Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

54 reviews

joyandfaye'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Cancer, Abandonment, Child death, Vomit, Suicide, Murder, Blood, Violence, Toxic friendship, Gore, Cursing, and Cannibalism

opallight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, Gore, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Cancer and Cannibalism

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

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

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

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

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

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: 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 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: 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minor: Cannibalism