Gideon the Ninth

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 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.

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 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

I didn't know what to expect from this after 2 years of this series being talked about among people whose taste tend to align with mine in kind of ambiguous ways. I knew people liked it but I also half anticipated it to be a gamble for me on the basis of all the "memes references" and "ow the edge" talk. Both, as it turns out, were way overblown (at least to me), and instead I found an incredibly entertaining sci-fantasy novel with great worldbuilding, a clever magic system, a memorable cast, some really alluring lore, a core plot that reminded me of the Zero Escape video game series (which is a good thing), and a unique, refreshing author voice. Halfway through the 80 percents I realized I was in what I can only (unfortunately) describe as a Brandon Sanderson-style rollercoaster of a last act (I'm told Gene Wolfe once referred to it as a "slingshot ending"), except it was happening in an uncompromisingly good book, and read thru to the end. Loved it.

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Reread on Sept 12th 2020:
Yeah this book is good.

4.25 Takes a while to get into and you should be okay with lots of gore, lymph, fat and of course bone (and boning jokes). There are a tad too many characters for my taste, but the main ones are very well-developed. The world-building is good, but sparse. It's really structured around being the first volume of a tetralogy. Gideon might not be the most relatable protagonist with her weird upbringing, but her wisecracks are generally not annoying and the conceit for making her shut up for the middle part of the book is quite nice.

In general, it's great to see some lesbian respresentation that doesn't drift much into the physical. The way the characters feel about each other actually does make sense for the horrible death-universe they grow up in. It's probably not for those just looking for a more upbeat read, but it's also not quite as horrible as you might think.

General warning: most of the characters are in their teens and the book does not spare them from the violence.