Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

4 reviews

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

Why is this a thing? Did it need to happen? I struggled to read Nona where I did not struggle with Gideon or Harrow. Hopefully Alecto is better. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Cursing, Classism, Mental illness, Violence, and Religious bigotry

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir's third book of four in the Locked Tomb series, is a sudden but welcome shift from the previous two books. Nona is just a nineteen year old relearning how to interact with society with the help of her three parental figures. But it is later discovered that

Spoiler

the three parents are necromancers from the Nine Houses and that Nona herself is piloting the body of someone named Harrowhark Nonagesimus, and the Nine Houses want them back

. An astounding dual point-of-view familiar to readers of Harrow the Ninth and a cast of loveable characters familiar of the same. The explosive ending leaves me wanting more!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Abandonment, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual content, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

The Blood of Eden's attack on necromancers comes with a lot of slur-like terms and bigotry that is reminiscent of (but not a direct copy of) religious bigotry in real life.

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Self harm, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Deadnaming, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

iviarelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

As much as Harrow the Ninth (the book) sometimes felt like an impenetrable puzzle box on the first read, Nona's life was never particularly opaque to me. Sure, there are questions adjacent to her, in fact all of the questions are adjacent to her, but I never felt frustrated by the way the information was withheld, even though the structure is very similar to Harrow's book went.

On a related note, I think it's an incredible achievement that Muir split this book off from Alecto the Ninth, where it was supposed to have just been the first third-to-half of the book, without making it FEEL like an incomplete story. Maybe part of that is down to how different Harrow felt from Gideon, setting us up for each book to be a slightly disjointed story about different but related characters within this world. Either way, nothing about this book is a disappointment, and the split point isn't as jarring as they often are when books are torn in half like this.

It's hard to say much more than that without spoilers. I'm so pleased with how this one played out, even with the questions I don't feel have satisfactory answers yet, and I'm looking intensely forward to Alecto.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Vomit, Colonisation, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Medical content, War, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Deadnaming, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Gaslighting