Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

16 reviews

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

NONA THE NINTH deals with a necromantic version of plurality in a way whose groundwork was laid in GIDEON THE NINTH and HARROW THE NINTH. Much as "one flesh, one end" is undeniably queer, Camila and Palamedes display a version of plurality, which is necromantic in its origins, but familiar to me in its general shape.  I’m a singlet, not a plural system, but several important people in my life are plural, and so much of how Nona interacts with Camilla and Palamedes echoes my interactions with those people in my own life. There’s a line in the second half of the book that makes it clear that at least some of the characters know about plurality, even if what’s happening with them is a specific magical version which canonically involves souls. In some ways plurality is more canonical to the text than any particular style of queerness (except perhaps for sapphic attraction), though this book (and the whole series) is undeniably and wonderfully queer.

The worldbuilding gets more of a chance to breathe this time around. GIDEON THE NINTH was a murder mystery until other things started being much more important. HARROW THE NINTH is a fever dream of confusion which suddenly snaps into coherence at the 90% mark. NONA THE NINTH is a breath, pausing for a story which has a clear framework, a lovable protagonist, and a sense of rhythm and pattern to her days. This calm amidst the storm is ripped open by a descent into war and the deterioration of her body as the day approaches when the Locked Tomb will open. I like the interludes as John tells the story of how this started. These sections helped with pacing and framing, as well as bringing the extremely welcome event of someone actually explaining what the fuck is going on for once. 

As the third book in the series, NONA THE NINTH continues Several things begun in earlier books, specifically, but not only, the fates of a great many characters such as Camila and Palamedes. There's so much in each book that it's very difficult to know which details will be picked up later and which ones have been completely handled in their first treatment, but this does eventually give some answers about things first raised in earlier books. There’s an entirely new storyline related to Nona, her relative newness, and everyone she cares about at home and the school. She’s just so happy in a way that incorporates strangeness and allows for a joking grotesquerie, effortlessly finding beauty in weirdness. It also leaves a huge thing for later, promising that the Locked Tomb will be opened, even counting down to that promised day before leaving the aftermath of its opening to be handled in the next book, ALECTO THE NINTH.

There are many fewer memes than the previous books, but the few that are in there are expertly chosen to devastating effect. There's one near the very end that I refuse to spoil which threads the needs between fantastically illustrating the meaning of the surrounding text and needing to be imperceptible to anyone not already in the know. I applaud the execution of it, even if by its nature it's frustrating that this is what the author decided to include. Masterfully done, I tip my cap.

As was the case for HARROW THE NINTH, if someone tried to read this as their introduction to the series, it would likely make sense almost all the way through... and then the ending would be strange and sideways because it relies on several things established in previous books as well as bringing many returning characters who have been more thoroughly introduced elsewhere. Also, the way that the John interludes are explaining how things came to be like this would be a bit strange without the grounding provided in GTN and HTN.

I think this is my favorite book in the whole series, and I'm looking forward to what ALECTO THE NINTH brings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Death, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Medical content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Kidnapping, Vomit, Genocide, Terminal illness, Animal death, War, Death of parent, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Excrement, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use

traa's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Body horror, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Murder, Self harm, War, and Medical content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism

ichewonpushpins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I mean how do you even rate this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, War, Vomit, Violence, Gore, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Animal death

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

"You can't take loved back" 😭😭😭😭

Reread review: I can't believe some ppl don't like this one bc it barely has Harrow and Gideon but if anything it just shows that Muir is a talented writer, she can write a compelling story without hanging on you being attached to the characters already. Same with the genre, Nona is still space opera but more domestic and coming of age story wrapped in. Or at least Nona is trying SO hard to have a coming of age story and not the horror space opera. I also loved the John sections, I'm obsessed with what a mundane antagonist God is. He doesn't mean to be an antagonist he just makes a lot of shit and selfish decisions, he is so real. Also the way the world ends is a bit terrifying in it's realism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

jakobvongunten's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Body horror

Minor: Animal death

cozyscones'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

multiplyoctopi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder and Animal death

jjreads331's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

I can see why Nona caused Tamsyn Muir to write a complete additional book in a series. She really is that special. The blurb on the cover is completely accurate - I do love Nona, and I know she loves me, too.

Proper review to come when I have more time to think about this beyond expressing my opinions in memes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Death, Grief, Blood, Child death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: War, Abandonment, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

Resisting the urge to relisten to this audiobook right the fuck now.

Tamsyn Muir, if I ever meet you, I'm challenging  you to a fight to the death for subjecting me to The Locked Tomb series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and War

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Death