narsere's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse
mgdmcc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gideon The Ninth is a queer gothic adventure, a study of horror and the lengths people go for those they hate to love. It’s an interesting piece but I think the ending felt too open. It’s very clear this is the start to a series which is fine but always leaves one book feeling a bit unsatisfying at its end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
tobibi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This really reinvigorated my reading mood. It took a bit to build up, but the world building is presented very well (little to no infodumps) and the characters are introduced slowly, so you get a general feel for them throughout the book. The horror elements are good, though a bit less striking than I thought they would be, but that's likely due to our POV (Gideon). I enjoyed seeing the back and forth in Griddlehawk's relationship progression, and the ending was heartbreakingly good. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.
favorite lines
"... Where I'm going, I promise to piss fidelity all the livelong day. I have lots of fealty in me. I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body. I fealt *hard*." (p. 43)
"With the proper motivation, Griddle could wield two swords in each hand and one in her mouth. While we were developing common sense, she studied the blade." (p. 53)
"Harrow said, "No."
"I want to go," said Gideon.
"This sounds impossibly vapid."
"I want to eat a dessert."" (p. 167)
Harrow's voice, almost a whisper: "A light, Nav."
"What?"
"You *did* bring a torch."
"This is a service I was unaware I was meant to provide," said Gideon. (p. 204)
... "Thoughts?"
Gideon said, "Did you know that if you put the first three letters of your last name with the first three letters of your first name, you get 'Sex Pal'?" (p. 274)
"Ask me how I am and I'll scream," she said.
"How are you," said Camilla, who was a pill.
"I see you calling my bluff and I resent it," said Gideon... (p. 305)
Once Gideon would have loved to hear Corona talk to her with that low, breathy intensity, maybe saying "Your biceps... they're eleven out of ten," but right now she did not want anyone to talk to her at all. (p. 327)
"... Look, Nav. You ratted out your childhood nemesis to get her in trouble. You didn't kill her parents, and she shouldn't hate you like you did, and *you* shouldn't hate you like you did."
He was peering at her through his spectacles. "Hey," she objected lamely, "I never said I hated myself."
"Evidence," he said, "outweighs testimony." (p. 336)
... "I'm an abomination. The whole universe ought to scream whenever my feet touch the ground. My parents committed a necromantic sin that we ought to have been torpedoed into hte centre of Dominicus for. If any of the other Houses knew of what we'd done they would destroy us from orbit without a second's thought. i am a *war crime*." (p. 353)
"... I made myself watch, when my parents -- I could not do the slightest thing my House expected of me. Not even then. You're not the only one who couldn't die." (p. 355)
... "You apologize to me now? You say that you're sorry when I have spent my life destroying you? You are my whipping girl! I hurt you because it was a relief! I exist because my parents killed everyone and relegated you to a life of abject misery, and they would have killed you too and not given a second's goddamned thought! I have spent your life trying to make you regret that you weren't dead, all because -- I regretted I wasn't! I ate you alive, and you have the temerity to tell me that *you're sorry*?" (p. 356)
"Hm," said Camilla neutrally, and Gideon knew immediately that she organized Palamedes's and her socks by color and genre. (p. 365)
... She didn't need a very long look to tell that Dyas was dead. For one thing, her skeleton and her body had apparently tried to divorce. (p. 372)
"She took Babs," she said, which seemed fair enough.
But then Corona started crying again, big tears leaking out of her eyes, her voice thick with misery and self-pity. "And who even cares about Babs? Babs! She could have taken *me*." (p. 394)
Harrow said, with some difficulty. "I cannot conceive of a universe without you in it."
"Yes, you can, it's just less great and less hot," said Gideon." (p. 437)
favorite lines
"I want to go," said Gideon.
"This sounds impossibly vapid."
"I want to eat a dessert."" (p. 167)
"What?"
"You *did* bring a torch."
"This is a service I was unaware I was meant to provide," said Gideon. (p. 204)
Gideon said, "Did you know that if you put the first three letters of your last name with the first three letters of your first name, you get 'Sex Pal'?" (p. 274)
"How are you," said Camilla, who was a pill.
"I see you calling my bluff and I resent it," said Gideon... (p. 305)
He was peering at her through his spectacles. "Hey," she objected lamely, "I never said I hated myself."
"Evidence," he said, "outweighs testimony." (p. 336)
But then Corona started crying again, big tears leaking out of her eyes, her voice thick with misery and self-pity. "And who even cares about Babs? Babs! She could have taken *me*." (p. 394)
"Yes, you can, it's just less great and less hot," said Gideon." (p. 437)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Classism, Death, Torture, Cursing, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Slavery, and Abandonment
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 rounded up! Extremely super duper slow start, and Gideon’s humor is unbearable until the bodies start dropping and she gets too distracted to make jokes, but over all fun! don’t think I’ll read more
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Child death, and Child abuse
kalyntaylor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book single-handedly revealed to me that there’s another fucking insane lesbian out there who has a mind just like mine. Tamsyn Muir youre a goddamn hero. Somehow she managed to surprise me at every single turn, every flip of the page. the emphasis on devotion, loyalty and soul crushing love is so beautifully written and so hard to come by. Gideon is so real that i felt like she was sitting beside me reading the book too. To see a masculine girl be the center of such an awesome story makes my heart melt. As someone who has wanted to be a writer her whole life, i’ve always struggled to put ideas together and create a tight knit plot AND have deep, profoundly written characters. Muir proves here that you can do both. It’s refreshing to find characters who love so boundlessly and girlishly as i do. There’s so much more i could write about this book, but the clock just hit 4 am. Anyways, if you’re gay, have ADHD, and a love for absolutely terrible jokes and goth women, read this book. You’ll relate to Gideon a LOT. :))))
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
mossybean's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved this book, despite it being far outside my usual wheelhouse. It was gripping, I wanted to read it all in one day once I got about halfway, but it’s obviously too long to do that. The writing is quite beautiful, the description passages lyrical. The banter between the main characters is funny. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was the ending… it’ll take a while to process.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Suicide
language_loving_amateur's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This is pure Gold!
