Harrow the Ninth

This is a hard one for me to rate, because honestly I spent a good chunk of this book confused and frustrated. This is by design as the author clearly wants you to be in the dark as these plot threads are gradually revealed and connected, but as a reader, asking me to push through more than half of this 20+ hour audiobook with only vague speculation about what's going on...it felt like a lot. I might have DNFed it if I didn't know others who had pushed through and assured me there was a payoff.

There was a payoff, and I'm glad I read it, and I will likely continue with the Locked Tomb series, but even at the end I had to head to the Wiki to make sure I grasped everything that happened here. If you loved the first one, then give this one a chance, but don't try to listen while multitasking and be prepared to endure the uncertainty.

i understand but i also don't understand but also now i get it

i just don't think a book is worth it if i'm 115 pages in and don't understand what the fuck is going on.. i really liked the first book so this saddens me man.. maybe i'll come back someday and try again 3

Harrow the Ninth trades one annoying lesbian narrator (complimentary) for another, equally but differently annoying lesbian narrator (also complimentary). It trades the mysteries of Canaan House for the mysteries of Lyctorhood and God Himself. It answers exactly none of the questions set forth in the first book and instead opens up a whole new world of what the fuck. It introduces a new cast of characters with absolutely no plot armor and strange unknowable motivations for doing the things they do. It is trippy and wonderful and weird and made me go "WHAT" at least a dozen times.

I read this in tandem with a friend and we had the best time sharing theories and reactions to the absolutely wild series of events that transpires in these pages. Also, the MEMES. Tamsyn Muir is a mad genius. After the first book took me about a month to get through (mostly due to the first few chapters), I absolutely blitzed through this one in a matter of days. We're really cooking at this point in the series, and even though you know you won't be given any answers, you just have to hold on tight and enjoy the ride. It's a fuckin wild one.

The writing is amazing, the plot is amazing, the ending amazing, everything was so freaking perfect about this book!

The entire beginning I was extremely confused and in like the last 20-30 % it was all clicking and I love when books are written like this because I makes me want to reread everything instantly ><

Low key need fanfic of some character 🫣

The first book Gideon the Ninth was amazing as was this so these are must reads in my opinion!!

so much stuff i love in one book

Once again, I'm not really sure I knew what I was reading. Not that I didn't enjoy it, I just often didn't really have a clue what was going on. The use of second-person narrative was extra weird - pulling you into the story, making you the protagonist when you (I) were floundering in the strange plot. But yet again, as it ended, I wanted more. Bring on Nona...

Gave up 21% of the way in the 1st time around as well as the 2nd.

Just too disjointed on the story, what was present, past, alternate reality, real, not real. I can't even tell if 'now' has even changed locations or if this is a 1-scene story; it all seems to occur in a recovery room.

What's with the eyes???

what just happened

What the hell was that?
I definitely did not expect my main question about Gideon to have this answer.
An I definitely don't get something about the Epilogue.
And it's such a bummer that Alecto is still unpublished and who knows when (if?) it will be.
I do hope that Nona is directly related to all this mess, maybe even making it a bit messier, but at this point, who cares.

Harrow is a walking trauma ... an unreliable narrator? Yeah
But in this case so utterly unreliable that she alters our memories of what came before, and that by quite alot—which, not for nothing, is a BIG swing on Muir's part, and one that she pulls off, not gracefully, but with devastating brute force. And also somewhat hallerious in my opinion.

The book's universe revolves around a galactic empire ruled by a god-like emperor and eight noble houses.  After ten thousand years of uninterrupted rule, the eight Lyctors, representatives from each house with demigod powers who serve directly the emperor, are depleted.  There are only three left, and so a new group was educated to take their place.  In the first book, only two of the eight representatives survived to achieve the status of a Lyctor: Ianthe and Harrow.  They join the emperor and the surviving three Lyctors on an isolated space station.  At first, they hide from the nigh unkillable Resurrection Beast, and later they prepare to fight it.

