Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

43 reviews

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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: Death, Cursing, Abandonment, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Suicide, Death of parent, and War

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

4.0

I found this book a little harder to follow than the first. It might be because I listened to it on audio rather than reading it. Or it could be because Harrow decided to fuck with the timeline of the first book. I still enjoyed it, especially towards the end, and will definitely be reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Murder, Child death, and Suicide

trips'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

Harrow the Ninth is a confusing but heavily entertaining continuation in the Locked Tomb Series. I feel like I can't say a ton about this that won't just be a spoiler. 
But what I will say is - 
it made me laugh, it made me feel incredibly emotional towards these characters we as the reader has come to know, and it made me want to jump into the third book in the series immediately. 

I also think Muir is one of those authors that understands how to write an unreliable narrator without being so unreliable you can't even tell what's happening in the story. Truths are exposed by the end that provides some logic if you couldn't figure it out before then as well! So, in any case, lovely book, great time, even if Ianthe totally gaslight gatekeep girlbosses in that one moment and it made me really angry, lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent and Child death

hayleyvem's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Genocide, Infertility, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Cancer, and Suicide

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

provo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I knew before reading this that the plot would not make sense until 2/3 trough, so I was prepared for the confusion.
The finale was something else and bumped my rating from 4 to 5 stars, incredibly satisfying to unwind all the what-the-fuck-is-going-on.
But: check trigger warnings before reading, like there’s a lot of really graphic stuff.
Also maybe not a book anyone should read during an active psychotic episode (this is not a joke).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Cursing, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, and War

fishbones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

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

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, the scrunkly little meow meow you are <3

This book is, indeed, a HUGE shift from the storytelling style of Gideon, and while it did take some getting used to, I ended up loving this book just as much as the first one!! There was so much more worldbuilding and info about the magic that Gideon as a character just isn't interested in, so now I understand parts of the first book better, but now I'm confused about new things, and it's all just making me sick in the head (which I guess is fitting, since that's pretty much how Harrow feels for most of the book.) Lesbian necromancers in space is a hell of a tagline for this series, but it doesn't begin to prepare you for this Whole Thing. Anyway, this book made me want to put my head through a wall, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Alcohol, Body horror, and Death

irisraerah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

If you're looking for a book that's as awesome as it is confusing, Harrow is a great option, but you absolutely must read Gideon the Ninth first. I fell completely in love with Muir's world in this book. I'd thoughted I'd loved it before but that was a mere crush. A universe of goth and often gory magic that spends this book expanding on all of the above is exactly my cup of tea (though Harrow herself would pick a different comparison, being a fan of neither tea nor words under four syllables), all while I grew to care more and more about each of the characters involved.

Also, as a queer woman, there is something so deeply comfortable and affirming about reading a story like this, full of queer characters, relationships, and tragedy, but without queerness being the source of any tension or tragedy. Queerness is simply a fact of life in a way that feels like home, though I personally have never lived as part of a space faring necromantic society, and my swordplay has been limited to a single college fencing credit. 

A word of caution to the squeamish reader: gore and the aesthetics of gore feature strongly in this series, though this is a case where the book's cover should have warned you about that clearly enough. Despite the goriness, I find Muir's setting to actually be quite beautiful in the grotesque, and scenes that might be something of nightmare felt vivid and terrific.

Having praised the highbrow content, I'd be remiss to not mention the low: spoilers for jokes you'll want to be caught off guard by as you read them in read time.

Spoiler

How the hell did Muir pull off "choke me daddy," "none pizza with left beef," and "Hi, *double spoiler,* I'm Dad" in a serious book? I'm impressed.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, Pregnancy, and Torture

msradiosilence's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, War, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit