An absolute delight.
5 stars
I don't understand how this book does SO much SO well. It's all the most delicious tropes and yet so novel at the same time. I ship them.
paperback, 496 pages
Published July 14, 2020 by Tor.com.
"The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of …
"The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead."
I don't understand how this book does SO much SO well. It's all the most delicious tropes and yet so novel at the same time. I ship them.
Now I didn't, but I liked a bunch of things that it does. I enjoyed reading it, but I'm not eager to continue with the series.
Just incredible. Pretty rare to find such and imaginative and rich world built into such a compelling narrative that is SO FUN. It's funny, heartbreaking, action-packed, mesmerizing, and thoughtful all at once. Can't wait to read the rest.
Oh my GOD did I love this book! I didn't head into it with very high hopes even, as I've been let down by highly rated and recommended books before. While initially I was a little put off at some of the Marvel-movie-esque dialogue from the protagonist, I slowly settled into loving every bit of every single character written in this universe. To the point where "turbo cancer" absolutely took me out in the best way.
Muir has done an incredible job at crafting both an incredibly in-depth world and magic system. With such beautiful and ornate descriptions let you picture every single thing in remarkable clarity. As I mentioned prior, she's also crafted so many well rounded and intriguing characters that I wanted to know more about every. single. one of them. Even the assholes. I find most authors are either good at building worlds or building characters, Muir …
Oh my GOD did I love this book! I didn't head into it with very high hopes even, as I've been let down by highly rated and recommended books before. While initially I was a little put off at some of the Marvel-movie-esque dialogue from the protagonist, I slowly settled into loving every bit of every single character written in this universe. To the point where "turbo cancer" absolutely took me out in the best way.
Muir has done an incredible job at crafting both an incredibly in-depth world and magic system. With such beautiful and ornate descriptions let you picture every single thing in remarkable clarity. As I mentioned prior, she's also crafted so many well rounded and intriguing characters that I wanted to know more about every. single. one of them. Even the assholes. I find most authors are either good at building worlds or building characters, Muir has shown to be so amazing at both I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was two people in one body!
I'm immediately moving on to the next in the series because I cannot bear to be away from this world and the characters a day longer.
Runs on Rule of Cool, nothing strictly makes sense, but that's ok. I feel like this is the apex of a certain genre of young adult novels - the ones with factions and theming and everything. It's really well-written and having fun with it.
Refreshingly free of hetero plots.
Shallow, or at least nothing in it to interest me specifically. I will not be prioritizing the sequels.
I'm not into horror. Period. Don't like to read it, don't like to watch it. Don't even really like to hear it talked about. But this was a good ride, engaging, with profoundly beautiful visual description. It managed to be quite long and complex, and yet still relatively simple too. It turned cliches about and brought them back with something new.
I've seen a lot of people raving about this and I was curious to try it, so was glad when it came up as a text for a book club I'm in. Having now finished it, I can see why some people really love it, but it's not really for me. It plunges you straight into the universe and it's overwhelming and bewildering for a long time as there's nothing too familiar to ground yourself on and work out what's going on. It's very stylised, with a strong authorial voice, which I don't mind, but information is doled out very slowly, both to the characters and the reader, so it does feel like wandering around in the dark a lot. The ending does reveal a lot of things that help to make sense of what's gone on before, but you need to cling on in faith that it's going to …
I've seen a lot of people raving about this and I was curious to try it, so was glad when it came up as a text for a book club I'm in. Having now finished it, I can see why some people really love it, but it's not really for me. It plunges you straight into the universe and it's overwhelming and bewildering for a long time as there's nothing too familiar to ground yourself on and work out what's going on. It's very stylised, with a strong authorial voice, which I don't mind, but information is doled out very slowly, both to the characters and the reader, so it does feel like wandering around in the dark a lot. The ending does reveal a lot of things that help to make sense of what's gone on before, but you need to cling on in faith that it's going to be revealed when the time goes along, and I'm still not sure the rest of the universe here makes too much sense. I may read the rest of the series, but I'm not urgently arranging to get hold of them.
5/5
This book was an absolutely wild ride. It certainly did not hold your hand through it and thrust you deep into the necromantic world filled with a deep magic and many complex character relationships.
