Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

497 reviews

feyofbones's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0

This is by far one of my favorite books and if you’re into body horror and mystery, and a down bad narrator this is the book for you. 
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wogslandwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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mal_reads_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

The first 35% or so took me almost a month to get through. I struggled especially from when Gideon arrived at First House up until the end of Act II. So many characters, all referred to in multiple names, were introduced that were hard to keep track of. Most of them were indistinguishable (
and they die anyway
). The plot's direction wasn't clear, as nothing seemed to happen for a while at Canaan House. The writing style also took me time to get into; it was dense and felt like reading filler at times. A lot of what was going on flew over my head and I found myself constantly rereading parts.

Despite these challenges, I loved the two main characters, the setting, and the murder mystery that unveiled. I loved Gideon's feistiness, insults, and her dynamic with Harrow. I know Gideon's quips and the story's very Millennial (and already dated) sense of humor turns off some readers, but I kind of enjoyed it. The world was very unique and intriguing, though grim and disturbing. It leaves a lot of questions to be answered, which I expect will be covered in later books.

I heard the Harrow sequel is just as confusing and chaotic, but the reveals toward the end have convinced me to continue. I'll definitely reread Gideon the Ninth sometime. With a better understanding of what's going on, I'll probably appreciate it more.
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lizziaha's review against another edition

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dark funny
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Y’all I did NOT see that end coming. But I had a good time on the journey. The relationship dynamic between Gideon and Harrow is just gorgeous and hilarious, and I loved Gideon as a narrator. The vibes were immaculate, right down to the skeleton housekeepers and Gideon’s faked aesthetic, and I’m scared that the sequels won’t measure up to this one. 
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narsere's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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tobibi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This really reinvigorated my reading mood. It took a bit to build up, but the world building is presented very well (little to no infodumps) and the characters are introduced slowly, so you get a general feel for them throughout the book. The horror elements are good, though a bit less striking than I thought they would be, but that's likely due to our POV (Gideon). I enjoyed seeing the back and forth in Griddlehawk's relationship progression, and the ending was heartbreakingly good. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

favorite lines

 
"... Where I'm going, I promise to piss fidelity all the livelong day. I have lots of fealty in me. I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body. I fealt *hard*." (p. 43)
 

 
"With the proper motivation, Griddle could wield two swords in each hand and one in her mouth. While we were developing common sense, she studied the blade." (p. 53)
 

 
"Harrow said, "No."
"I want to go," said Gideon.
"This sounds impossibly vapid."
"I want to eat a dessert."" (p. 167)
 

 
Harrow's voice, almost a whisper: "A light, Nav."
"What?"
"You *did* bring a torch."
"This is a service I was unaware I was meant to provide," said Gideon. (p. 204)
 

 
... "Thoughts?"
Gideon said, "Did you know that if you put the first three letters of your last name with the first three letters of your first name, you get 'Sex Pal'?" (p. 274)
 

 
"Ask me how I am and I'll scream," she said.
"How are you," said Camilla, who was a pill.
"I see you calling my bluff and I resent it," said Gideon... (p. 305)
 

 
Once Gideon would have loved to hear Corona talk to her with that low, breathy intensity, maybe saying "Your biceps... they're eleven out of ten," but right now she did not want anyone to talk to her at all. (p. 327)
 

 
"... Look, Nav. You ratted out your childhood nemesis to get her in trouble. You didn't kill her parents, and she shouldn't hate you like you did, and *you* shouldn't hate you like you did."
He was peering at her through his spectacles. "Hey," she objected lamely, "I never said I hated myself."
"Evidence," he said, "outweighs testimony." (p. 336)
 

 
... "I'm an abomination. The whole universe ought to scream whenever my feet touch the ground. My parents committed a necromantic sin that we ought to have been torpedoed into hte centre of Dominicus for. If any of the other Houses knew of what we'd done they would destroy us from orbit without a second's thought. i am a *war crime*." (p. 353)
 

 
"... I made myself watch, when my parents -- I could not do the slightest thing my House expected of me. Not even then. You're not the only one who couldn't die." (p. 355)
 

 
... "You apologize to me now? You say that you're sorry when I have spent my life destroying you? You are my whipping girl! I hurt you because it was a relief! I exist because my parents killed everyone and relegated you to a life of abject misery, and they would have killed you too and not given a second's goddamned thought! I have spent your life trying to make you regret that you weren't dead, all because -- I regretted I wasn't! I ate you alive, and you have the temerity to tell me that *you're sorry*?" (p. 356)
 

 
"Hm," said Camilla neutrally, and Gideon knew immediately that she organized Palamedes's and her socks by color and genre. (p. 365)
 

 
... She didn't need a very long look to tell that Dyas was dead. For one thing, her skeleton and her body had apparently tried to divorce. (p. 372)
 

 
"She took Babs," she said, which seemed fair enough.
But then Corona started crying again, big tears leaking out of her eyes, her voice thick with misery and self-pity. "And who even cares about Babs? Babs! She could have taken *me*." (p. 394)
 

 
Harrow said, with some difficulty. "I cannot conceive of a universe without you in it."
"Yes, you can, it's just less great and less hot," said Gideon." (p. 437)
 
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mossybean's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

I loved this book, despite it being far outside my usual wheelhouse. It was gripping, I wanted to read it all in one day once I got about halfway, but it’s obviously too long to do that. The writing is quite beautiful, the description passages lyrical. The banter between the main characters is funny. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was the ending… it’ll take a while to process. 
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fate_of_ansley's review against another edition

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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

4.75

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jodean's review against another edition

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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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