It's great! I love a setting where everything is so weird that you know it will take several books to even start seeing the big picture. The structure is perfect for this: The "empire" is one faction in a complex universe, fighting some enemies we don't know anything about. The eight houses seem to be the back country of the empire, only hearing tales from the front. The Ninth House is a pariah among the houses, not communicating with anyone. That's the Ninth House normally, but in present day it's worse: almost everyone is dead and the leader is just pretending. Harrow's great at pretending. From the point of view of Gideon it's as if Harrow knew everything. And compared to Gideon she really knows a lot! Gideon knows so little, there's a scene where she's befuddled by a bathroom.

I'm a sucker for these crazy alien universes. My favorite is how the Ninth House is all black and doom and gloom and skeletons and necromancers. Then we get to the First House and it's sunshine and glamour and skeletons and necromancers.

There's a lot of characters and a lot of stuff happens. I think there are different ways to enjoy it. You could read it with a fresh mind and just remember stuff, so when someone smiles at "the cavalier with the radiant topaz eyes" (not an actual quote), you know who that is. Or you could take notes, so when they turn right at the end of the dark corridor, then left on the stairs and up through the opening, you could look up on your map where you are. Or do like my sleep-deprive self did and just not worry about this stuff. She extruded some thanergy from a phalange? Good on her, whatever all that means.

There's a lot of action and world-building, but the bones of the book are in drama. Everyone is 200% full of emotions all the time. It's fun. I've started [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/1602323622l/39325105.SY75.jpg|60943273] already.