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.