

 

"... Look, Nav. You ratted out your childhood nemesis to get her in trouble. You didn't kill her parents, and she shouldn't hate you like you did, and *you* shouldn't hate you like you did."
He was peering at her through his spectacles. "Hey," she objected lamely, "I never said I hated myself."
"Evidence," he said, "outweighs testimony." (p. 336)

 

 

... "I'm an abomination. The whole universe ought to scream whenever my feet touch the ground. My parents committed a necromantic sin that we ought to have been torpedoed into hte centre of Dominicus for. If any of the other Houses knew of what we'd done they would destroy us from orbit without a second's thought. i am a *war crime*." (p. 353)

 

 

"... I made myself watch, when my parents -- I could not do the slightest thing my House expected of me. Not even then. You're not the only one who couldn't die." (p. 355)

 

 

... "You apologize to me now? You say that you're sorry when I have spent my life destroying you? You are my whipping girl! I hurt you because it was a relief! I exist because my parents killed everyone and relegated you to a life of abject misery, and they would have killed you too and not given a second's goddamned thought! I have spent your life trying to make you regret that you weren't dead, all because -- I regretted I wasn't! I ate you alive, and you have the temerity to tell me that *you're sorry*?" (p. 356)

 

 

"Hm," said Camilla neutrally, and Gideon knew immediately that she organized Palamedes's and her socks by color and genre. (p. 365)

 

 

... She didn't need a very long look to tell that Dyas was dead. For one thing, her skeleton and her body had apparently tried to divorce. (p. 372)

 

 

"She took Babs," she said, which seemed fair enough.
But then Corona started crying again, big tears leaking out of her eyes, her voice thick with misery and self-pity. "And who even cares about Babs? Babs! She could have taken *me*." (p. 394)

 

 

Harrow said, with some difficulty. "I cannot conceive of a universe without you in it."
"Yes, you can, it's just less great and less hot," said Gideon." (p. 437)

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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 abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Dementia, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mngwa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

This book took me a while to get into. I knew the writing was good but it didn't click. I got myself to a place where I just sat down and finished it and I'm really happy I did. The ending was so lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Dysphoria

jillian8's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Love love love. Gets even better after you read the second one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, and Cannibalism

lmaloney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War

themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and War

amsswim'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is the first fantasy I have read in a decent amount of time, and I think it was a good step back in. Reminded me of all the reasons I used to love fantasy; magic, ancient worlds, sword fighting, etc. I thought the story in this was very interesting and kept me interested the whole time, but I find myself unsure if I want to continue the series. 

I have a weird relationship with multi-book series, regarding if the story of a book is self contained with individual books in the series. I tend to like every book to a have a fully contained plot which, without spoilers, this book does very well. Maybe I'll try #2, unsure as of now. 

My main complaints would be around dialog, which felt silly sometimes, and side character development, which was really good some spots but lacking in other areas. Generally though it was a good read and has motivated me to actually read all the Brandon Sanderson books my partner has!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Medical content

larbster90's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad 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

4.5

Took me a bit to get i to it because the world is so complicated, but once I started to understand I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cursing

harrimyers's review against another edition

dark 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

i Love this book. i love it. i love it so so so so so so so much. the ending has devastated me. i am broken. what the fuck what the fuck i anticipated not a single plot point. not one. what the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

carrieclothwright's review against another edition

Setup is really grim; none of the characters seem lovable, their main interest is in level of spitefulness; I'm not interested in necromancy; cursing is not out of place given the context but still kinda meh; basically seems really depressing, can't get into it, and don't want to immerse myself in a downer right now. Might try again some other time. 

eta: just went through the list of content warnings and wow, for being less than 10% in that's... a lot.  I think this book just might not be my style. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail