Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Nona la nona by Tamsyn Muir

186 reviews

valerian_honeybee's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad slow-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: Body horror, War, Colonisation, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Deportation, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Hate crime

Minor: Police brutality

riledupryepie's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

I am obsessed with this little family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Body horror, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Eating disorder, Animal death, and Kidnapping

fierygecko's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-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? No

4.75

The more I read these books the more I fall in love with the series. Muir has such a unique writing style that the chapter structure alone takes you on a story alongside the plot and characters. It once again feels like you are falling apart alongside the characters in the novel. I found Nona incredibly endearing and I really liked that although she was born “yesterday”, she wasn’t “born sexy yesterday”. I was both elated and heartbroken by the way returning characters showed up again. If you liked Gideon, and you liked Harrow, and you want just a few more convoluted and deeply thematic answers about the Nine Houses, I recommend this book whole heartedly. If you liked Gideon, and you liked Harrow, and you just want to witness more off-kilter humour from half-dead people I recommend this book to you whole heartedly also. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Cursing, Death, and War

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Chronic illness

coolfijiwater's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: War, Gun violence, and Eating disorder

winged's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, War, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Colonisation, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Body horror, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Police brutality, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Abandonment, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Classism

ebp's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Death, Chronic illness, Blood, War, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Police brutality, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Car accident

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, War, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Medical content, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Violence, and Body horror

k_aro's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I took the longest to finish Nona the Ninth, not really out of Nona's failings or anything, I just couldn't get into the groove of having a whole bunch of narratives at once at the same time as an entire new cast of characters/new world. I also think it's the book that's easiest for me to tackle in The Locked Tomb series, both having a better grasp of the writing style/world as well as being structured a little more accessibly.

Off the bat, Nona's internal narrative is much more loving and caring than Gideon and Harrow, which is to say I spent so much more of GtN and HtN actively being confused and annoyed by the various characters, where in Nona they're a lot more understandable. NtN really does pull out to look at what the TLT-verse looks like outside of the Houses (and to a certain degree that life outside of them are in fact so fruitful and lively, which is something I just couldn't really imagine previously).

Ianthe is worse than ever, which is a compliment because I love how terrible she is. Muir really excels at the most horrifying relationships, experienced through shreds of narrative. I agree that NtN really feels like a prologue, but frankly a prologue to what I could not say; this seems to be a running TLT joke where each book is just more confusing and more disorienting than the last. Truly, I could not imagine what Alecto will do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Car accident, Confinement, Colonisation, War, Death, Drug use, Body horror, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Incest, Police brutality, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Terminal illness

Terminal Illness:

Well, whether Nona's illness is terminal per se is up for interpretation, I guess.

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

Life is too short and love is too long.

I need this series directly injected into my bloodstream. 

Five stars are not enough, I need to rate this series a whole galaxy worth of constellations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Gun violence, War, and Animal death

shottel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

4.5

Muir loves switching up her genres. While Gideon was moderately mystery-focused and Harrow was definitely a mystery novel, the mystery of Nona takes a back seat to how goddamn precious Nona is. Unfortunately, that fact makes an already sad series even sadder. It’s fortunate that Muir’s writing style is hilarious, because otherwise the entire plot of Nona the Ninth would’ve been pretty depressing.

Still, I would say it’s better than Gideon and a mark worse than Harrow - which is to say, it’s very good. I had a harder time following the plot than before, and while Muir makes great strides with diversity in this book, it sometimes comes off a tad awkward (like in the repeated misgendering of a character with they/them pronouns, just for them to correct themselves). But those are pretty small problems compared to the rest of this deeply dark and funny novel. If you liked Gideon and Harrow, I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Mental illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Toxic friendship, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Body shaming, Medical content, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Trafficking, and Sexual violence