Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

119 reviews

mhaap's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Finished it out of spite because I thought surely it must get better! But I found the main and her abuser quite unbearable & ultimately unredeemed.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

nesquik05's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

The thing that really frustrated me about this book is that nothing is explained. The world of the nine houses has so much potential, the mechanics of necromancy had so much potential! There are so many moments where I could glimpse an absolutely fascinating sliver of context - for all of one sentence before Gideon tore it from my grasp. Nothing frustrated me more than when a character would begin explaining something, and Gideon, the 13-year-old boy that she was, would say "Boooring, shut up!" Harrow and Gideon's relationship was ridiculous, but also hilarious, I did very much enjoy that.
The book started extremely slowly, and didn't particularly pique my interest, but I'd heard really good things about it so I kept going, and after a while it certainly picked up and I got more invested, but then it just slowed down again and I got bored again... Then quite suddenly, it became incredibly fast-paced, and nothing ever really felt completed again! All in all, I was disappointed by the lack of worldbuilding - it really did feel like the author just couldn't be bothered to actually flesh it out, and so made Gideon the most uncurious person ever. Haven't decided whether I'll read any more of the series - on the one hand, I want to know more! On the other, I'm not sure I'm going to find anything more out...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse and Toxic relationship

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

vael'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

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

toastyghosty13's review against another edition

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

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

4.5

Absolute chaos. Lesbian necromancers in space exploring a haunted gothic mansion is the quote on the front and it is correct and yet it is so much more. Think Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None". The humor is unexpected and unprecedented (I implore you to read the naming choice section at the end of the book too) and the characters are unique and psychotic.

The beginning is super confusing with all of the names of people and places thrown at you very quickly, but it is worth it! About 20%-30% of the way through it clicked for me.

I immediately bought the other books in both ebook and physical copy format as soon as I finished. The ending was giving

Bloodborne ascending and fear the old gods and I am OBSESSED

.

For the Ninth.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

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

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Religious bigotry

snerp_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

thesunthesunthesunthesun's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Had a lot of fun with this one! Loved the

murder

mystery escape room plot of this book. And I liked having Gideon's view on everything that happened.

Few too many contemporary earth memes for my taste, considering that this is like, the space future. But that can be overlooked.
All in all I had fun!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail