Gideon the Ninth

What a trippy book. Sci-fi can be difficult for me to follow, and Muir approaches the world through Gideon's understanding, which means things aren't always explained. This took some getting used to, but ultimately served the narrative and made the world feel real and lived-in. Unraveling the mysteries of Lyctorhood was fascinating and horrifying. The sharp turn the book takes into horror at a certain point was bone-chilling (lol) and felt earned. A fantastic start to the series and a compelling story I know I'll be returning to over and over again. "We do bones," indeed.

Even better on the reread !

One flesh one end.

I stayed up past my bedtime reading this (which I never do)

I listened to this first in audio and I missed a lot not to mention so many emotional connections between Gideon and Harrow.

There are few words to describe Gideon the Ninth.

Exceptional.

I'm still not quite sure what I've just read, a whodunnit... in space.... with necromancers.... and swordswomen/men?
Sometimes I felt I was just pushing through the words to get to the plot and at other times I just floated away in the prose.
I enjoyed it, I will read more, I just wasn't as enthused as I expected to be after all the rave reviews.

  Well this is one of those books where you almost just in shock. You do not even know how to word yourself and yet make it sound like what you feel.It is honestly so good, like amazingly good. I just really enjoyed the storyline and all the caracthers. I mean mostly atleast. The mc feels so relateble but also enough not relateble that I do not get pulled into a ultra realistic fiction book.The first maybe 100 pages is something to prepear for just due to it being COMPLETLY confusing. I did enjoy it all but that, and the fact that the word list was not mentioned to exist in the back befroe I was done. Was kinda annoying. So, just as a warning THERE IS A DICTONARY IN THE BACK.  

It is so fun, absolutely fantastic, such a good book. The main characters are so funny and so well-written, I cant wait for the second book.

Wow that was incredible.

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Gideon, an orphaned foundling raised in the Ninth House - keepers of the Locked Tomb - is desperate to leave and take her martial skills elsewhere. But the daughter of the rulers of the Ninth, her hated rival Harrow, has other plans. Together, they head off to answer the Emperor's call, along with the heirs and champions of seven other necromantic Houses of the Empire.

Review
I tend to be sceptical about The Next Big Thing. Usually, it's not, though sometimes it's quite good. Sometimes it's not. But of course I'm curious. The press for Gideon the Ninth didn't draw me in, but when I saw a chance to check it out for free, I decided to give it a shot, with mixed results.

I almost invariably finish books I start; I find it very difficult to just stop reading. But within 30 pages of opening Gideon the Ninth, I was contemplating doing exactly that. If it had been an unknown quantity entirely, I might have done so. But since it was so highly regarded, I figured there had to be something there. I've found that's often faulty logic, but nonetheless, I persevered. And I'd have to say that the first 100 pages or more (of a 400 page book) were very rocky. It did get better toward the end.

To be frank, Muir does, as Gideon herself might say, a crap job of setting the stage. We have very little understanding of what the society is or how it's meant to work – whether the Empire as a whole or even just the microcosm of the Ninth. I'm still not sure whether the Ninth is on a planet, a planetoid, a station of some kind (though probably not), or of what it is the nine Houses are meant to do.

We start the book with Gideon desperate to leave the Ninth and join something called the Cohort. I never did understand what the Cohort was meant to be, how it was organized, or even where it was. It seemed to be an army of some kind, with a high death rate (fighting whom?). Gideon's eventual companion on a quest, her sort-of ruler Harrow, is desperate to be a Lyctor. And what's a Lyctor, you ask? Beats the hell out of me, though they seem to work for the Emperor and be part of the First house (which is the Emperor). But there are also Hands, and I don't know what they are either. And I'm saying this at the end of the book – I still don't know what the stakes were for anyone involved.

The broad concept is magic necromancy in a science fiction setting, and we don't get much more than that about how or why it works. There's just vague handwaving and cool special effects. (In fact, much of the book reads as very video game influenced.) There's a sort of mechanism to it, but mostly we just have to take for granted that the experts know what they're talking about.

The prose is oddly confident and solid in some places, clumsy and riddled with semantic errors and flaws in others. After a while, it settles in, but this is what made the first 30 pages so painful for me (and didn't help the first 100).

The characters are also underdeveloped in some ways. We start with Gideon leaving home, taking only a sword and her porn magazines. But it turns out the porn was just a gimmick to catch our attention; it never really turns up again, and plays no important role in the story (and where did it and her comic books come from, in the rigid, childless society she lives in?). The sword does. There's an intense rivalry, and a stunningly obvious relationship that goes exactly where we always knew it would go. It's also a little odd that, in an LGBT-friendly book, Gideon seems to mock one character for not being manly enough.

