Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

9 reviews

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

snipinfool's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Gideon had dreams of leaving the Ninth House and becoming a fighter for the Emperor. She did not expect her chance to come in the way it did. The Emperor summoned the heads of each house to complete challenges set to become one his Lyctors and fight beside him. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, head of Ninth House, would take up the challenge, but needed a cavalier to go with her. Gideon was chosen to attend by her side. Gideon and Harrow had a long and difficult past. They viewed each other as an enemy and frequently went out of their way to goad the other. Gideon knew this trip would test her skills as well as her ability to follow Harrow's lead. They needed to keep their past from working against them. As Gideon and Harrow faced each trial, they realized they would have to trust the other absolutely in order to continue the challenges. To do so, they would have to face the reasons behind their past actions with one another and learn more about each other's truths.

I really, really wanted to love this book. It was an intriguing story. Multiple teams vying for the chance to win accolades is usually a winner for me. While the story centered around Gideon and Harrow, having multiple house teams with both a lead and cavalier made it difficult for me to remember who each person was and what house they were from. I wish the author had written more interactions between the competitors so readers could learn more about their individual characteristics and what role they played. I read the e-book version and there was a "Cohort Intelligence File" at the end which told more about each person in the competition. I would have loved that information at the beginning. I didn't know it was a more detailed cast of characters info until after I finished the story. The pacing of the book was way off for me. The difference between the first half of the book and the second was like night and day. The first half was so slow. I considered DNFing it, but I was reading it for my book group and wanted to give it a chance. The second half was wonderful. It was much more fast paced and I loved every bit of it. Overall, it was an interesting book and I am glad I continued reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

At the end of this book I experienced emotional damage and I fully expect it to make me cry again on re-reading in the future.

I went into this book knowing almost nothing beyond the tag line of Lesbian Necromancers in Space and that it was genre-bending for sci-fi and fantasy.  That was enough to sell me on reading it, even though I heard mixed things.

Did it deliver on those premises?  Mostly.  There are characters that identified as women and showed attraction/flirted with others that also identified as women, some of those characters were also necromancers.  With regards to being in space, there is very limited space shuttle travel, so I don't know that I would really quantify it that way, though there is ample room for that to change for the future in the series.

This book was indeed a crossover between sci-fi and fantasy in that it involved a technologically advanced civilization (space travel, and such) but with the deep roots of necromancy that almost took it into dark academia territory.  The necromancers are all obsessed in learning new theorems/spells and figuring out things in their specializations, and there are also trials they have to pass and mysteries to solve before they can advance.

There's a lot of tension because it is a competition and you don't really begin to understand the stakes until Act II and then the full whammy hits you near the end.

Also, I feel like I have a conspiracy theory based on the epilogue/info peppered throughout the book so click for spoilers, I guess:

Okay, so Gideon did not die with all the other children even though she was close to the vents for 10 minutes and her parents were hella scared about that.  In the epilogue, the Emperor says they couldn't retrieve Camilla (who was last seen alive) or Gideon's bodies so what if Harrow has Gideon's soul, but like, the body/vessel is still alive?  And Camilla managed to be resourceful because she definitely is wicked smart and they escaped the First planet...?  Or hid until they left?  I dunno.  Maybe I just don't want Gideon to be dead because her gay panic was so relatable.  And everyone else.  I loved the Fourth teens with their perpetual embarrassment and the Fifth cav Magnus was so sweet...

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and War

misoreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Found this in a booktok recs for people who liked Arcane (aka me) and shortly after saw someone online calling Gideon and Vi very similar so decided to give it a try. 
Ngl I couldn't drop it once I began reading the first page. It's been the first book I read in less than a week for the first time in ages. I laughed and yell and sobbed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

knerys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

Practically a perfect book. I both wish I had the finess and talent to write this, and wish that I could erase it from my memory to experience for the first time again. <The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because the ending DESTROYED me and I was so upset. Have high hopes for the rest of the series though. Edit: upon review, and after reading Harrow the Ninth, it absolutely gets 5 stars :).>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

goldsbuc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

avadore's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

 Not for the faint hearted, and I admittedly skimmed some of the action/fighty business because I just don't care about that kind of thing nearly as much as learning more about this world, its magic systems, and all the great emotional (and gay) stuff between characters. I want to jump straight into the next one but I will literally fail the uni subject I am doing atm if I do so it will have to remain a reward for finishing this last assignment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content