So to the more detailed or serious part of this rewiev. (That I feel will be complicated and confusing to read) The narriation style, it is written from both a third and secound pov, which is honestly confusing. Like super confusing. And to make it even worse the ending has some first pov aswell. Like ye, that is confusion. Like I mean it makes sence it is writen like this when thinking back. Like it is all written from Gidion pov and at first she sits there like a silent creature. But after awhile she gets more presence and starts to talk more just to Harrow.

There is also the still everlasting thing taht the author somewhat feels like he is trying to scram and push too much into that are supose to be vauge but at times just gets confson. Like it is already confusing enough with all the magic and tecnology and having to think of that and undertsnad it. Just the flashbacks can at times make it even more confusing.
I mean dont get me wrong I do LOVE this book. Like it is so close to beig a 5 star. Just not totally yet, as this narriator thing did bug my brain at times.

But the stroy, OMG how I just love the overall story of this book so much. And the cara thers are even better. And the idea, like how can it even be thought. Like it is just so good and I feel kinda all weird and somehwt empty now after having read it. So yes, it is awsome.

4.5 stars. Spent so much of this book going WTF is going on. But excellent and satisfying story. Moved straight on to no.3.

• very atmospheric
  - an incredible follow up to the prequel
  - beautiful writing, as expected
  - a little confusing in the first third, but the build-up to the climax is phenomenal
  - highly conducive to a re-read, as with gideon

This book is bonkers, but in some really good ways. As I was warned, a large chunk of the book is confusing and doesn't line up with events that happened in Gideon. Harrow does say several times that she is insane. Readers should take her at her word. In the latter part of the book, things become clear with payoffs for the things that don't make sense. In addition to continuing the overarching plot started in Gideon, Harrow is a poignant explanation of mental illness and grief. Some questions left hanging in Gideon are answered and even more are raised.  Overall I thought it very good and look forward to continuing with Nona. 

Well that was incredible. I want to start the next book right now. But I also feel like I need to go lie down.

It was a bit confusing at first. Then it cleared up some, then it got confusing again. I hope the next one is not this way.

You read this book, confused as hell. You flipped back and forth, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on here.

You were confused and scratching your head until the final third of the book. And then it clicked.

For a 16 hr book, this was 10 hrs to long. The first 12 hours could have been done in 1st or 3rd person in 2 hours and had a four (I really liked it) it five (I loved it) star rating. 

At one point Harrow find herself in the military almost entirely so the author can make a pun about baristas. The entire scene contributes nothing to the story. 

This knocked me on my butt and never let me get back up, in the best way.

Starting this book I was so utterly confused and now having finished it, it felt more like reading the second book in an anthology up until the very end. The almost 400 pages where confusing and took way to long to come to the conclusion. And even though I could guess what was happening I still found it to be confusing and fully not enjoyable for the first 75%, especially because I liked Harrow much less than I did Gideon, especially their ‘writing style'. 

The book was good though, and although it took very long for things to get off the ground there were definitely some good bit in between that were funny or a nice scene. By the end when I finally started figuring out what was going on it did start all coming together and I did end up enjoying it. 

However reading the epilogue makes me scared I am in for exactly the same bullshit in the third book so I am not sure if I will find it worth my time to start and read that, especially since I read fairly slowly. 

Ši dalis man patiko labiau, nei pirma, nors, kiek skaičiau, daugumai - atvirščiai. Pirma knyga parašyta iš Gideon perspektyvos, o ši - iš Harrow. Tikiu, kad jei nepatinka Harrow, nepatiks turbūt ir jos POV, bet man Harrow patinka, tad jokių bėdų neturėjau... išskyrus vieną - mano nuolatinį priešą antro asmens naratyvą :I

Taip, žinau, kad populiaru jo nekęsti. Taip, Žinau, kad autorė “turėjo gerų priežasčių” jį naudoti. But stiiiiiill.

Istorija iš pradžių atrodo paini, tačiau po truputį unravelin'a (aš visia nebemoku kalbėt lietuviškai...) ir tada atsiveria visas siužetas, o su juo ir plot twist'as, į kurį gilinamasi kitoj daly.

