Gideon la Novena / Gideon the Ninth

it took a very long time for me to get into this: "Act three" (out of I think six) by their breakdown. There were way too many characters, and the overall premise is difficult and best. But once I did get into it, I really enjoyed it!
The whole plot and situation are extremely difficult and twisted, and the reader needs to build his/her own world and reality to fit the story, but it's worth it! Now I'm considering whether I need to continue with the trilogy despite the fact that I have way too many audiobooks already (three years without sleeping at last measure), or just bite the bullet and get the next book! This one is definitely tempted me. Of course, my son and husband both believe that I really really really don't need more books :-)

La reseña se divide tajantemente en las dos fases que atravesé leyéndolo:

1ª mitad:
Jajaja, qué cosa tan divertida, fresca y sorprendente. Ya tiene mérito que semejante batiburrillo de imaginarios y registros funcione tan bien. Si parece el típico anime de escuelas con magia de por medio, rollo Utena. Estoy enganchadísima.

2ª mitad:
Uf, no me entero de nada. Entre tanto personaje nada bien dibujado, ya no sé a qué casa pertenece cada quien ni si es nigromante o caballere. ¿Y esta escena de acción? ¿Qué está pasando? ¿Y, sobre todo, por qué? Ah, vaya, otro fallo de racord. Y otro conejo sacado de la chistera. Bueno, porque quiero saber cómo se resuelve el misterio que si no, lo dejaba aquí.

No tengo palabras para expresar lo mucho que me ha volado la cabeza este libro. Reconozco que me costó entrar, porque al principio no se entiende lo que está pasando o por qué los personajes actúan como lo hacen, pero en cuanto todo cobra sentido es una trama tan redonda y bien planteada, con unos personajes tan buenos y narrado de una forma tan perfecta, con unos giros puestos en el momento perfecto y que simplemente encajan... que solo puedo decir: mis dies.

Schwertkämpferinnen, Raumschiffe, Nekromantie, dies das, ich habe mich nicht gelangweilt. Auf meine alten Tage bin ich nur ein bisschen misstrauisch geworden gegenüber ironischen oder lustigen oder sonstwie gebrochenen Todeskulten. Letztlich ist es mit Todeskulten wie mit Sägen, glaube ich, und früher oder später wollen sie sägen, Amok laufen oder die SS hervorbringen. Schön: Dass Frauen existieren, ist überhaupt kein Problem (im Sinne von "wo nehmen wir denn jetzt so ein extrakleines Schwert her"), sondern der unthematisierte Normalzustand. Weniger schön: Wie im Dark-Academia-Bereich üblich sind hier alle Figuren weißer als weiß. Aber wenn man ein Buch darüber lesen möchte, wie es in Hogwarts zugehen würde, wenn es statt vier Häusern neun hätte, die alle Slytherin heißen, dann ist man hier gut aufgehoben.

Meh.
I really wanted to like this book. Original worldbuilding, much potential. Lesbian MC. Female lead. Female sword fighter. Locked-room murder mystery. It could have been awesome. But it wasn't. It was booooooring. Had a hard time finishing.
The MC's tendency to divide women in 'hot' or 'not' was grating. If that is how you portray a lesbian, please stop. Please don't. It's nothing but objectification.
The writing was uneven. The tone was uneven. Maybe it was the narrator. She didn't do a good job, I think. It was too light, to merry. It tried to be colloquial and cool, and yet oldie feely. It just didn't work.

I'm convinced I may have liked it way more as an ebook than as the audioversion, but still doesn't straighten out the horrible writing mistakes. I'm not sure I'm going to read the sequel.

Necromancy in space? Well, not in space because there's no necromantic energy in space, but there's a sci-fi backdrop to what could otherwise almost entirely have been a fantasy novel. That aspect is not what makes this an unusual and pretty amazing book, but it's the only aspect of "this is an unusual and amazing book" I feel I can do justice in a review without getting spoilery.

Initially I found the sardonic tone kind of off-putting and had a hard time getting into it. At around the 50% mark, I went "omg, this got better". By the end of the book my mind was blown. I finished it in one of those fugue states where you forget to breathe for the last few chapters and come out of it with tears running down your face and a cat who should've been fed an hour ago looking at you like you've lost your mind.

Almost great.

Most page-turn-y book I’ve read in a long time. Two long nights to finish it. Pre-ordered the next months in advance, which I rarely do.

A murder mystery? With lesbian necromancers? And sword fighting? SO MUCH FUN!

It took me a while to get into this one.

I'm not big on relationships based in rivalry.

Once the bones stated hitting the fan, and a plot started forming I got swept up in the story.

Trigger warning, much boey horror inside.