Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

13 reviews

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

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

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

marynograce827's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was amazing and always had me drawn in for more. The pace is slow at some parts but then suddenly picks up to a fast pace and slows down again(rinse and repeat). The ending is quite sad in my opinion so if you enjoy a bittersweet end then this is for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Sexual content

moonbasket's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Sexual content

kkocik's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

Fantastic, mysterious, and kept me on my toes the entire read. I never knew what genre I was truly in, and reveled in the craftsmanship of Muir’s writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

vayudev's review against another edition

Felt a bit like a children's book and it was boring

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

2.75

the concept is so interesting but little is offered about the world they live in. I wish there was more info about the planetary system in this first book. I don’t mind the intentional mystery but I think the mystery should’ve been more about the plot rather than the setting. I also don’t mind not knowing the entire history of the universe and the politics within it (I tend to like books that just throw you into their world without much explanation) - I just would’ve liked a more descriptive setting. books like these *should* tell you what the world looks like and I’m very confused as to why this incredibly important set of details was left out. I couldn’t even picture their home planet that well.

there were a lot of characters but I didn’t find it difficult to keep up with them once I learned all the names. I know everyone is saying it’s confusing but I really don’t think it was? plus there was a list of characters at the beginning that’s easy to refer back to (which I liked).  I think what may be confusing is that they all have a very similar sense of humor..

however, the dialogue (and the humor) was just not great - everything minus the dialogue is good. I did get used to it as time went on but a lot of the lines (especially from gideon) were corny and were  mismatched to the narrative tone outside of the quotation marks. this was such an issue for me at the beginning that it took me awhile to really get into the book - once I did, I really liked the story but that didn’t come to be without express effort on my part. there’s a way to balance humor and good writing and the balance unfortunately was not present in this book. “that’s what she said” & “haha tiddies” type of jokes really were just in abundance for no reason…idk it’s just not my cup of tea. 

I do think that the story itself does make up for the poor dialogue (just barely) and I will be continuing on with this series. I just wish it was written differently and that muir took the time to describe the world they’re in. leave the plot a mystery!! but not the setting. it’s just very disappointing because the concept is soooo cool. 

can’t decide on a rating. the dialogue + repetition of certain words (cough nonplussed cough) that should’ve been caught w drafts/editing … it really threw things off for me. I really like the story itself so i’m conflicted but i’ll come back to this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Gore, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content

larvaldecay'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

There is no explicit sexual scenes within the book, but there are mentions of pornographic magazines as a running gag

panthalassa's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, War, and Classism