It is epic and heart-wrenching and post-apocalyptic. It blends fantasy and science fiction, leaning more towards fantasy. The 9 Houses each occupy a planet, and there are spaceships, but the technology is in the background and the necromantic magic is what is crucial to the story. There are some locked room mystery aspects and you really have to pay attention.
The narrative voice is beautifully sarcastic and I love Gideon with all my heart. Be warned, this is violent and gory, which Gideon once described as "untidy death."
The one drawback that bothered me was that each character has 3-4 names and 2-3 titles, and will be referred to with any combination thereof. There is a character list in the beginning, but I was listening to the audio-book so it was not easy for me to go back and reference it.
It is epic and heart-wrenching and post-apocalyptic. It blends fantasy and science fiction, leaning more towards fantasy. The 9 Houses each occupy a planet, and there are spaceships, but the technology is in the background and the necromantic magic is what is crucial to the story. There are some locked room mystery aspects and you really have to pay attention.
The narrative voice is beautifully sarcastic and I love Gideon with all my heart. Be warned, this is violent and gory, which Gideon once described as "untidy death."
The one drawback that bothered me was that each character has 3-4 names and 2-3 titles, and will be referred to with any combination thereof. There is a character list in the beginning, but I was listening to the audio-book so it was not easy for me to go back and reference it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, and Suicide
jodean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Kelsey has been trying to get me to read this for a while. Glad I finally listened.
I will say the audio book specifically is done very well. I switched to it from the paper version and was able to follow much better
I will say the audio book specifically is done very well. I switched to it from the paper version and was able to follow much better
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cancer, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Slavery, War, and Self harm
divine529's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This book is billed as lesbian necromancers in space, but that's the bare minimum of what this book is about.
This book follows Gideon the Ninth, an orphan who has been indentured to serve the House of the Ninth, a cultist group of necromancers who are sworn to protect a tomb which holds the Emperor's worst enemy, and ultimately Harrow the Ninth, the leader/queen/head of Ninth House. Harrow and Gideon despise each other, but get thrust together to become a team to serve Ninth House in their quest to become Lyctor and all kinds of political intrigue and chaos ensues.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this coming in and wasn't even sure this was something I would like, but friends convinced me and I'm so glad they did because I thoroughly enjoyed this. If I were to describe this as anything it's basically "And Then There Were None" meets "The Hunger Games". And I understand the comparison to RotE.
I live and breathe for certain relationship dynamics in this book - Harrow and Gideon at the end is everything and I adore Cam and Pal more than anything (they're my faves). I found all of the characters interesting, even if I didn't like them, the plot took all kinds of interesting twists and turns, a lot I figured out, but some came out of nowhere. The writing was pretty good overall, but at times had some awkward phrasing that pulled me out of the story a bit and some pacing issues. Also PLEASE heed the CW/TW, it's possible I missed some, so look at the general community ones to make sure you're covered before you read because it's full of them at every turn.
All in all, a solid start to this series and I'm very interested to see what's going to happen next in Harrow!
This book follows Gideon the Ninth, an orphan who has been indentured to serve the House of the Ninth, a cultist group of necromancers who are sworn to protect a tomb which holds the Emperor's worst enemy, and ultimately Harrow the Ninth, the leader/queen/head of Ninth House. Harrow and Gideon despise each other, but get thrust together to become a team to serve Ninth House in their quest to become Lyctor and all kinds of political intrigue and chaos ensues.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this coming in and wasn't even sure this was something I would like, but friends convinced me and I'm so glad they did because I thoroughly enjoyed this. If I were to describe this as anything it's basically "And Then There Were None" meets "The Hunger Games". And I understand the comparison to RotE.
I live and breathe for certain relationship dynamics in this book - Harrow and Gideon at the end is everything and I adore Cam and Pal more than anything (they're my faves). I found all of the characters interesting, even if I didn't like them, the plot took all kinds of interesting twists and turns, a lot I figured out, but some came out of nowhere. The writing was pretty good overall, but at times had some awkward phrasing that pulled me out of the story a bit and some pacing issues. Also PLEASE heed the CW/TW, it's possible I missed some, so look at the general community ones to make sure you're covered before you read because it's full of them at every turn.
All in all, a solid start to this series and I'm very interested to see what's going to happen next in Harrow!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Toxic friendship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Genocide, War, and Vomit
sestrout's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gideon is hilarious and has all the thoughts a normal person who’s thrown into a fantasy story would have. The first of the book kind of drags, but since I listened to the audiobook, it didn’t really phase me. The audio reader is remarkable and made this book so entertaining and interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore