Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

14 reviews

defectivedetective's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zophronia's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Genocide

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Dementia, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

taliesinrex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

so glad I finally got around to reading this - the hype that's surrounded Gideon the Ninth for a while now is definitely well-earned, as it's a frankly stunning debut novel. one might describe Muir's prose as flowery, but in the way a corpse flower is flowery...which is to say, unique, fascinating, gorgeous, and gross. though Gideon the Ninth takes a little while to get into the flow of (on account of the world being a little hard to follow from a conceptual standpoint at the book's beginning), it's certainly worth it to keep going because the esoteric tone and mysterious setting are really well done. 

Gideon is a great point of view character to follow, and cracks through the mysticism of the plot's conceit with humor that feels snappy and slightly self-aware but rarely immersion-breaking or depreciative. 
Gideon and Harrow have an insanely fun antagonistic dynamic and when it finally starts to break down...oh man, it just feels perfect. They're just two of a delightfully entertaining ensemble, though, and i found myself falling for the Sixth House characters just as much. Overall great character work, with development that, in my opinion, feels nicely rounded with the promise of further intrigue as well as a number of characters that are masterful examples of the "love to hate" type of characters. (Silas Octakiseron, i am looking at you)

Lastly, i do think that while the plot is a lot of fun and generally a nice mystery, i think I'd like to revisit this book in the future as some plot twists felt just slightly awkward

(Ianthe's ascension to lyctor in particular)

even though one could pick up on something brewing in a vague sense. i don't want to call that a pitfall immediately, but something i think I'd like to examine a little more closely upon a reread as some of the details of the book can be a little overwhelming and i wonder if i may have missed or paid little mind to something important. as a whole, though? an extremely cool, exciting, and thrilling ride that has me itching to pick up its sequel soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Terminal illness and Pandemic/Epidemic