On the plus side (and there is one), after about page 100, once everyone settles into the quest, things get substantially better. The characters, always somewhat engaging, get considerably deeper. I still found it hard to differentiate many of them (and there are 20 or so key characters to remember), despite Muir's helpful mnemonic names. And while the emotional path is fairly obvious, it's interesting to get there. And the special effects of the quest are cool (despite the vague foundation for it all). The latter three quarters of the book are pretty fun, and I'm even curious about what happens next; it's not out of the question that I'd pick up more books of the series. Part of that is because it's a sunk cost now; I'm past that painful first hill. There are still some pretty gaping holes in it all, but I know where they are and can see past them somewhat.

Would I recommend this? I'm not sure. You have to have have considerable stamina and tenacity to get to the good part, but when you do, it's pretty good. If you suffer from FOMO but somehow haven't picked this up yet, do; just be prepared to fight the book for a while first.

PS the cover is misleading. Gideon is described as a musclebound powerhouse, not a slim and elegant fighter.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

(Very much spoilers cause all I talk about is the ending)

Really good book but 4 stars because the author didn't stick the landing at the end. And because this book is prudish about sex despite being proffered as an example of an LGBTQ+ book by my local bookstore.

Muir's command of writing is good but less so of scene and especially worldbuilding. It's like she thought we'd be impatient with anything extended, or she hadn't come up with it yet. Or maybe none of it will matter since the characters will all have Lycter-level godpowers going forward and much of what's said here will be irrelevant.

The ending felt fresh and unexpected despite my reservations. I have a feeling a lot of that will be undone at some point, but, still, a GOOD undying necromancer Emperor? Okay, let's see how this one goes

The more I think about it, the more holes I poke. It was fine! The pace was great! The ending was rather good and rather bad at the same time! I'll give the benefit of the doubt.

Fine enough. A cute little story that succeeds in having likable enough characters. It's got way too much going on to pay attention to all its parts and develop them equally, but I'd prefer novels bite off more than they can chew, I guess. Highly reminiscent of fanfic in that way, though; it languishes in implication rather than action. It doesn't show or tell, just kind of gestures. Still, it's a first novel, so that's understandable.

What really kills me are the crappy internet jokes that totally undercut the tension of important scenes, and the overreliance on visual cues. You can tell the inspiration for this novel is visual rather than prose (a webcomic and, I assume, from the way the fight scenes work, plenty of anime). The worldbuilding is good enough to stand on its own, but it feels like the author is strangely embarrassed of it unless someone is saying bizznach or yass kwneen. Extremely irritating.

Overall a good first effort, though, and clearly engaging enough that I read every word. Most of every word. I've read enough Naruto that my eyes glazed over the final fight scene.

Okay, I will preface this by saying that this was a highly anticipated read of mine and FINALLY I WASN'T DISAPPOINTED.

I heard about this book last year from many many people and I was always at the cusp of reading it, but took me a little to get to it, but I am finally here, and I'm happy to be a locked tomb girlie.

Nonetheless, some things were not what I expected.

A lot is said by this being a challenging book, and a book that will blow your mind with its mystery and I really ought to say: lower your expectations a little bit, not because this is a bad book, but because expectation is the mother of disappointment.

Gideon the Ninth can be a difficult book because Tamsyn Muir's writing here is purposefully dense and sometimes a little clunky. Many many words, sentences, and wordplays are sculpted to be hard on compression in a way that sometimes felt the book was telling me a lot without really saying anything. That is a big problem at the beginning of the book, its first 150 pages aren't earned for how wordy it is, if you are reading this without reading the book, I tell you PUSH THROUGH IT ITS WORTH IT. I could have done with a different way to tell the story, but Tamsyn is a good storyteller and this was the way she wanted to tell her story and I am happy I didn't give up. That is the extent of “difficulty” this book contains.

I've seen lots of people struggling with names, I didn't. I have a pretty good memory and once I learned their names I didn't struggle to recall, nor did I think Gideon was bad at naming the characters because plenty of context clues were given to me.

I also saw lots of people surprised by the twists, and I will say that I didn't predict the big fight at the end, or the “metamorphosis” the characters go through but everything else I guessed correctly. I figured the big bad at 48% of the book and it was hilarious because some friends tried to throw me off and I was like, nope I trust no beach. I also managed not to get spoiled which was a feat.

