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."
Rides the line between "is this too stupid to be funny?" and "I, too, am stupid, and I can't fucking breathe." I will read the rest of these.
I forgot to review this when I finished it last year (which is a tragedy).
I confess that the beginning of the book was a little confusing, even to a hardened lover of in-media-res weird fantasy/sci-fi stuff. Much of the setting (or more accurately the world building) is left to the reader's imagination and is only roughly sketched out by the narrator. Normally, good worldbuilding is what draws me into a work of speculative fiction, whether fantasy or science fiction; I want a compelling and interesting world, with all of the weird unusual bits carefully thought through and odd consequences considered. This book does not do that - or at least does not do it explicitly.
Add to that a few first impressions that left me thoroughly unimpressed with the protagonists (they're all jerks! I don't usually cheer for idiots or the morally questionable.), and I really wasn't sure why …
I forgot to review this when I finished it last year (which is a tragedy).
I confess that the beginning of the book was a little confusing, even to a hardened lover of in-media-res weird fantasy/sci-fi stuff. Much of the setting (or more accurately the world building) is left to the reader's imagination and is only roughly sketched out by the narrator. Normally, good worldbuilding is what draws me into a work of speculative fiction, whether fantasy or science fiction; I want a compelling and interesting world, with all of the weird unusual bits carefully thought through and odd consequences considered. This book does not do that - or at least does not do it explicitly.
Add to that a few first impressions that left me thoroughly unimpressed with the protagonists (they're all jerks! I don't usually cheer for idiots or the morally questionable.), and I really wasn't sure why this book was so highly recommended.
I read a bit more, and I was hooked. From the irreverent and hilarious narration, to the perfectly timed twists and turns, the story here is incredible. And soon the curmudgeonly and irredeemably stoic characters start to show some soft spots and more nuanced personality traits, making them not just likeable but even sympathetic (even when they are acting like jerks).
And then it was over, and I was heartbroken and eager for the next instalment all at once.
[On the third readthrough]
This book has become both a delight and a source of deep enjoyment. It's wonderful to go back (knowing some of what comes later) and see the hints and signs of things to come, as well as being able to more deeply appreciate and understand some of what confused or distracted me about the worldbuilding on my first read.
Enjoyed the book, but found the beginning rather confusing and poorly organized. Finding out this originated as Homestuck fanfiction made that make way more sense!
Once it finally got going it was a fun romp that acts as a prequel to Harrow the Ninth. As somebody with a bunch of fencing experience, it's always nice to see a book that gets swordfighting right. There was a thing that at first seemed like an inaccuracy but turned out to be ~foreshadowing~ which was neat.
Another case of me being late to the party, the party in this case being lesbian necromancers in space.
This is a mix of Sci-Fi and Fantasy with a magical system based entirely around necromancy. The Emperor has called the nine houses to his world for trials; each house sending a necromancer and a cavalier. The Ninth House is in disarray and their cavalier is not in the best shape. Gideon, a disliked rebel-without-a-cause and indentured servant currently mis-escape with their stash of porn, is the only replacement available thanks to the small fact that most of the Houses’ children died many years ago.
Thus Gideon must play the part of cavalier for Ninth’s necromancer and Gideon’s nemesis, Harrowhark, and help her ascent to the emperor’s side. At least, that’s the plan before their dysfunctional relationship finds itself facing a murder mystery during the trials and secrets of necromancy that …
I loved this book, but I guess this is not to everyone's taste. First of all, you get thrown into a pretty confusing world, without much explanation. You learn more throughout the book, and as I discovered after finishing, there is also a glossary and explanation of some things attached.
Still, this was a wild ride through a space gothic necromantic sword wielding story with so much going on, you can barely catch a breath. You fumble along next to Gideon, who doesn't know much more than the reader.
Totally recommended for people who like a nice, confusing mix of Scifi, Fantasy and Gothic Horror Novels.
I'm not sure if this is for me, but lots of it was fun
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.
ha estado guay! me costó un poco meterme en la historia, creo que porque me esperaba otra cosa. creo que no ayuda que todo el mundo pusiera este libro por las nubes, iba con las expectativas muy altas. 3.8? aunque la historia como tal no me haya fascinado, los diálogos y los personajes sí que me han gustado mucho tbh.
s p o i l e r s :
yo, cuando dicen por primera vez la fraseclta: hmmmm
yo, cuando veo que la frasecita implica lo que suponía que podía indicar: HMMMMM
yo, cuando veo lo que la gideon se dispone a hacer: haha fuck
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.
Loved it!
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.
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.
