Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

144 reviews

eleonorehilbig's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

ugh i don't know where to start with this review....
it's basically the hunger games in an agatha christie murder mystery but really badly executed....

things i liked: 

• gideon, our main character. she's snarky and to the point
• the sixth house (sience for the win) 
• the general magic system. 

things i didn't like: 

• the writing. (the author is using a lot of "grown-up words" which doesnt help you understand the book amy better. 
• the world building (if you can even call it that) we're in a house, on a planet, the house has doors and rooms. but mostly doors. also there are skeletons, and necromacers. and nine houses. why? who knows....
• the naming of the characters (everyone -even REALLY unimportant characters have like 3-5 different names and while
  they're being killed off
  you're just too busy trying to remember who that is to give a f*ck.
• and this might just be about the marketing - but i feel VERY iffy about how this book is promoted as "enemies to lovers" when it is absolutely a story about abuse. also wtf about the ending.
  not here for the romantasized abuse!

so basically it's a book about some characters in a house and one is a murderer. also there is necromancy and swords. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Child death

katieanne4's review

adventurous dark funny

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

holy crap, now that was a BOOK. so frquently i lose interest in the second half, because you're just running downhill towards the end you know is coming. the good guys win, love conquers all. with this book i had no clue what was going to happen next at any point. it wasn't like "shocking twist" it was just like a lot happening. no clue what was going to happen next right until the end. and, so much world building, so many characters to keep straight, but it didn't feel like "god this is a book with too many characters" it kind of felt like "wait who was that i want to remember them so i can figure out what is going on" like it was always right on the edge of too much. anyway. loved it. one of those books that makes me regret spending time with less perfect books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

defectivedetective's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Cannibalism, Cursing, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual content

valorelei's review

adventurous dark 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

one of my favorite books ever. i’m convinced tam muir is a dissociative system at this point (me too)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Cancer, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, War, Chronic illness, Body horror, Gore, and Medical content

ebp'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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Hate crime, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Genocide

lunarlibra's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

To everyone who has been talking about how much they love this book for years: I get it now
For some reason it took me a long time to really get into this book (like over 100 pages) but once I did, I could not put it down! (I think it's a me-problem, and for someone else the early chapters would have been immediately captivating.) 
The character development, the mystery, and the increasingly heightened stakes of the book make this a truly compelling read. Also some parts are truly so funny I laughed out loud! That said, it is deeply tragic. I don't usually love tragedy, but something about how the characters handled it felt very real to me in a way that didn't leave me feeling hopeless. 
I think Tamsyn Muir did something truly special with this book, her writing style is very visceral (no pun intended) in that I found myself deeply understanding the characters' emotions from her descriptions of things like time passing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, and Slavery

sabrina_marvil's review

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

3.0

Wrong.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Incest, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Colonisation, Self harm, Stalking, Trafficking, Torture, Medical content, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Body shaming, Vomit, War, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

Not in space

dizzymisslizzy'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Body horror, Suicide, Cancer, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Cannibalism

ellenwm'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? It's complicated

4.0

I was drawn in tight from the first chapter, which felt unique! The prose is fun. Gideon is just an awesome, magnetic character to get to know. The exposition feels natural and not too heavy handed. I enjoyed the mystery component and the characters immensely. This isn’t my typical genre, so grain of salt, but the world and concept felt totally fresh. I loved the audiobook narrator!!! Once you’re in the thick of it though it takes some doing to really keep the main 17 characters sorted in your mind, with who’s with what house and which partners and which skills and which titles. Might have been easier reading it written out, but keeping a character list nearby helped until I had it straight. There were a couple important emotional beats that faltered, unfortunately. Do be warned, there are some sections of body horror that aren’t enjoyable near meals or if you’re squeamish. Excited for the next in the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Murder, Suicide, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

shottel's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.25

The quote by Charles Stross on the front of the book sums up the setting very well: "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless Emperor! Skeletons!" Yet it misses the most notable feature of the book: The witty, gruesome writing. Much of the story is told as if the titular Gideon the Ninth is the narrator herself - sarcastic, crude, dark, judgmental, and witty. It frequently invokes death, decay, and viscera without ever being overbearingly grimdark.

"She was down there last night too and, if I'm correct, never surfaced. Her blood's on the floor down there." Because necromancers lived bad lives, he added: "To clarify. Her intravenous blood. Her intravenous blood."

The writing, plot, and world-building are brilliant. The only reason it is not a 5 star book is because I nearly put it away before I reached the half-way point. In the first half, it turned into a slog. Little happens with Gideon in terms of her advancing the plot, experiencing the plot advancing, or with her own development. To make matters worse, the tone of the book, which is otherwise brilliantly presented, stays completely uniform the entire way through. I had to sit through over a hundred pages of what felt like very little before experiencing an explosion of activity in the second half. This hundred pages of nothing did accentuate the drama of the second half, but that could have been done while allowing for tonal shifts or personal character development that would have made the first half more interesting to read.

Despite this, if you are like me, keep pushing through until about page 250 and the payoff will absolutely be worth it. I recommend this to anyone who would be interested in reading about lesbian space necromancy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Terminal illness, Suicide, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Cancer, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Child death and Murder