Reviews with content warning for Rape - Ninefox Gambit

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Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

25 reviews

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.0

can't tell if I just have no brain power at the moment or if the worldbuilding and plot legitimately are never explained in a way that makes sense. want to maybe give it another shot in the future to see if my feelings change, but for now, just kind of impenetrable

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ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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sandragloz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.5

Jedao🥲

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telescopewizard's review against another edition

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4.75

FAV SERIES OF ALL TIME I THINK? PLS READ THIS BOOK.

the reason for the -.25 star is that it IS kind of insane and confusing on a first read, so if complex magic/scifi systems aren't ur think it may be tough to get thru
but imho: said magic/scifi system is just so FUCKIN COOL that it makes up for it. it's kinetic! it comes at u fast! but if ur stressed u can just focus on the big picture and u will be fine, even if u gotta give up on understanding all the details right away. quoth this review from Strange Horizons:

"You know what's going on, right?" Ninefox Gambit asks. Often, you have to say, "Uh, yeah, of course," when the real answer is "I have no idea, but I really, really care." And then you keep reading.

anyway all that said, it definitely benefits from a reread after you get thru the rest of the series. i feel really galaxy-brained right now like "ah yes of COURSE, the CALENDRICAL SPIKE!"

other notes about other aspects:

smth i really appreciated this time was how the structuring does not let up for even a single second as it tries to convey to u how deeply fucked up kel warfare is. the red shirt kel POV chapters come more and more frequently as u get closer to the end, and YHL is a master of giving characters instant personality + history, so like u meet an entire human person and then immediately u watch them commit heinous acts and/or have heinous acts committed unto them in the name of kel command. oof
had an epiphany: i like this so much because it is grown-up artemis fowl ?!?!? like not exactly of course but the vibes.. cheris is so similar to holly short (and jedao is similar enough to artemis that it's really amusing to me). complex magic system with lots of great techy jargon. detailed plots and schemes. and the writing style itself -- the way it zooms in on random side characters to flesh out the universe, the constant ironic sense of humor that the prose has so that no scene is ever totally bleak and depressing, there's always a knife's edge of irony or just plain goofiness. i don't mean to say that there's copying going on here (they r substantially different books), just that if u liked AF in middle school, u will prob like this as an adult <3
falling to PIECES the ENTIRE TIME abt how incredible cheris & jedao are, both as characters individually and as a duo. i've never read the whole series back-to-back before and i'm kind of scared about what it's gonna do to my brain chemistry because i already have such strong cheris & jedao feelings that it makes me have a physical reaction whenever they say things. ANYWAY! ON TO BOOK 2!

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reebeee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Good book if you enjoy sci-fi warfare and military strategy—as other reviews mention, it requires a tolerance for a wide array of made-up terms. Also as other reviews have noted, Cheris could have used some more development—we don’t get much of a backstory, or motivation, or relationships for her. She’s mostly a foil for Jedao and a stand-in for the reader in her reactions. She’s not annoying though, and I appreciate that one of her defining features is loyalty, which is fun to play with when so many narratives start with rebellious protagonists.

The side characters are vivid and interesting, but ultimately don’t play large or long-lasting roles in the narrative

not least because practically all of them die at the end of the book

. I appreciated the way that Lee emphasized the brutality of war and the abruptness of death—some of the passages reminded me of the Iliad in that sense.

But a book is a narrative, after all, and it would be nice for at least one interesting side character other than Kujen to have lived. Not every side character has to be gun-fodder to demonstrate the futility of war, and any plot- or world-building potential of characters like Nerevor, Vahenz, and Zai remains unused.

I enjoyed this book's premise and characters, and I'll probably end up reading the sequels, but in the end, Ninefox's potential was more promising than its actuality.

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hauntedtesty's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

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olityr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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evilscientist's review against another edition

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5.0

-i really really enjoyed this book. cheris and jedao were charming protagonists
-the world building and writing style took some time to get used to but it’s very interesting
-idk what it is about possession/bodysharing but i enjoy it, i gotta find more books that feature that trope
-i haven’t read any other sci-fi/fantasy novels that are also hardcore war novels like this one, particularly where the main characters are on the side of the imperialists rather than the rebels. some of the scenes from other POVs are brutal
-jedao is an interesting and scary character to me. you want to like him sometimes but then he reminds you that he is always trying to advance his goal no matter the cost. it’s hard to tell how much of him is genuine and how much is manipulation. the scene where he pretended to ‘go mad’ was very unsettling. also when it’s revealed that he’s [redacted] i was like wowww he’s just like me

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mdegraffe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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mdpenguin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

I'm not that into straight up war stories, but this was very clever. I enjoyed the notion of complex mathematical models of calendars and holidays creating exotic physical effects that can be harnessed as tools and weaponry. A lot of the story, though, felt choppy. There were parts that the author really wrote well but there were good chunks here and there that felt a little underdeveloped. As much as I enjoyed it, I wasn't going to read the rest of the series until I got to the end, which unexpectedly drew me in despite the fact that I was expecting the ending. It was the way that it happened that made me really want to see where it's going to go.

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