Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

264 reviews

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

welcome gideon the ninth, you are now one of my elite employees (/ref).

i am broken. i am shattered. i am changed. 

i am but a simple lesbian.

i’ve been sitting here for an hour contemplating how to rate this. on one hand, the concepts were so frustrating to comprehend, and it was to the point where after every chapter i was consulting a guide because i wasn’t sure i was actually grasping what was going on, which made all 479 pages incredibly frustrating. on the other hand, this book is all i could think about. usually to fall asleep i employ a video essay of something that’s my special interest — recently only until dawn has been scratching that itch. but my body was craving a gideon the ninth video essay. all i could think about was this book.

needless to say, i can overlook how annoying this book was to read at times simply for the grip it had on me.

i love griddle. what an insane fuckjng nickname. i adore her, her inner monologue, her relationships, her reactions, her one liners, everything. 

i would die for the sixth, and harrowhark baby im coming for you in the next series hold on for me.

the plot was fucking insane. who decides “yeah the book i’m writing is about sapphics in space who are necromancers and also there’s a lowkey murder mystery plot with some romantic undertones and high fantasy oh and yeah did you forget we’re in space. and necromancers.” like ?????? i want what muir was having when conjuring up the idea of the locked tomb. absolutely batshit insane. and i wouldn’t have it any other way.

i don’t really know what i was expecting from the plot but im very pleasantly surprised by what it ended up being! even more surprised as i got a semi-big spoiler and yet it really didn’t spoil shit for me! like the spoiler did hold a lot of weight in the plot but because so much happens in this story it was so easy to focus on the other reveals happening simultaneously.

the fight scenes were a bit hard to follow especially when the necros are involved, and the trials were so fucking confusing to my mind. but honestly i was so invested in the characters, mainly the ninth & the sixth, that i can’t put this book any lower than 5-stars.

i’m gonna go stare at griddlehark fan art for the next 3 hours sobbing. also this book gave me such a big fucking headache oh my god reading my neuroscience textbooks is easier. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

TLDR: Confusing at first the end pays off your hard work. 

 

I was totally confused by the time I was 30% in so I went back to the dramatic personae at the beginning of the book and wrote brief descriptions which helped a lot. Ms Muir has taken the rule to tell not show so what you know about this world is what Gideon knows and deems worthy to think about. Which makes sense, I wouldn’t bother describing how trees grow in my everyday life. There are several appendices that would have been very helpful to read before instead of after. They do not contain any spoilers so perhaps they are in the front in other editions. 

 

Besides my confusion this was a well written book. The world is intriguing and the characters are interesting and for the most part developed. Gideon is a fresh voice in a fantasy world full of heroes saving damsels. Harrowhawk has surprising depth that doesn’t appear until you are past the 50% mark. The plot is complex with surprising twists, the ending is satisfying. I do think the final boss fight was a little to long, but the action was well described. I am looking forward to reading Harrow the Ninth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Sexual content

jahnadv's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Body horror and Cannibalism

keiwald's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Sloooow start, but picks up to the point where it's a sprint to the finish line.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Death of parent

It is a book about necromancy, lots of bones, lots of death, lots of blood.

krisalexcole's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Terminal illness, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

sara277's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

This book is completely different from anything I’ve ever read, and I loved it. It’s definitely a “trust the process” kind of read.

The action starts on page 1 and you’re thrown into a unique world with complex magic, a long history and political intrigues, and you barely learn anything about any of those points until well into the second half. For the first 300 pages you’ll wonder what is going on, thinking you missed some important background information along the way, but it will make you laugh and the intrigue and deaths will keep you going until you finally get a perfectly crafted picture.
That was my experience at least. The first half I was completely clueless about what was going on, but I was interested just enough to keep reading, and it was so rewarding by the end. I definitely didn’t even consider picking up the second book until the last 100 or so pages. Now I need more.

The story is so good, beautifully written, sometimes a bit too explicit and gory, but so well done. 
The characters are great. Loved Gideon and Harrow, both on their own and together, their push and pull dynamic, their enemies to whatever journey, their humor!

Their ill-fated conclusion! Love love love dramatic, plot-pivotal, selfless acts of sacrifice. Though would have loved more Gideon in the following book…

Loved the characters from the other houses as well, specially Palamedes and his nerd face-offs with Harrow.

I feel like a need a second read to really appreciate the side characters and the dynamic between houses, but with just the first I loved it. Can’t wait to pick up Harrow the Ninth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Chronic illness

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't know what happened to my original review but this time was a re-read and I still loved every moment of it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Religious bigotry

loliamkara'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

4.75

Very strange, but in a good way. I probably would’ve given it 5 stars, but I’m a little baby when it comes to swearing. Pretty cool book I’d say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness and Cannibalism

adoaboutclaire's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Required trust to keep going when you start it as not much is explained, but it's gripping and ou understand enough to run with it by about a quarter of the way through 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation

It's dark but if you can deal with it it's a great book.