Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - Nona the Ninth

Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

16 reviews

ceruleanshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

“We are one flesh.”
“I am your end.”

you guys... i seriously cannot believe how fucking good this series is. it's taken over my mind.

(spoilers for gideon the ninth and harrow the ninth for my review, just fyi)

picking up a few months after HtN, we follow nona, who is assumably in harrow's body... but who is she?

nona is a loveable, wonderful protagonist and for a good portion of the book it's a bit of a relief from the high tension of GtN and HtN, instead focusing on nona's day to day on a strange, pre- (or maybe mid?) apocalyptic refugee planet, which is experiencing political unrest and turmoil from both blood of eden and the emperor's reign.

Sounds like the start of a joke, right? Two scientists, an engineer, a detective, a lawyer, and an artist walk into a bar to help me become God.

interspersed between nona's day to day are scenes with john gaia as we slowly uncover the final days before the great resurrection 10,000 years prior which has lead to the current circumstances. john gaia is delightfully complicated as a villain, as is ianthe i found in this book. i wasn't expecting that from her from (what i at least thought was) fan worship, but maybe that's also the appeal. and of course, we still get to enjoy muir's excellent humor:

He sighed and said, “We had the internet. We decided to stream.” She said, “What is this internet?” And he said, “See, I did make a utopia.”

“What if I don’t like me?” she said. But Pyrrha didn’t seem to understand. “Well, you’ll probably start visiting clubs and trying to hit on the dancers, and going from relationship to relationship not really being able to commit.”

“What does it mean to love God?” “Decent dinner and a bottle of average rosé. Maybe a movie. I’m not picky,” he said.

as with HtN, the curtain is pulled back more and we're able to piece together more information about this complicated universe muir has written for us. there were some excellent twists, turns, and revelations, but muir would never leave us off without more questions and a cliffhanger ending.

We didn’t even do it right … we were children—playing with the reflections of stars in a pool of water … thinking it was space.”

at this point so far, this could end up possibly being my all-time favorite series depending on how the last book(s) go. here's to hoping alecto doesn't let us down!

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mimikrow's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I love found family
(will probably do a more indepth review later rarararara)

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winged's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bluestjuice's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Oh my goodness. Sometimes a book just crawls inside your consciousness in the best way, you know? This is like that - this isn't the book I was expecting, and I had no idea what was going on through the first third and even less idea through the second third - but godsdamn, I was unquestioningly committed and on board for the entire ride.

Nona is so, incredibly, real. This is one of Muir's great talents - despite writing a series that is utterly over-the-top space melodrama with gothic elements and skeletons and necromantic flourishes all over everything, they nevertheless create people that feel and act utterly peopley. Many authors can't convincingly write youthful characters even in ordinary circumstances; Muir portrays Nona's uncomprehending childishness in a way that is genuine and feels both true to the experience of the young without being the least bit saccharine. I loved Nona, entirely, and her protagonism resonated with me vigorously despite the twisty, adult, machination-y web of deceit and plotting that surrounded her nearly every step of the way.

This is the third book in the series, which I have waited for a long time, and which I should clearly have bothered to do a re-read of previous to this because the lore here is deep and the references are layered in as thickly as Griddle's skull makeup back in Gideon the Ninth. On the other hand, having now skidded out the other side (I'm not kidding: I read the last 100 pages in a rare frenzy of you don't understand I cannot put this down until I know what happens), I have a burning desire to go re-read everything through again, to line up pieces and notice all the many things I'm sure I missed or didn't realize the significance of at the moment they were deployed.

Anyway, I don't even feel qualified to review this really because my emotions are leaking out all over the place and I don't know what to say to explain how enjoyable I find this series and this installment. In all its infuriating circuitous mystery. I can't believe I have to keep waiting to find out what happens next.

Content Warnings