Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

156 reviews

gygaxis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

vvayl's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

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

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

lunarkris's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Classism

arysuh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Totally obsessed with The Locked Tomb series. 
GtN est le plus classique des 3 romans sortis au moment où j’écris ces lignes. On suit Gideon (19 ans) qui passe de rebelle qui cherche à fuir sa planète où elle est maltraitée à « garde du corps » de sa nécromante qu’elle déteste. Difficile de faire un résumé sans trop en dire d’une part mais de donner envie d’y jeter un coup d’œil d’autre part !
Une première écoute enthousiasmante : c’est drôle, c’est triste, ça prend aux tripes, on s’attache aux personnages et l’épée de Damoclès est omniprésente : personne n’est protégé. 
Les personnages sont attachants ou détestables, aucun je pense ne m’a laissée de marbre. 
Puis j’ai relu et réécouté après lecture de la suite et la saveur du roman change. On cherche obsessivement à comprendre, à faire des liens, on se rend compte que pratiquement tout est « foreshadowing », qu’aucun mot n’est innocent. 
On met juste un pied dans un Univet extrêmement complexe et si on cligne des yeux, on en rate une partie. Je n’avais encore jamais été conquise par une série à tel point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

sapphicstardust's review against another edition

adventurous 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I had an excellent time with this book, but I will not be reading more of the series after a teaser revealed that what I want most will not happen. It got SO good once

Gideon and Harrow’s relationship took center stage and was really explored, but apparently that takes a back seat to wider world building plots,

which is also SO good - just not what my souls needs. 

The story was faster-paced, kept me guessing and had complicated characters that I both loved and loved to hate. It was fun - and a punch to the gut. I’ll be thinking about it for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Suicide

heir_of_regulus's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It's a really cool idea, but I feel like it wasn't executed well. Pretty much the entire time I was reading it I was waiting for the plot to get going. The romance felt forced instead of natural. Honestly a lot of this book felt forced. Maybe it's just me, and I read it when I was in the wrong mood/headspace. But I had a really difficult time feeling anything for these characters and also a hard time trying to get sucked into the world. Which is pretty abnormal for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Minor: Genocide and Slavery

helixlhart'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: Emotional abuse and Suicide