Man patinka personažai, man patinka dialogai (bent jau didžioji dalis), humoras, intriga. Tikiu, kad buvo daugiau vietų, kurios užkliuvo, tačiau kadangi rašau šią apžvalgą gerokai po to kai perklausiau knygą (klausiau dieną, skaičiau prieš miegą, bet sakyčiau daugiau klausiau, nei skaičiau), tai jau daug ko nebeatsimenu.viena vieta mane žiauriai sunervino, bet čia spoilerių
Labai akivaizdu, kad Gideon ir Harrow bus pora. Man jų santykiai labai rushed ir neįdomūs ir ko gero man patiko ši dalis labiau, nes jos nebuvo kartu. Bet ne tai mane suerzino. Mane suerzino kitas mano priešas literatūroje - pavydo scenos [insert vemiantį emodžį, aš prie kompo, tingiu ieškot]. Ianthe - fandomo nekenčiama, bet mano labai mylima personažė - galimai turi jausmų Harrow. Gideon, būdama Harrow kūne, matė visą jų bendravimą. Kai jodvi susitiko, Gideon užstūmė ant Ianthe, kad tipo ko čia fliruoji su Harrow, tu jai niekad nepatiksi, pradėjo jai grąsint kažkodėl... Kažkokia makalynė. Jau tiksliai nebeprisimenu, deja. Sesei buvau gerą monologą ta tema suskėlus, kai atmintis dar buvo šviežia. Po šios scenos pradėjau nemėgt Gideon ir nekęst to prakeikto ship'o (Harrow ir Gideo romantinio pairing'o)

4.5 stars. This book is truly not for the faint of heart. It was confusing, it was wild, it was bewildering - and yet, I had an absolute blast. I've never read anything quite like this series, simultaneously befuddling me at every turn but yet more engaging than most books I've read. If you enjoyed the first book, you would quite likely enjoy this one - but be warned that you'd still be confused as all heck for most of it.

If you already enjoyed the first book, there was probably just something about the writing or the story or the world-building that clicked for you. This series and Muir's writing is definitely not for everyone, but if it clicks for you, you probably would be hard pressed to find a more stellar example of what she does well. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the extremely unique voice in her narrative, a blend of almost grimdark fantasy with black humour all delivered in the tone of high-schoolers somehow.

I'm also the sort of reader who's pretty OK to just let the story go on even if I'm not completely understanding what's going on and trying to catch the main gist as I go along. This served me particularly well for this book. It's common for fantasy/sci-fi books to be pretty obscure for the first 20-30%, sometimes even up to 50%. But this book... this book read like a fever dream for a whopping 70% of the book before you get any kind of clarity on what on earth is happening. I can definitely see that not working for a lot of people, but I was just enjoying myself so much with the narrative voice despite not having a single clue what was going on. Also, be warned that a lot of this book uses the second-person narrative.

Behind it all, there's a really fascinating world and story that Muir is building here. It's just sometimes hard to have a good grip on what the world is actually all about because we see it through some very convoluted perspectives. Nevertheless though, I have always been pretty satisfied with how the stories conclude for both the first book and this one, there's just enough of a pay-off to make the fever dreams clearer and less of a hot mess, and just enough of a cliffhanger to make you wild for the next installment already.

Spoilery thoughts: I felt like what really pulled me through the first confusing 70% was how beautifully it was done that we always just almost touched Gideon but never did, and the way the narrative and Harrow and every other character always seemed to just dance around Gideon's name just made the ghost of her feel even more real despite the absence. When Gideon eventually did come back, I never realised how much I missed her narrative voice until just then.I probably missed the answers to some of these from the confusion of the ending but: Who the heck is Wake and why is she a Commander and why is she so involved with just about everyone in the First House? So was it also established that she was also the Sleeper? And why was the Saint of Duty trying to kill Harrow through the whole book? Who was Anastasia/Annabel? Did we find out who the Body in the Tomb was? Why did Augustine and Mercy go all that length to conceive Gideon?

I very certainly will continue this series.

Hoo boy. This was a ride. I felt very confused a lot of the time, but it all came together really well. There's so much going on, though, and it did take a little too long to come together, that it's only four stars to Gideon's five, but I'm still really enjoying these. I'm going to take a break before Nona, as this was very long.

Harrow the Ninth is probably the single most mindbending book that I've ever read. From start to finish I felt like I was being gaslit, and that Tamsyn Muir was laughing at me as I second guessed myself into a gibbering mess on the floor. Needless to say, I adored this book.

