Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Gideon la Nona by Tamsyn Muir

58 reviews

owls_rainbow's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

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.

---

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

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.0

I'm still recovering from the

emotional damage

of that ending so this isn't going to be my best work. 

Muir's world-building is very interesting in that she has clearly worked hard to create a detailed world with internal consistency ...but she doesn't see fit to share that with us. I spent a good three quarters of the book very confused and honestly struggled to continue in parts (confusing, very descriptive heavy, one character disappears for days leaving the other wandering around confused herself). Then the ending hit me like a punch to the face. 

If you can get through about 350 pages, all the action and exposition happens in the last 80 pages or so. 

Super dark, very graphic gory. 
Some pretty incredible fight scenes and one liners. 

5/10 would recommend 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, and Murder

liketheverb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, and Religious bigotry

essiie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I'm not ok

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

adbooks20's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Genocide, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zefancifulreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy Hell. 
What an incredible book. 
It’s witty, it’s dark, it’s bloody and I’m absolutely in love. 
It was made even better with Moira Quirk lending voice to this dynamic story. 
I will treasure this first read forever. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, and War

dani_365's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Slavery, and Death of parent

lunarlibra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

To everyone who has been talking about how much they love this book for years: I get it now
For some reason it took me a long time to really get into this book (like over 100 pages) but once I did, I could not put it down! (I think it's a me-problem, and for someone else the early chapters would have been immediately captivating.) 
The character development, the mystery, and the increasingly heightened stakes of the book make this a truly compelling read. Also some parts are truly so funny I laughed out loud! That said, it is deeply tragic. I don't usually love tragedy, but something about how the characters handled it felt very real to me in a way that didn't leave me feeling hopeless. 
I think Tamsyn Muir did something truly special with this book, her writing style is very visceral (no pun intended) in that I found myself deeply understanding the characters' emotions from her descriptions of things like time passing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Slavery, and Colonisation

sabrina_marvil's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.0

Wrong.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Not in space