Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

31 reviews

whatdoiknowjr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Body horror, Blood, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

zghutcheson01's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I didn’t love it as much as the prev book and the jokes felt a bit more forced and out of place than in the first book, but it was still absolutely fantastic. I was super confused but never to the point that I was irritated, mainly because it didn’t expect you to know what was going on and if you thought you knew, you were wrong. I didn’t love the second pov but it also wasn’t something I couldn’t get over.

 

For so much of the book, I was FREAKED THE FUCK OUT about where Gideon went like ??? She’s my favorite character and you take away all memory of her??? Then you tell me she’s Jesus???? AHHHHHH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Medical content and Toxic friendship

Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, and War

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.

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

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Remember last book? No you don’t. Don’t even try to remember it or you’ll just be MORE confused. Prepare to not know what the fuck is happening until 3/4 of the way into the book. Also have you ever read 2nd person POV? It’s dreadful. It makes no sense until you’re 80% into the book. I wish there would have been at least pieces of things that made sense instead of just having us ride a roller coaster backwards upside down and in the dark until the very end of the book practically.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, Gore, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gaslighting and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content and Colonisation

msradiosilence's review

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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

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Really struggled through the first half, but the book does redeem itself. I enjoyed it a bit less than Gideon (probably because seeing the world through Harrow's eyes is a lot less fun), but I'm curious to see what the rest of the series brings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic friendship, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Cursing

psitstorrie's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Body horror, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Cursing, and Eating disorder

Minor: Colonisation, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Genocide

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Two months into 2023 and I have definitely found one of my favorite books of this year. I wasn’t super ecstatic about the second person POV, but this book is so well-written and interesting that I didn’t mind it at all - I actually enjoyed it!

This book is filled with twists I truly never expected, hilarious dialogue and narration, and unique and interesting concepts. I read almost a hundred pages every time I sat down to read this, and found myself dreaming of the Nine Houses.

P.S.

Camilla Hect means everything to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death, War, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Colonisation and Medical content

boglord's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Gore, War, Blood, Death, Body horror, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Cursing, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Ableism

vaxis's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I'd heard a lot of talk about how book two is jarring, confusing, and that it takes too long to make sense. Honestly, it's not that bad. Make sure you remember who characters are, and it's fine. It's a mystery, so nothing is supposed to make sense at every step, or even for a while. 

The narrative switches between third person limited, usually during a flashback, and second person. Normally I really dislike second person; this is handled as though someone is narrating Harrow's actions and responses to her. It's not a narrative trying to get you to imagine yourself as the character, but someone explaining what is going on to someone who is having some memory difficulties. 

The other thing I heard is that this is a book that gaslights you, and that is largely due to a lot of contradictory information that differs from Gideon and is clarified later. Spoiler explainer:

Harrow altered her own memories to forget what actually happened in book one, and regains true memories before the end of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, War, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Colonisation

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage