Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

206 reviews

corsetedfeminist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

Look, I don’t cry often. 
I don’t remember the last time I cried over a book. 
I sobbed during the entire last battle and the Epilogue, and then I spent probably 20 minutes just staring at the ceiling. 
This book is now firmly one of my favorite books ever, and it deserves 1,000 stars. 
Gideon, my dear, sweet himbo. She has exactly three brains cells, and they are: Horny™️, Sword™️, and Harrow™️. The interaction between those brain cells throughout the book is perfect. Creating a crass, sarcastic character and then giving her a vow of silence for half the book so everyone assumes she’s so mysterious and internally she’s just grumbling at Harrow the entire time was perfect. Everyone’s disappointment when she did speak was perfect. Her protective fire- towards Harrow, towards the Fourth house, towards Dulcinea- was perfect in combination with her constant attempt to convince herself that she hates Harrow. 
Harrowhark, my fierce, traumatized baby. I love a deeply morally grey character, but Harrow…. Her commitment to The Ninth House (and her personal aesthetic and mystery) and the weight of literally centuries of expectations is perfectly balanced with her slowly giving in to being vulnerable and soft with Gideon. 
Their relationship gave me life, and then it just destroyed me. The theatrical hatred on both sides, and the barbed comments back and forth (Gideon’s nicknames. How am I to be normal!?!?) are firmly the best part of the first 2/3 of the book, and the heartbreaking loyalty and sacrifice of the last chapters are what made me cry over this book. It has so many little comments back and forth that just tore me to bits. (I cannot be normal about Gideon quoting the section from the book of Ruth that is commonly used in wedding vows. I just can’t.) 
The rest of the plot, beyond these two, is extremely well done- I kept getting absolutely floored by plot twists, and then not having time to recover before something else happened. By the end I genuinely had no idea what was happening anymore except that I would die and/or kill for Gideon and Harrow. 
It is quite literally perfect, and I’m starting Harrow the Ninth today so I can cry over space lesbians once again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cicuma's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Who knew necromancy could be so diverse! The pace is weird tho: although it is never boring as it is always happening something, you don't really get information about what is happening exacly and it sometimes feels like the story is not progressing. And than it starts progressing and the secrets don't stop being revealed. So in the end waiting is worth it and the story was fun for me to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment

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

adoaboutclaire's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Required trust to keep going when you start it as not much is explained, but it's gripping and ou understand enough to run with it by about a quarter of the way through 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation

It's dark but if you can deal with it it's a great book.

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

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

jennabean855's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

This book makes me absolutely bonkers insane oh my god. I’m about to hop around like a little orangutan and wear this book as a wet hat

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, and Murder

Minor: War

_persephone's review against another edition

dark 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

i should've seen the ending coming. i did not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

Minor: Child death, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

ayomason'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and War

(no spoilers) If you're worried about the CWs, it may be a good idea to google details to gauge your own comfort level. IMO, even if you know spoilers, it's still enjoyable and definitely worth reading. That being said, I usually don't mind spoilers in general as I'd rather be prepared before engaging with potentially triggering media. I know other people find that spoilers ruin the experience, so to each their own. On a similar note, this is a great choice if you enjoy books that you can read multiple times. Knowing what happens does not at all take away from future re-reads. I've read it twice, and the second was just as enjoyable, if not more. I know I will return to this book over and over.

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I had a blast with this book and the ending emotionally wrecked me 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent