Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

421 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

jelliclejules's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

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

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

beckahh_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

I have no idea what happened, but I had a good time. Parts of it were really funny and easy to follow, and other parts it seemed like nothing happened but there was still so much information being thrown at you that nothing quite made sense? I'll likely continue the series and want to do a reread at some point, but I'm not sure how fast that will happen

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Content Warnings

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

booktamerghc'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Grief

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

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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