There were many, many characters to keep track of and honestly this was one of the bits I didn’t love as much. Why were there just so many of them? And they each brought many complexities and interpersonal conflicts with them too that just made it all very hard to juggle. I almost was happy to see them start dying off just so I didn’t need to track them all in my head!
Really the two most important characters were Gideon and Harrow and their relationship was very well developed. It was really interesting watching how they went from pure hatred in the beginning to the changes at the final end. I really liked them …
5/5
This book was an absolutely wild ride. It certainly did not hold your hand through it and thrust you deep into the necromantic world filled with a deep magic and many complex character relationships.
There were many, many characters to keep track of and honestly this was one of the bits I didn’t love as much. Why were there just so many of them? And they each brought many complexities and interpersonal conflicts with them too that just made it all very hard to juggle. I almost was happy to see them start dying off just so I didn’t need to track them all in my head!
Really the two most important characters were Gideon and Harrow and their relationship was very well developed. It was really interesting watching how they went from pure hatred in the beginning to the changes at the final end. I really liked them as a team as well!
Gideon has such a distinct personality that was also quite fun as a POV. She truly was a meathead in a room of smart people and it was really interesting to pick up clues of what was happening when she herself did not quite understand.
The world itself was rather vague to be honest but with lots of promises which is why I did not mind they being stuck in one location throughout the book. It feels like you just scratched the surface of what’s out in the world and I’m all for it.
The bits I did have a harder time with was the prose being particularly wordy and rambly and honestly it’s the dialogue tags that made me have to reread some parts. The tags were always so vague and keeping track of who was talking when there were more than two people was hard. Very hard when all the characters were in the same room and having group discussions.
Overall though, just wow. Loved it. Despite the flaws and confusion, the strangeness and just complex world, it was a great book.
This book managed to be both pretty much what I was expecting and yet surprising at the same time.
Pop-Goth vibes. Science-Fantasy. Necromancy. Skeletons. Mysteries. WLW. Enemies to Lovers. Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Etc. Basically a wall of AO3 tags. I have been more or less aware of Gideon the Ninth for some time now, and from all of the fanart and mentions I saw of it I went in expecting all of the above. It had all of that and served it in plenty.
What surprised me about it was not the content, but rather how fresh and vibrant it was. It felt like the author loved what they were writing, loved the characters, and was just plain having fun. I found that tone to be infectious and charming, and by the end, I loved it all as much as the author did.
The characters were easily the standout elements. The …
This book managed to be both pretty much what I was expecting and yet surprising at the same time.
Pop-Goth vibes. Science-Fantasy. Necromancy. Skeletons. Mysteries. WLW. Enemies to Lovers. Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Etc. Basically a wall of AO3 tags. I have been more or less aware of Gideon the Ninth for some time now, and from all of the fanart and mentions I saw of it I went in expecting all of the above. It had all of that and served it in plenty.
What surprised me about it was not the content, but rather how fresh and vibrant it was. It felt like the author loved what they were writing, loved the characters, and was just plain having fun. I found that tone to be infectious and charming, and by the end, I loved it all as much as the author did.
The characters were easily the standout elements. The main pair were wonderful, with delightfully contrasting and conflicting personalities that made their interactions great reading. The side characters also felt unique and well realized, and even the most minor characters felt like integral parts of the book’s tableau.
There was some stuff I had to get accustomed to - the dialogue, for instance, feels very contemporary, despite being set in a science fantasy world (which is, I theorize, or hypothesize, our solar system in the far future?), which makes it very accessible to a YA audience and fun to read but feels a little anachronistic to everything else.
I do wish a little bit of the sapphic parts had been more overt, because I am a romantic sap and want it shoved in my face. I have high hopes for the future, however. Also, the names of some of the characters were a little difficult to keep straight, particularly because I was listening to the audiobook.
I feel like it is the kind of book that you will either love or hate. Will the sarcastic banter and contemporary styles of speech, and overtly “cool“ settings and magic seem childish and annoying? Or are you not an uptight and prudish stick-in-the-mud?
