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sheiksleopardthong's review
- 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
When I first started reading this series I asked my husband (who'd just finished it) "Is there magic?" And his response was "Uh, depends on your definition of magic." I wasn't very satisfied with that answer.
Well, now I have to suck up my pride and admit I'm satisfied with that answer.
I don't even have words to describe my love for this series, these characters, this world. This book makes me want to write. It makes me believe in trim.
I cannot wait for the final book. But Seth did something so few authors do, which is let the story rest. Give us a breather. I'm so so content with the end of The Tyrant. I'm excited for the next book. But I'm not acutely dying for it. Maybe Baru &co won't get a break (we'll find out!) But we get one, and Seth gets one.
Graphic: Death, Cancer, Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Body horror, Classism, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, Grief, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Drug use
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, Cursing, and Cannibalism
Minor: Forced institutionalization
aileron's review
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, War, Xenophobia, Cancer, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal death, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
Minor: Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
ferlefur's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Torture, Death, Medical content, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Genocide, Cancer, and Gore
Moderate: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Drug use, Slavery, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Incest, Death of parent, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Transphobia, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Colonisation, Drug use, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Trafficking, and War
pineapplesurvivor's review
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Cancer, Homophobia, Colonisation, Violence, and War
Moderate: Gore, Body horror, Sexism, Classism, Violence, Genocide, Torture, Medical content, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Grief, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Genocide, and Cultural appropriation
mazomazli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, War, Gore, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Cancer, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, and Medical trauma
gilroi's review
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Abortion, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Cancer, Torture, Grief, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Classism, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Genocide, and Emotional abuse
asterope's review
- 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
This series is an absolutely breath-taking journey. As I understand it, this is basically the second half of Monster. So it has all the best stuff from Monster and much more. I won't rehash what I enjoyed about that book from my previous review, like multiple POVs, the worldbuilding, the adventurous tone, different writing styles, etc. I just want to ramble about plot and characters here, so I'll mark the rest of the review as spoilers. I mean, it's not really a review, just rambles. Also because it has spoilers for Gideon & Harrow the Ninth lol - I can't not talk about the similarities between these series, both of which are some of my favourites now.
This series still refuses to pull its punches. At 20% I was already feeling like things were so heavy that I needed to take a break. "Are children happy? I don't remember." Ow. The almost-lobotomy scene is one that I know will be very hard to re-read eventually. Baru was ready to end it all, confirming that Sieroch truly broke her. I never understood why some readers couldn't accept why she was different in Monster. Huge, transformative and soul-altering events will change a person. This book starts with Baru at her absolute lowest, ready to give up. The rest involves her breaking free of Farrier's control and learning from her terrible mistakes.
I'm glad that revelation of the 'Farrier process' came relatively early in the book. It gives Baru enough time to accept it, pull it apart, regain her agency and realise which mistakes were her own and not just down to Farrier. And god, wasn't the Farrier process just fucking awful? "To be what she was was to destroy herself! Exactly as Farrier required her to believe!" Fuck me. I get what Shir was doing now, but still think she's a bit hypocritical. She knows what she did with Salm (Baru's missing father) is evil, yet still she kept him captive and used him to threaten Baru. Thankfully she now seems to be on her way to rescue him. I am looking forward to hearing more about Shir and her backstory of whatever the hell happened in the jungle.
So throughout this book and the previous, I did think: don't all the little comments and interjections from 'Hu' remind me of how Gideon does that in Harrow the Ninth? Isn't that interesting? Huh. Aaand then I got to the almost-lobotomy scene. Wow! My two favourite fucked up lesbian savants with the voices of their beloveds in their heads. It's way more similar to Harrow than I first thought. Baru knew Hu's soul so well she inadvertently made a copy of it in the right side of her brain. How romantic! The dream sequences were absolutely lovely and terribly sad. The last one where Hu leaves her killed me. It was so true to her character and so reminiscent of Gideon's sacrifice in Gideon the Ninth. I cannot imagine how people who read Harrow and Tyrant one after another in August 2020 must have felt at the time. Baru and the Locked Tomb have so many wonderful similarities and differences - they are very complimentary to each other.