There's a few quirks straight off the bat that I had heard people complain about before I'd even finished Gideon, so I went in slightly apprehensive. Especially considering the second person perspective that is so incredibly divisive.

I'd like to say that these complaints are warranted, and that people have good reason to feel this way. And to a certain extent they do. If you just hate second person, and think it can never be done well, you'll hate this, but if I'm being honest, anyone who complained about the second person after finishing the book missed the point. The book fundamentally doesn't work without the existence of the second person.

The other main complaint I've seen is that people didn't like the fact that there was a retelling of the events in the first book, but this is an incredibly unfair assessment of those chapters if I'm being honest, and the complaint rings hollow to me after I've finished the book, since it comes across as though the people raising this complaint didn't finish the book.

The pacing complaint that I've seen is a totally valid one, though I personally liked the pacing, even if the book is very slow at points. That's just the style of story that I enjoy, so this one clicked with me.

The characters in this book are stellar, much like they were in Gideon, each one making a splash within a few pages of their introduction. This book is also benefitted by having a much smaller cast than the previous entry, allowing the other characters to absolutely shine off the page. Looking back at it, Gideon definitely suffered to a small extent from character bloat (despite my enjoyment of those characters) and definitely could have used a bit more time with some of them. This is mitigated in both this book and Nona, as now we've seen more of a lot of those characters, so Gideon is very much the prologue of the series that serves as setup.

The Emperor in particular is an absolute delight, acting like that fun uncle that you only used to see at family events, except you're seeing him in a really important position of power, and his chaotic inner gremlin is telling him to fuck around and have fun, but his sensible side (and sensible friends) are steering him narrowly past that path. This creates a lot of really engaging scenes with him, where the fun part is dropped, and he just gets sad, and you see the pain he's been through, paying off setup from early on in GtN.

Then there's Harrow. Harrow had big shoes to fill for me, coming off the back of Gideon, who is now firmly squared away as one of my favourite protagonists in literature. And you know what? She didn't fill them completely. But she was damn close. Harrow in any other series would be the best PoV that you'd get, but here she just has some damn good competition. The fact that Tamsyn was able to craft two distinctly phenomenal protagonists is something worthy of praise on it's own, so I'm not even remotely disappointed by Harrow not living up to the Himbo in chief. She's still an S-tier Protagonist in my opinion.

And then there's the prose. The prose is once again phenomenal in this book, Tamsyn going all out to show off her skills as an author. I was challenged multiple times throughout this book with words that I had never even realized needed defining, but here she is, pulling out the most obscure terms she can, and I love it.

All in all, a hearty recommendation from me, I adore this book. Tamsyn Muir is one of the best modern SFF authors in the game, and I'm so excited to finish the series.

This book is one of the most unique, challenging books I've ever read. There is really nothing like it. People said it was confusing and it absolutely is the most confusing thing I've ever laid eyes on. About 70% in, things start making sense and it does put a lot of it into context. The last third is very good. However, there are little things about Muir's writing that just kinda grind on me.

Firstly is the way she uses names. Every other line switches names and it's highly unnatural and takes me out of it every time. The same character will refer to the same person as John, God, Teacher, Emperor, and King Undying in the same chapter in their own head or in dialogue with no rhyme or reason as to when or why. This gets even worse with the House representatives, because sometimes someone will refer to them by their first name, sometimes by their last name, and then sometimes by their house number, again with no reason. It's not that I can't figure out who they're referring to, it's that I shouldn't have to, and I don't believe people do this. You might call someone a different name, but you won't make a game out of changing it every time.
(Okay, that bothers me more than it should. I know)

Otherwise, my other problem is that the writing trends into melodrama during big moments and a little bit less would go further for me, personally. I also think that, while the reveals were very good, there is definitely a way to have made this story have the same reveals and be like 25% less confusing than it was. At a certain point, you are getting off on making things confusing, and I think we passed that point in this book.

Also this book was funnier than Gideon the Ninth but without trying to be as funny (or seeming to), so that was a win.

Pretty excited to read Nona the Ninth, after a break