My favorite parts were the character development of Harrow and Gideon, Tamsyn managed to build a great story with loveable characters that you can relate to and love and suffer for, and if you know anything about me, know this: I am a plot princess that is also character-focused and Tamsyn did all of this for me. I also love murder mysteries and puzzle pieces and I adore following the clues and piecing everything together, and being right at the end about some things made this even more rewarding.

I love Gideon's silliness and golden retriever personality, my girl is a sunshine and she's so lovely and I only ever want to see her smile forever. But I knew I was going to love Gideon, I loved her from the premises of the book alone.

The real surprise was loving Harrow as fiercely and protectively as I do now. The Reverend's Daughter was my favorite character in this book, and from her first appearance, I couldn't do anything other than be in awe of her power, intelligence, fast thinking, and capableness. Harrow is my kind of character because she's not only the smartest person in the room she's also the girl with a huge heart hidden in her sleeve and I cannot deal with those types, I am easy pickings for a character with a tragic background that is powerful and good despite that. I cannot wait to get to her book.

All in all, this is a solid 4.5 stars and I'm a fan of Tamsyn's work now.

3.5

Fantastic. Can't wait to reread.

It was entertaining. I didn't get bored while reading it, but it was just a bit YA for me. Too many silly examples of dialog and writing that jarred me out of immersion, like “That's what she said.”

Not just once, but twice that I remember.

Seriously? I know you want Gideon to be edgy and cool and angsty, but that just didn't work for me.

The world building was interesting. The mystery setting was interesting.

I had a hard time following everyone since they were referred to by many different terms and names.

“Thanks, Palamedes.”
“Sextus was a marvel.”

Those are the same person, referred to in two consecutive sentences, and aren't the only terms used to identify that person. I was reading an ebook and not a physical book, and if I was reading the physical book I'd have been able to easily flip back to the Dramatis Personae to help with that issue.

I bumped this up the TBR because a good friend raved about it as one of his favorites. Perhaps the expectations were too high.

3,5 labiau nei 4

Knyga pradžioj buvo gan nuobodi, tiesą sakant. Kažkaip net buvo momentų, kur kontempliavau ar skaityt ją ar tokį meh fanfiką, kuris irgi gan lėtas pradžioje xD tačiau siužetas įsisuko ir vėliau tikrai buvo įdomu skaityt. Mano atveju - skaityt prieš miegą ir klausyt audio versijos važiuojant į darbą.

Kas gi gero šioje knygoje?

Įdomus pasaulis (sauslės sistema su 9 planetom, kiekviena priklauso tam tikram nekromantų namui)Krūva nekromantų, kurie yra skirtingo tipo nekromantai. Yra kaulų nekromantai, yra “mėsos”, yra - dvasių.
Labai įvairūs ir, mano nuomone, gerai parašyti personažai. Nors aš skaičiau porą recenzijų, kur žmonėms personažai labai nepatiko, bet man čia kaip tik stiprioji knygos pusė. Daug kietų moterų! Murder mystery, kurio sprendimas taip pat atveria duris į platesnę šio pasaulio problemą.
Knyga vietomis primena anime gerąja prasme. Kovų scenos labai “gyvos” ir energingos, yra tam tikri personažų tropai, kurie labai gerai veikia šioje istorijoje.MinusaiKaip jau minėjau - lėta pradžia. Tikrai reikia viską susetuppint, viską suprantu, bet man asmeniškai prailgo.
Knygoje daug šiuolaikinio humoro, tad čia jau toks labai ant megėjo. Kai kurie bajeriai labai gerai landino, kai kurie - gan lievi.Nors pradžia buvo lėta, man atrodo tam tikru momentu tempas buvo gal net per greitas. Įvykiai ir situacijos, kur norėjau kiek sustoti, pakontempliuoti, galbūt geriau suprasti kas čia vyksta buvo tikrai paskubinti.
Susijęs su punktu viršuj (lengvas spoileris): Gideon ir Harrow per greit susidraugavo, žinant kokia sudėtinga buvo jų praeitisVietomis knyga gan paini, bet vėliau daug kas pasidaro aišku.

Verdiktas

Pati tai jau beveik baigiau antrą knygą ir tikrai sėkmingai skaitysiu trečią (ji jau laukia manęs lentynoje, tačiau neturiu šitos audio versijos. antra, beje, man labiau patinka).

Daug kas reklamuoja šią knygą kaip fantasy, bet čia labiau tinka sci fi + supernatural žanrai. Tai yra mokslinė fantastika su maginės fantastikos elementais, bet ta maginė fantastika yra grynai vaiduokliai, skeletai ir t.t., tad, mano nuomone, iki fantasy nedatempia. Bet jei mėgstat tokią literatūrą, tikrai rekomenduoju!

