Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Harrow la Novena by Tamsyn Muir

36 reviews

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

4.0

I found this book a little harder to follow than the first. It might be because I listened to it on audio rather than reading it. Or it could be because Harrow decided to fuck with the timeline of the first book. I still enjoyed it, especially towards the end, and will definitely be reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Murder, Child death, and Suicide

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Honestly hard to rate because the first 60% are kind of a drag, but after that it does slap pretty hard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: War, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence

poison_frogs's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt

provo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

I knew before reading this that the plot would not make sense until 2/3 trough, so I was prepared for the confusion.
The finale was something else and bumped my rating from 4 to 5 stars, incredibly satisfying to unwind all the what-the-fuck-is-going-on.
But: check trigger warnings before reading, like there’s a lot of really graphic stuff.
Also maybe not a book anyone should read during an active psychotic episode (this is not a joke).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

possibilityleft's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Stalking, War, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dementia, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0

so I think reading this sequel has summed up my feelings on how muir writes. she comes off as an amateur writer - whether that’s true or not, I have no idea, but that’s the root of all my critiques. I’m not a fan of the humor in this series, but even more so, all the characters (except for Harrow) have the same sense of humor, even when you would expect them not to, which sort of cheapens the dialogue and their individual characterization. the one (main) character that I feel does not share this quality is Harrowhark, who is written as the inverse of Gideon, so of course she won’t have the Gideon-like humor. I think Harrow is the best written character in the series and she is certainly my favorite which is why I think I enjoyed this book way more than the first. despite that, the fact that she is basically a Gideon foil feels a little lazy especially when you look at the dialogue. I love Harrow but I wish her traits and personality was independent of Gideon. I enjoyed Harrow’s perspective

Spoiler

but once it shifted back to Gideon’s (which I KNEW was going to happen… I hated the second person format but then realized very early on that Gideon was most likely not actually dead and she was speaking for Harrow) perspective, I felt mildly annoyed. I don’t dislike Gideon at all, but I’d simply rather not read things from her perspective, especially in first person. she’s fine as a side character! I just really do not like her sense of humor and again, it cheapens the story for me. especially when God - her father - said that very ridiculous, unnecessary dad joke upon meeting her. I legitimately rolled my eyes and sighed. I just can’t escape this sense of humor even when Harrow is leading the book!

much more. she is a very interesting character and I do have a lot of love for her. the worldbuilding got SO much better in this book, but it’s not perfect. some things are still left unsaid or as loose threads (which I feel is not a part of the mystery and definitely attributed to what I imagine is inexperienced writing). I am still invested in the story despite my critiques (I just find the concept so fascinating - I desperately wish that the execution was better) so I’ll be continuing on with the series. I hope Harrow is in these next couple books because I do adore her and would certainly miss her if she was absent from the storyline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Vomit

nonsense's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, and Death

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

lumberelk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

elizmoe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Tamsyn Muir, meet me in the pit. So I can give you a <i>hug</i>. And then sue you for emotional damages. 

i'm screaming, i'm crying, i'm throwing up even more than harrow in the first 5 chapters of this book. gideon and harrow have forever altered my brain chemistry. i understand that these books are perhaps not for everyone, but they are definitely for <i>me</i>; every reality-bending, viscerally disgusting, brow-furrowing-inducing moment of this stupid lesbian necromancer and her stupider lesbian cavalier were for me, and i am wretchedly grateful. 

too early to say for sure, but this book may have ruined me for other books? we'll see, but i have a bad feeling that anything else i will read that contains any of the following:

necromancy
swordplay
space
nonlinear storytelling
unreliable narrator(s)
enemy lesbians

will just leave me wondering why that book can't be her*. 

*the locked tomb series

also the payoff of this book is CRAZY. if you are like 20% through and not seeing the vision and considering DNF, i urge you to carry on even if the 500 pages feel daunting. you won't believe your eyes when shit starts coming together, because so many pieces do. even pieces that don't, i am confident will be explained in the next two books, as there were many many setups from book 1 that made for some incredible reveals in this book. 

i have so much more to say about this book but most of it is yelling. even the occasional ill-advised meme inserts couldn't mar this book for me! and that's pretty insane!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, Genocide, Cursing, Child death, Body horror, Death, War, Torture, Gore, Vomit, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Stalking, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

nishidake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Xenophobia, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt