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 …
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.
Schönes Setting, doch zu wenig ausgebaut bisher die Welt. Manche Charas hätten spannend sein können, blieben aber zu oberflächlich, insbesondere halt 90% der Leute aus den anderen Häusern. Der Mittelteil war verworren, der Showdown dafür all over the place?! Werde mir die zwei Folge-Bücher mal anschauen. Mit gefiel auf jeden Fall der space goth Aspekt davon sehr.
Gideon the Ninth is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in over a decade. Muir’s style ping-pongs between arch High Fantasy and banal internet memes that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. That said, her ability to craft tight, adrenaline-fueled sequences, unique magic/religious systems, and rich emotional topography should make this a must read for fans of fantasy, sci-fi, or frankly YA romance lit.
Very fun read!
I loved the characters in this book. Enough so that I greatly look forward to the next in the series. I did find the story structure telling a little light, and it often reminded me of epic adult Scooby Doo. It's a hybrid of the jaded millennial reluctantly participating in society (but on their own terms) and a Shakespeare-ian 5-act play, where the protagonist forms a band who tries to unmask the monster clue by clue. The telling was still lots of fun. I guess it just felt like it couldn't decide if it was quirky pop comedy or something deeper.
Durante más de la mitad del libro no tenía ni idea de que iba,pero aún así me tenía enganchadisimo. A ver cuándo puedo poner las manos encima de la segunda parte.
Book's okay, with a plot that chugs along and some fun character design and costuming, but it's just so in love with its own voice. Narrator and descriptive text are both arch, clever, "cussy!", and devoid of anything human. As review title suggests, we have yet to escape Buffy.
Count me as one of the people who really can't stand the author's extremely strong authorial voice. Sometimes it was genuinely funny and I loved it but it was SO omnipresent and overbearing that eventually it felt like I was being told a pretty interesting scifi/fantasy story by someone who desperately needs me to find them hilarious.
I love the world it's set in, I love the whole goth cultists in space thing. I don't like the protagonist and I don't like that most of the characters are emotionally confused teenagers. It feels like I was tricked into reading a mislabeled YA novel. And like, YA is fine, but I like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time?
I think that if your sense of humor aligns with the author you might love this novel! But if you don't, you might hate it.
this book is just FUN? like there are moments where it could have been a little too on-the-nose or too self-conscious but it pulls it off because it's so enjoyable to read.
and the audio book is great
Best book I've read all year.
Sword-swinging and skeletal magic, nearly all-women, led by a sarcastic saucy misfit (voice as enjoyable as Murderbot, perhaps too close) in a dying galactic empire. Enjoyed the puzzling and locked-room wizarding with these welcome setting twists, but ultimately I may not be the swashbuckling audience.
Sadly, 'lesbian space necromancers' works a lot better as a pitch than as an actual novel.
I just don't know what to make of this book! The two main protagonists, Harrowhark and, especially, Gideon, were just great. Gideon was a real wise cracker. She had a snappy comeback for almost everything. Her and Harrowhark fought like two sisters for years but finally came together. Their banter was definitely the high point of the story.
This is a story about magic. Magic in space! The Nine houses all live on different planets and travel around by spaceship. The Ninth House is all about necromancy. They get called together, I think to figure out who will become the next Lyctor. What a Lyctor is, I am not sure. In fact, I am not sure what to make of the entire story.
To begin with, I was never too sure who the other characters were. Each house sent their lead magic user and their best cavalier, a sword bearing …
I just don't know what to make of this book! The two main protagonists, Harrowhark and, especially, Gideon, were just great. Gideon was a real wise cracker. She had a snappy comeback for almost everything. Her and Harrowhark fought like two sisters for years but finally came together. Their banter was definitely the high point of the story.
This is a story about magic. Magic in space! The Nine houses all live on different planets and travel around by spaceship. The Ninth House is all about necromancy. They get called together, I think to figure out who will become the next Lyctor. What a Lyctor is, I am not sure. In fact, I am not sure what to make of the entire story.
To begin with, I was never too sure who the other characters were. Each house sent their lead magic user and their best cavalier, a sword bearing defender. And each was described in so many different ways, my head was spinning. First names, last names, nicknames, houses, physical descriptions - I just could not keep any of them straight.
And magic! I generally do not like magic in my books, as it is too easy. And not only did the author not bother explaining it (besides the occasional talk of "thanergy"), she just jumped right in and had magic flying all around. Maybe because it was so pervasive, I didn't seem to mind it. They just did all kinds of magical stuff and it seemed to fit.
There were a couple huge battles and I could barely follow the action. Don't get too attached to any of the characters (if you can figure them out), because any of them could go poof. But the story moved along really well and I just plowed on, despite any confusion.
And the writing was great! I do a "Word of the Day" on my Twitter feed when I come across an interesting word in my reading and I haven't done so many entries since Stephenson's [b:The System of the World|116257|The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, #3)|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407712273l/116257.SY75.jpg|905463]! There were also plenty of laughs and some real gut punches too.
So despite being confused for most of the book, I was totally entranced as well. Maybe the two are intricately linked? I dunno, but I can't wait to read book two of The Locked Tomb, [b:Harrow the Ninth|39325105|Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569871560l/39325105.SY75.jpg|60943273].
CAN I PLEASE HAVE A BOOK WHERE THE LESBIANS DONT FUCKING DIE
(I loved it and very much will read Harrow the Ninth but god dang it)
This was an incredible book to read and I can see why it's being praised so highly. I though the characters were great and I wanted to learn more about the individual Houses and what made them unique. The plot was very engaging as well and I raced through the last hundred pages or so. I look forward to the next in the series, which I understand is coming out in June of this year, and I highly recommend it for fans of either fantasy or science fiction.
For my full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/03/book-review-gideon-ninth-by-tamsyn-muir.html
4.5 stars. I'm not quite sure how to review this book, so I'll write down some observations.
I loved Gideon. She has a fuck it, fuck them, and when it comes to Harrowhark, fuck you in particular attitude. Both girls hate each other with the power of a thousand suns, but there's also some camaraderie between the two. I really liked the interaction between the two.
This book has about 400 pages, and while I consider myself quite good at English, there were on average two words per page I had to look up. That means I learned about 800 new words (well, I've forgotten most of them already). There were even one or two words even dictionary.com never heard of. Most of them were just archaic English.
The only thing that bothered me was the worldbuilding. There is space travel, spacestations, and an Cohort that does battle on remote …
4.5 stars. I'm not quite sure how to review this book, so I'll write down some observations.
I loved Gideon. She has a fuck it, fuck them, and when it comes to Harrowhark, fuck you in particular attitude. Both girls hate each other with the power of a thousand suns, but there's also some camaraderie between the two. I really liked the interaction between the two.
This book has about 400 pages, and while I consider myself quite good at English, there were on average two words per page I had to look up. That means I learned about 800 new words (well, I've forgotten most of them already). There were even one or two words even dictionary.com never heard of. Most of them were just archaic English.
The only thing that bothered me was the worldbuilding. There is space travel, spacestations, and an Cohort that does battle on remote worlds, but everyone is dicking around with swords. I saw one memntion of a firearm (but that was a very old one) and artillery shells. So I didn't quite get why swords were the main weapons.
Speaking of old: the author does a wonderful job describing how everything is old, decrepit, dillapidated, rotten, crumbling and falling apart. Everything is on its last legs, but there's still tenthousand year old machines doing their job.
This was a weird book, but I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Did anyone catch how the dead girl in the Lost Tomb had some similarities to Gideon? I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her.