One of the most enjoyable books I've read in awhile. Funny, fast-paced, thrilling, & so full of mystery! I loved Gideon & Muir's stellar ability to build out a fascinating cast of characters.

Ah, Gideon the Ninth. What a book. I originally picked this book up a year ago, and made it to the end of Part 3, decided I was going to back to it eventually, and then proceeded to forget to do that. Which is heartbreaking, considering the fact that now that I've read it, it's one of my favourite books.

Tamsyn Muir has crafted one of the most interesting SFF universes that I've experienced in recent memory, and I'm ungodly excited to see more of it down the line. It feels like she was a massive fan of 40k, who decided she wanted an ending to the mythos, so she made her own universe that was similar to it, yet distinct enough to not be a direct rip. She then proceeded to make it gay as shit.

And hoo boy, does this book slap. Spoilers for the rest of this review, I have nothing bad to say about this book. I loved every single facet of it, every character, every line, and if I could go back to not remembering it so that I could have the joy of experiencing it for the first time again, I would.

First things first, Gideon, our protagonist, is probably one of my favourite fantasy protagonists ever put to page. I don't think any author has managed to make the reader understand a PoV character as quickly as Tamsyn does here, because by the end of the first chapter, the reader will have a near perfect understanding of who Gideon is. But by no means is Gideon a shallow character. Quite the opposite actually. Without getting too deep into spoilers, there are truths about herself that Gideon isn't quite ready to admit to herself, and watching her unravel herself from her traumatic childhood is a genuinely beautiful story.

And then there's Harrow. Oh Harrow, my beloved. A character designed for you to loathe, and then love. The smartest woman in any given room, who shows just how stupid she is by ignoring the asset she has in Gideon. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, because you should read the book, but her and Gideon's animosity towards each other is such an entertaining dynamic because of how different the two of them are to each other.

The prose is beautiful in the book, and challenged me quite a bit at points, throwing words at me that I'd never even heard, let alone read, before, so it was quite fun having my vocabulary expanded like that.

The world is probably my favourite aspect of the book. Having the universe be set in our solar system, but so far into the future that the names of the planets as we know them have been lost, is an amazing touch, that adds a surprising amount of weight to the story.

The magic system within the world is also really cool, as there's multiple different forms of necromancy within the universe. For instance, one of the houses style of necromancy comes in the form of freezing the person's aging, allowing people to live forever. Some of the cooler aspects of the magic system are massive spoilers, so I won't go too deep into those, but needless to say, it's fantastic.

But let's get to my one issue. My big, glaring, issue. And that is that Tamsyn Muir has refused to apologize for the sheer agony that the ending of this book put me through. I bawled my fucking eyes out. I don't think I will ever emotionally recover from the beating my heart took from the last 20 pages of this book, so I will be pursuing legal action. It was absolutely fantastic, I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

All in all, read the book, you're doing yourself a massive disservice by not at least experiencing the first in the series, because it really is an absolute treat. If you couldn't tell from the rest of the review, this is a 5 star book, and I'll be recommending it to anyone who'll listen to me.

Sometimes you need to read out of your comfort zone, and if you're lucky it's good. Holy cow this was so good. I loved Gideon and her drive. Harrow was awful and annoying and amazing. Most of the other necromancers and their cavaliers were really interesting - some blended together a bit for me though. The whole idea is just so amazing, I kept thinking “how did someone think of this?!” I am so excited to continue the series!

Overly-complex world mechanics get in the way of plot and character. Reads more like a video game, including unlocking rooms, exploring a physical space, and fighting a few big bads/final bosses. Doesn't have the kind of compellingly fleshed-out characters or elegant world-building that make me want to read more in the series.

2nd read, March 2024.
Upgraded to 4 stars. Listening with actual text in front of me made all the difference. So many things just went over my head the first time.

All the characters that were just a mess for me when I listened the first time appeared very well-rounded and distinctive this time. I was particularly touched by Warden and his story.

The relationship between Gideon and Harrow turns out to be much deeper than I thought. The ending makes sense now and is very sad. I still have some questions about Gideon unanswered and hope to get some information about her in the second book.
____
2.5 rounded to 3 because of how the book ends. The last few chapters made it not feel like I wasted my time on the book. I shouldn't have felt bored by such a book, but somehow most of the time I did. I muddled through it rather than immersed and enjoyed, like it usually happens.

