Gideon the Ninth

There were many many things I wanted to like about this book. The mystery, the world-building, the intrigue between the different planets, and of course the queerness. I loved almost everything about this book. So why only two stars?

I simply could not get past the queen-enslaved person dynamic, especially with the way it was presented in the beginning. If Gideon had been an indentured servant or a disliked member of the working and/or serving class, I might have felt better about it. But Gideon is none of these things; she is enslaved by Harrowhawk. The book opens with her attempting to escape and being viciously thwarted by Harrowhawk, who feels the need to twist the knife even further. It's not enough for Harrowhawk that she has enslaved someone (in fact, many someones); her personal vendetta against Gideon is so strong that she makes the latter's already difficult life even harder.

After this opening scene, the book fails to treat this issue with the weight it deserves. No amount of character development can overlook the fact that Harrowhawk views Gideon as someone she owns. And although everything else about the book is fictional, the issue of enslavement is not, and no amount of fantasy-worldbuilding can compensate for that.