Tyrant has a lot of character growth for everyone involved. I think my favourites were Yawa, Tau-indi and Aminata. I did spend most of Monster thinking about similarities between Baru and Yawa. They're the same, they have the same goals really. Although I found Yawa isn't as self-aware as she seems. For all her criticisms of Baru, she has caused a lot of suffering too: "But I had a lot of dead boys on my conscience already and I could tolerate one more." Yet Baru is supposedly the scourge on humanity that needed to be taken out...I'm glad they finally came to understand each other. It was an emotional victory for both characters after the wild first quarter of the book. And Yawa's character really opens up after that - the camaraderie and rivalry they have is fun to read.
Aminata went through a lot. She almost died like..3 times? Every single time I was ready to be furious that she was dead, and then the sudden relief that she has lived once again. Hopefully she'll survive one last book. Baru finally telling her the truth and reuniting with her best friend was excellent. The forehead touch scene! Just lovely. They can now reframe their friendship outside of Farrier's influence. Well, eventually, since Aminata is still understandably mad. And Aminata's growth - she's turning away from the internalised racism and shame that was baked into her from the navy. I'm so glad that she gets to have that healing arc (even if it did require being shot by her own marines).
Tau-indi had their own internal reckoning and managed to successfully deal with being cut out of trim. That was nice. I was worried Tau would be lost forever in the wound of their relationships with Kindalana and Abdumasi. When Ormsment told them they would regret knowing Baru in Monster, I was like "oh fuck". Seeing those characters fall apart in the flashbacks and heal their trim again in the present was super satisfying. Plus Tau managed to successfully teach Baru that other people have their own desires, goals, thoughts, power, etc that are beyond her control. She needs them to be real people and not just her pawns.
Despite being the characters that Baru 'left behind', Iraji, Aminata, and Tau (and to a lesser extent, Osa and Shao Lune) get to have their own storylines on Eternal. Baru's negotiations only happened because of what they achieved without her. It was a little hard keeping track of all the Cancrioth faction drama, but I'm glad they aren't just the mysterious villains of myth. They had their own shit going on before they got drawn into this mess. There's something truly terrifying about the immortata baneflesh stuff. The body horror, the visceral gore - I did not expect it. But I do love Galganath the cancer whale. He's a good boy.
Back to Baru. Her courtship of Heia was delightful. Especially the conversations they have about Falcrest's homophobia and Baru's queer trauma. The same goes for her discussions with Iscend and Xe, resulting in ideas for dismantling Incrasticism. We've come a long way from Baru being scared to even look at other women in Traitor. There's a lot of good shit being set up for the fourth book.
Her fear at not being recognised as Taranoki after all this time...oh that got me. The feeling of being estranged from her culture after such a long time away. I'm so glad she got to meet up with her family again before the carpets. Because damn, I just knew she wouldn't be able to go home. Even though she chose the carpets to protect Taranoke and her parents, I fucking knew from the beginning that one of the many sacrifices Baru would have to make is not being able to return to the home she's trying to save. That was heart-breaking.
And after everything that's happened, Baru's triumphant verbal annihilation of Farrier at the end felt so fucking good, it left me breathless. She deserved it. I mean: "That was the Farrier Process, wasn’t it? You wanted me to live in your story. Well, you’ve failed. I’ve always wanted to fuck women, Farrier, and no matter what you do, I always will.” YES. The scene in the Emperor's hall was cathartic too, after all those chapters where Farrier thinks Yawa lobotomised her. Maybe I'm slow but I didn't guess Farrier's secret until that moment just before Baru reveals it. I knew it was her on the throne though. I like to think she did indeed wink at Aminata.
Tyrant has left me somewhat more hopeful for Baru's story that the last two books. Apparently the fourth book might be out in 2022. God, it's going to be a big year if so, because that's when Alecto the Ninth is due out.
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Cancer, and Genocide
Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Rape
cynthreads's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Cancer, Body horror, Sexism, Violence, Death, and Gore
Minor: Torture and Slavery
theresablue's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Genocide, Vomit, and Gore