Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

108 reviews

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

As well-written and funny as I found this book, I also can’t deny that it disappointed me.

I personally found the writing style very unique and enjoyed it a lot. I thought the narration was funny and it really suited the main character’s personality. It felt modern, but not in a way that was poorly executed. I’ve read books set in the modern day that didn’t even come close to using modern slang/terms as well as this did. The use of language was also expertly used to convey descriptions of spaces and people.

I also really liked all the characters, they all felt very distinct from each other and well rounded. When allowed to be in smaller groups with Gideon it was so clear who was who and why they might act the way they do. However when in groups it felt more like they blended together and I quickly lost track of who was who. The narrator did help some with this, but I did still occasionally still mix them up. With the  distinctness of the characters it also lends well to interesting and complex group dynamics and conflicts.

I also really enjoyed early in the book when Gideon wasn’t speaking. It’s not a slight against the character, I just found the way she navigated interacting with others (and how they interacted with her in return) extremely interesting.

The narrator was also excellent. I felt like she really captured the main character and her voice acting ability really shone through with the large cast of characters.

However despite all I liked about the book it had its pitfalls.

I personally found what world building we got was really interesting, but it was giving so sparingly and in such little doses I found myself confused and lost on the regular. Some bits of information were mentioned like they were common knowledge and I had a hard time keeping track of if and when the information had been mentioned.

The confusion continued into plot beats and elements. Especially near the end of the book. Information was presented and treated as if it had been hinted at the entire book when it felt very sudden and out of nowhere.

My final issue was Gideon and Harrow’s relationship. They grew closer over the book, but considering where their relationship started (and that Harrow OWNED Gideon) it didn’t feel warned or well developed. Especially as it seemed to be building towards romance. It felt so gross considering Harrow’s ownership of Gideon and the awful terms they started the book on. Overall it was the most disappointing part of the book to me.

In the end I think the book had a lot of positive qualities and the author is clearly skilled, but in the end just fell short and was lacking in plot and relationship development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Self harm, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Cancer, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death, Child abuse, and Death of parent

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

5.0

Everytime a major plot point is revealed it asks more questions than it answers AND ITS A GOOD THING

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

azureandroid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

You need to go in blind and expecting understand nothing cause you will understand everything by the last 50 pages 🤣

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Child abuse, Blood, Suicide, Vomit, Genocide, Infertility, and Miscarriage

It seems like I've listed a lot I will say this is a book about necromancers and knights, and the two main characters have a very complicated relationship

bohboh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Gore, Grief, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, and Vomit

Minor: War

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Kelsey has been trying to get me to read this for a while. Glad I finally listened. 
I will say the audio book specifically is done very well. I switched to it from the paper version and was able to follow much better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery, War, and Self harm

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

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: Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Child death

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

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

erinoco's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma

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

Moderate: Torture and Medical content

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

4.75

I AM SO HEARTBROKEN AND SO INTRIGUED AT THE SAME TIME. this is EXACTLY the shit i’ve been wanting, inject this into my VEINS

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Suicide