Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

135 reviews

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

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

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm still recovering from the

emotional damage

of that ending so this isn't going to be my best work. 

Muir's world-building is very interesting in that she has clearly worked hard to create a detailed world with internal consistency ...but she doesn't see fit to share that with us. I spent a good three quarters of the book very confused and honestly struggled to continue in parts (confusing, very descriptive heavy, one character disappears for days leaving the other wandering around confused herself). Then the ending hit me like a punch to the face. 

If you can get through about 350 pages, all the action and exposition happens in the last 80 pages or so. 

Super dark, very graphic gory. 
Some pretty incredible fight scenes and one liners. 

5/10 would recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, and Murder

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

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.

redshiftcasualty's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Muir has perfected a use of the English language so animated and vibrant that I at times wondered if there was real-life magic at play. I've never met characters so strongly detestable and yet so loveable precisely because of their awfulness, and I've never been so thoroughly surprised in a way that makes so much sense. It also contained a surprising amount of murder mystery. This is one of the best books I have ever read and not just because I cried myself ugly at the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

avvamapia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

This book is such a wild ride

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Blood, Toxic friendship, and War

knightreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and War