Caccia al tesoro + cena con delitto: edizione necromanti! Che spettacolo ragazzɜ...

Non ho parole per descrivere il rollercoaster che è stato leggere Gideon la Nona. Dico solo che è un peccato non averlo letto prima.
Se il resto della saga è anche solo la metà di questo (a livello di trama, scrittura e personaggi), potrei aver trovato una delle mie saghe preferite, non solo dell'anno ma in generale.

Pazzesco e originale, oltre che estremamente coinvolgente, mi è davvero difficile trovare dei difetti al momento.

4.5 stars. Interestingly, I think this is a book that one might enjoy more if you listened to the audiobook (the one narrated by Moira Quirk) than if you just simply read it on text. I had DNFed this book in 2020 but then came back to give it 4.5 stars and I think Quirk's narration played a big part in this change of mind.

Gideon Nav wants to escape from the dreary House of the Ninth, but her plans are foiled by the Reverend Daughter of the House, Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Gideon is coerced into being Harrow's cavalier (something like a right-hand person and bodyguard) as she travels to the planet of the First House to undertake trials to hopefully become a Lyctor, a member of the God-Emperor's House of the First.

This book is - confusing. It also doesn't do much to ease readers into the world so be prepared to feel utterly lost at sea for the first few chapters. That was what made me DNF three years ago. If you push past it and find something to like about this book, chances are you're going to really enjoy it. Even now, after finishing this, I'm not sure I completely understand what was going on. I certainly only had half an idea of what was happening during the climax at the end. But what kept me going was just really being there for Gideon and her relatable bungling persona.

I was such a fan of Quirk's voice, tone, and performance that even when I hadn't an idea what was going on, I was still happy to bask in the moment and continue. At no point did I feel like things were getting draggy, nor did I have to keep checking my progress to see how much more I have left of this book (which I do for almost every book I read).

The action in this book really only ramps up after quite a bit of preamble, maybe at the 40-50% mark or so. I think I must have finished almost half of the book in one day because it got so exciting that I couldn't put it down. It also took me up to about the halfway mark to even start distinguishing the side characters, because there were so many of them and I had no idea what part they were going to play in the plot until they did.

The premise is also so wild that it's fascinating. Each House is a planet in whatever planetary system they're on. The House of the Ninth are essentially some kind of religious order revolving around bones and skeletons, and they paint their faces like skulls a la Día de Muertos. I get by imagining that the House of the Ninth would basically be like Pluto in our Solar System - far away from the Sun and somewhat forgotten by the rest of the system. Plus, Pluto = Hades = Lord of the Underworld and there's something definitely Underworld-y about Drearburh, the planet of the Ninth, and its religious order of bone nuns. Although it's sort of sci-fi with the interplanetary politics and travel, I would say this is more fantasy than sci-fi, given that the plot revolves a lot more around bone and death magic.

Somewhat more spoilery thoughts about the book and ending: I don't usually enjoy reading enemies to lovers because the trope has been done to death these days but I was actually quite a fan in this one. Harrow and Gideon's bickering was one of the main reasons why I pushed on in the early chapters.”Do you want,” Gideon whispered huskily, “my hanky.”“I want to watch you die.”Harrow also felt like a more intense, more powerful, and more ruthless sort of Hermione-like figure, but it went perfectly with Gideon's dumbassery. Although I would say that Harrow and Gideon's chemistry reminded me strongly of Draco/Harry in fanfics, which is not at all bad in my books :PI was suspicious of Dulcinea all along and I was satisfied that I was right, although I had expected that she had masterminded something or that she might even be a beguiling corpse, not that she was someone else entirely. I didn't quite understand why Gideon had to sacrifice herself at the end, but it did bring tears to my eyes when she had to part from Harrow. The fact that her body disappeared though... I'm slightly hopeful that somehow or other Gideon might return. They do specialise in death magic after all.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I can see why it might be polarizing to many people. The writing style and humour is probably not universally appealing, even if it was very much up my alley. I also wouldn't market this as a sci-fi recommendation because there's barely any sci-fi elements in it. So perhaps if you like reading about bone and death magic, and a humourous bickering frenemy relationship, this is definitely one for you.

Nov 25th, 2022
I stayed up until 1 in the morning for this

April 5th, 2023
Muir is a god of prose. every line is perfect.

What an absolutely stunning book. I was so blown away with it while reading that I ordered the next two books. My only problem now is that I enjoyed it so much that I've flown through before the next ones arrived in the mail!

ohhh the illnesses filling my brain

I am unwell.