Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

117 reviews

sashammerk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Gore, Death, and Cannibalism

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.

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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

beebidon's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I think about this series at least once a day. I put off reading it bc I fully believed my friends who warned me that it would be consume  me.  They were right and I regret nothing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child death, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Vomit, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, and Confinement

emalderwood's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

5.0

This book was spectacular, a blast, and absolutely destroyed me at the end with a last jab of a plot twist I never saw coming. I wanted to throw the book SO BAD. But Muir knocked it out of the park in so many ways. Gideon is a unique and matchless main character full of spite and sarcasm and I adored getting to experience her as the main POV. The world was weird and grisly and confusing but in a delightful, creative and cool way and not in a thrown-together way. The plot twists were genius - you never knew what was going to happen next  but once they did you could see the trail the author had made leading there. Thoroughly recommend this if you're okay with weird, not knowing exactly what's happening all the time, and lots of blood and bones and gore. And if you're emotionally ready for an ending that will make you mad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Murder, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Suicide

Minor: Medical content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and War

gussurireads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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

(This review is solely concerned with the audiobook recording, not the actual contents of the book.)

I'm no audiobook expert but this was the first one I ever listened to, having started out earlier this year. Since then, I've tried a handful more and still none compare (well, perhaps Rasha Zamamiri's narration of The Unbroken by C.L. Clark!)

Moira Quirk is an excellent narrator. She voiced each character so wonderfully, giving them all personalities beyond what was written in the text and, in the process, improving tenfold my enjoyment of this masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Death of parent

gussurireads's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Slavery, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

h0neywings's review

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Murder, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Torture

msawyer77's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Body horror

sigrids's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

This book really had me happy for killing lesbians, bc I couldn't stand what I assume was to be the main couple. Also from the start it took very long for me to actually enjoy this one. But by the end I was hooked and now I have to start the second part. 

Also I love how useless the main character is in face of any women she sees. Very relatable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, Death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Genocide, Infertility, and Emotional abuse

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

As well-written and funny as I found this book, I also can’t deny that it disappointed me.

I personally found the writing style very unique and enjoyed it a lot. I thought the narration was funny and it really suited the main character’s personality. It felt modern, but not in a way that was poorly executed. I’ve read books set in the modern day that didn’t even come close to using modern slang/terms as well as this did. The use of language was also expertly used to convey descriptions of spaces and people.

I also really liked all the characters, they all felt very distinct from each other and well rounded. When allowed to be in smaller groups with Gideon it was so clear who was who and why they might act the way they do. However when in groups it felt more like they blended together and I quickly lost track of who was who. The narrator did help some with this, but I did still occasionally still mix them up. With the  distinctness of the characters it also lends well to interesting and complex group dynamics and conflicts.

I also really enjoyed early in the book when Gideon wasn’t speaking. It’s not a slight against the character, I just found the way she navigated interacting with others (and how they interacted with her in return) extremely interesting.

The narrator was also excellent. I felt like she really captured the main character and her voice acting ability really shone through with the large cast of characters.

However despite all I liked about the book it had its pitfalls.

I personally found what world building we got was really interesting, but it was giving so sparingly and in such little doses I found myself confused and lost on the regular. Some bits of information were mentioned like they were common knowledge and I had a hard time keeping track of if and when the information had been mentioned.

The confusion continued into plot beats and elements. Especially near the end of the book. Information was presented and treated as if it had been hinted at the entire book when it felt very sudden and out of nowhere.

My final issue was Gideon and Harrow’s relationship. They grew closer over the book, but considering where their relationship started (and that Harrow OWNED Gideon) it didn’t feel warned or well developed. Especially as it seemed to be building towards romance. It felt so gross considering Harrow’s ownership of Gideon and the awful terms they started the book on. Overall it was the most disappointing part of the book to me.

In the end I think the book had a lot of positive qualities and the author is clearly skilled, but in the end just fell short and was lacking in plot and relationship development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Self harm, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Cancer, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death, Child abuse, and Death of parent