Ultimately, this book pushed all of my buttons just right. I found the world fascinating, it was full of great atmosphere in its setting, interesting twists and turns that surprised me once or twice, and most importantly I characters I grew to love despite their myriad flaws.
If you think all that sounds like something you would like, then I hope, like me, you will. I highly recommend it.
I actually read the bulk of this over a couple of days, after starting but needing to put it aside. Once I returned to the story, it was difficult to put down. Part of that was trying to untangle the threads of mysterious and confusing characters and plot that wanders between horror and action - this is not a complaint! I will admit that some of the lesser characters take some work to keep straight, but there is a glossary in the back [which I actually didn't even know about until I'd finished] and the longer you read, the more defined the supporting cast becomes. Gideon herself is an amazingly fun MC to follow; her snappy retorts and underlying kindness won me over. And her background story is... well, I don't want to spoiler but there's a lot to make you uncomfortable and sympathetic. Speaking of uncomfortable, I've seen mention …
I actually read the bulk of this over a couple of days, after starting but needing to put it aside. Once I returned to the story, it was difficult to put down. Part of that was trying to untangle the threads of mysterious and confusing characters and plot that wanders between horror and action - this is not a complaint! I will admit that some of the lesser characters take some work to keep straight, but there is a glossary in the back [which I actually didn't even know about until I'd finished] and the longer you read, the more defined the supporting cast becomes. Gideon herself is an amazingly fun MC to follow; her snappy retorts and underlying kindness won me over. And her background story is... well, I don't want to spoiler but there's a lot to make you uncomfortable and sympathetic. Speaking of uncomfortable, I've seen mention from others about how some of the relationships in this book made them uncomfortable, and I agree but I think that's part of what makes the reveals at the end so impactful. The Ninth House is filled with secrets and those secrets exact a terrible price. I have a feeling that the next book in the series will be dealing more with exactly how dear the cost is, and I am looking forward to reading it.
Amazing the second time again. There is so much foreshadowing in this book, that an additional read through is really worth it. Moving directly into Harrow the Ninth.
Outstanding. Already chomping at the bit to jump into book 2...
Nov 25th, 2022
I stayed up until 1 in the morning for this
April 5th, 2023
Muir is a god of prose. every line is perfect.
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I …
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I found the other characters to be one-dimensional - even Harrow doesn’t get much development until the end of the book. Oh, and if you are seeking a good lesbian romance, you will be disappointed. There’s nothing romantic about it.
The second problem was that it felt aimless. The start of the series seemed promising, and for a while it did. However, once it became apparent, it was going to be a pointless tournament arc with murder; I lost interest. There are no rules, only vague objectives, and it is impossible to follow the person solving the puzzle, so things just sort of... happen. The characters and style didn’t appeal to me, which would have been fine if I enjoyed it.
The third problem, I also found the world building to be vague. There was a lot of aesthetic detail on, with skeletons and bones and locked doors everywhere. Beyond that, it was hollow. Despite the brief spaceship journey at the beginning, it is not science fiction, rather fantasy.
What is the purpose of the Emperor? Are there any reasons becoming his servant is so desirable? Where do the other planets stand? What is the purpose of necromancy?
I’m not sure whether I’m going to continue.
You can also find this review on my blog: Click here
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I …
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I found the other characters to be one-dimensional - even Harrow doesn’t get much development until the end of the book. Oh, and if you are seeking a good lesbian romance, you will be disappointed. There’s nothing romantic about it.
The second problem was that it felt aimless. The start of the series seemed promising, and for a while it did. However, once it became apparent, it was going to be a pointless tournament arc with murder; I lost interest. There are no rules, only vague objectives, and it is impossible to follow the person solving the puzzle, so things just sort of... happen. The characters and style didn’t appeal to me, which would have been fine if I enjoyed it.
The third problem, I also found the world building to be vague. There was a lot of aesthetic detail on, with skeletons and bones and locked doors everywhere. Beyond that, it was hollow. Despite the brief spaceship journey at the beginning, it is not science fiction, rather fantasy.
What is the purpose of the Emperor? Are there any reasons becoming his servant is so desirable? Where do the other planets stand? What is the purpose of necromancy?
I’m not sure whether I’m going to continue.
You can also find this review on my blog: Click here