Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

10 reviews

talon1010's review

adventurous dark funny 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? No

5.0

Oh, there's simply too much to say. This is a perfect book.

Mines all pretty, i did the flags blue and pink

The bonus content was FANTASTIC, I'll say. Fascinating and trackable but builds the world with depth more even than the considerable breadth of information that can be broached by... Such characters as these 😁💀⚔️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

bluestjuice's review

dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

Oh my goodness. Sometimes a book just crawls inside your consciousness in the best way, you know? This is like that - this isn't the book I was expecting, and I had no idea what was going on through the first third and even less idea through the second third - but godsdamn, I was unquestioningly committed and on board for the entire ride. 

Nona is so, incredibly, real. This is one of Muir's great talents - despite writing a series that is utterly over-the-top space melodrama with gothic elements and skeletons and necromantic flourishes all over everything, they nevertheless create people that feel and act utterly peopley. Many authors can't convincingly write youthful characters even in ordinary circumstances; Muir portrays Nona's uncomprehending childishness in a way that is genuine and feels both true to the experience of the young without being the least bit saccharine. I loved Nona, entirely, and her protagonism resonated with me vigorously despite the twisty, adult, machination-y web of deceit and plotting that surrounded her nearly every step of the way. 

This is the third book in the series, which I have waited for a long time, and which I should clearly have bothered to do a re-read of previous to this because the lore here is deep and the references are layered in as thickly as Griddle's skull makeup back in <i>Gideon the Ninth</i>. On the other hand, having now skidded out the other side (I'm not kidding: I read the last 100 pages in a rare frenzy of <i><b>you don't understand I cannot put this down until I know what happens</b></i>), I have a burning desire to go re-read everything through again, to line up pieces and notice all the many things I'm sure I missed or didn't realize the significance of at the moment they were deployed.

Anyway, I don't even feel qualified to review this really because my emotions are leaking out all over the place and I don't know what to say to explain how enjoyable I find this series and this installment. In all its infuriating circuitous mystery. I can't believe I have to keep waiting to find out what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Body horror, Gun violence, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Mental illness, Dysphoria, War, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

Minor: Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and Child death

elizmoe's review

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

i read this book in less than two days even though, i cannot emphasize enough, i had a <i> lot </i> of other things to do. 

tamsyn muir, waht is WRONG WITH you. what is. what is WRONG. IS wrong??? with you??????????

in typical muir fashion, she transitions seamlessly to a new POV character, leaves the reader mostly in the dark, and continually throws crazy world-building stuff that you didn't even know you wanted to know. but you did. <i> really </i> want to know. 

essentially, this book answered many of the questions raised by Harrow the Ninth, but somehow ends up raising about a million more. 

was harrow's soul in alecto's body or did it get transferred to the river, and is it now on earth having a chat with john, or john's abandoned once-human soul?? what's gonna happen to harrow's body? was nona the personification of the earth's spirit or was she alecto or was she alecto AND alecto is the personification of  the earth? also, why is kiriona!gideon such a dick, and why is she friends with ianthe, sorta? who has her two-hander sword?? will tamsyn ever give us a griddlehark reunion that makes a lick of sense? will the next book have even more body/soul/etc swapping, and how is that even possible given the amount of bodily musical chairs was happening in this book? also, pAUL???????????????????????????

all i know for sure is that i am pre-ordering alecto right now and blocking off my calendar for the entire week of the release date.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Child death

alexreads111's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

sgrunwald96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Nona is just so joyful. Again Muir kills it with the unique narrative voice that just gives life to the text and the perspective of the main character. There was a lot of work just trying to figure out what was going on because Nona has other priorities than explaining things she already knows but it’s done in a delightful way where you get to adventure along. Also the John chapters were WILD and finally gave the reader backstory on how the world ended up in this state. Truly a great book. Noodle is also a highlight.

”Nona, noodle is in the back” just feels so true for why every depressed or suicidal person should get a pet

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: War, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Violence

jjreads331's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

I can see why Nona caused Tamsyn Muir to write a complete additional book in a series. She really is that special. The blurb on the cover is completely accurate - I do love Nona, and I know she loves me, too.

Proper review to come when I have more time to think about this beyond expressing my opinions in memes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Death, Grief, Blood, Child death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: War, Abandonment, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

ehmannky's review

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

"You can't take loved away."

This sentence just floored me. I love all of The Locked Tomb series, but Nona is where I feel like we're really starting to see the themes of what forgiveness is, the way imperialism cannibalizes identity, what does it mean to heal in an unclean way, the emptiness of revenge, the uselessness of punishment as justice, and the power of love to (in the book's case literally!) turn you into someone else. And it's just so lovely. And it's just fantastically written. It's amazing how Muir can swing the wild tonal shifts of each book, but they all work so well together and give each protagonist such a unique voice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Suicide, Gun violence, Blood, Self harm, Murder, Gore, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content and Colonisation

Minor: Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Drug use, and Child death

daydreamermoonwalker's review

dark emotional funny 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

I haven't gathered all my thoughts together yet, so I'll leave a more detailed review later, but I absolutely loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, Terminal illness, Child death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Incest

Note on the terminal illness:

the main character is dying over the course of the story, but it's not from a real world illness. It's more supernatural in nature, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. A minor character also is very ill throughout the story, but again, it's supernatural in nature.

Child death:

the character who dies isn't technically a child, but their memory is wiped so they behave and think like one. So tagged it just in case.

Incest: it is implied by the way two characters interact with each other, but it is not explicitly in the text or at all graphic.

nicnevin's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book and Nona loves me.

I pulled the book apart and devoured it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, War, Deadnaming, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Suicide attempt

uranaishi's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Child death, Cursing, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Gore, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Genocide, Mental illness, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Transphobia