Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Gidéon la Neuvième by Tamsyn Muir

253 reviews

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Kelsey has been trying to get me to read this for a while. Glad I finally listened. 
I will say the audio book specifically is done very well. I switched to it from the paper version and was able to follow much better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery, War, and Self harm

divine529'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? Yes

This book is billed as lesbian necromancers in space, but that's the bare minimum of what this book is about. 

This book follows Gideon the Ninth, an orphan who has been indentured to serve the House of the Ninth, a cultist group of necromancers who are sworn to protect a tomb which holds the Emperor's worst enemy, and ultimately Harrow the Ninth, the leader/queen/head of Ninth House. Harrow and Gideon despise each other, but get thrust together to become a team to serve Ninth House in their quest to become Lyctor and all kinds of political intrigue and chaos ensues. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this coming in and wasn't even sure this was something I would like, but friends convinced me and I'm so glad they did because I thoroughly enjoyed this. If I were to describe this as anything it's basically "And Then There Were None" meets "The Hunger Games". And I understand the comparison to RotE. 

I live and breathe for certain relationship dynamics in this book - Harrow and Gideon at the end is everything and I adore Cam and Pal more than anything (they're my faves). I found all of the characters interesting, even if I didn't like them, the plot took all kinds of interesting twists and turns, a lot I figured out, but some came out of nowhere. The writing was pretty good overall, but at times had some awkward phrasing that pulled me out of the story a bit and some pacing issues. Also PLEASE heed the CW/TW, it's possible I missed some, so look at the general community ones to make sure you're covered before you read because it's full of them at every turn. 

All in all, a solid start to this series and I'm very interested to see what's going to happen next in Harrow! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Toxic friendship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Genocide, War, and Vomit

iane_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Hate crime, Miscarriage, Dementia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War

lisztaffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Cancer, Gore, and Suicide

Minor: Infertility, Child death, and Genocide

coolfijiwater'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Cancer, and Suicide

kryg's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Terminal illness

twistykris'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

5.0

A re-read to remind myself of the plot before reading Harrow the Ninth; still just as enjoyable, if not more since I felt I could understand what was going on a little better. This Google Doc was an immensely helpful guide (but only for use of a re-read as it does contain spoilers):
https://shorturl.at/ptz28

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, and Cancer

Minor: War and Vomit

wayfaring_witch's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious slow-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

3.0

The inner dialogue of Gideon is witty and sarcastic, and I can see why a lot of readers are attracted to the style of book.  Past this, not much pulled me into the characters, world, or plot.  Gideon's sense of humor seemed to be a shield from developing her, as well as her relationships with other characters.  As a result, I didn't have much interest in the vast cast of other characters.  I started looking at reviews to see what I was missing and noticed a common trend "it will pay off in the end!"  I did enjoy the last part of the book, and I think the book would have benefitted from starting this path earlier.  Throughout the book I was sure I wouldn't continue the series, but the change of perspective into Harrow might convince me to give the series another try.

Content Warning for all topics death related.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Death, Suicide, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Grief and Cancer

rwsmith's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

this book lived up to all the hype. going in, i knew it was an enemies to lovers lesbian necromancy situation, and it is that. in my opinion the relationship between the main character and her "enemy" moves fast towards the end, and is not explicitly romantic, so im not sure if it would technically fit the enemies to lovers trope. but honestly it was a bit of a relief and it was refreshing  to have such a close relationship be legitimately ambiguous in its intentions. 
it is almost a murder mystery, kind of hunder games adjacent, in that theres a competition that a bunch of teenagers are participating in in a secluded location. 
the worldbuilding is awesome, once i finished the book i ended up reading The Locked Tomb wiki for three hours because i wanted to know more. i could have read the rest of the series but i got into a rabbit hole . . .
the writing is well done, the cast of characters are kind of "tropes" on the surface but they all have deeper more complex meanings and experiences beneath the surface that surprised me at every turn. so, somewhat predictable or familiar while still being interesting!
i listened to the audiobook and the narrator was amazing, i could easily tell the characters apart and each inflection the different characters had gave them all so much life and fit them each so well. 
overall i highly highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a touch of sci-fi in their fantasy magic systems, anyone who's looking for a story with lgbtq+ characters who aren't defined by their sexuality or who's queerness isnt the center the whole story and isn't brushed aside either. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Cancer, Child death, and Gaslighting

kiriona_gaia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship