Reviews with content warning for Blood - Gideon the Ninth

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, so when it started with the list of dramatis personae, I immediately had to stop and look up a written version to follow along and figure out what I was in for! (Luckily there are many wiki-type pages out there.) Once I did that, I had no issue delving into the world and its story.

It doesn't really take off until all the houses have arrived at Canaan House, but then the story morphs into an interesting puzzle box/locked room mystery. I was not expecting an "And Then There Were None" type of intrigue in this fantasy novel, but it was a pleasant surprise! I'm not sure I 100% followed all of the logical jumps the characters made as they figured out the puzzles, but I was able to follow all of the plot points no problem. There's a lot of intrigue and unanswered questions about the world that I'm itching to learn more about, so I will absolutely be continuing on with the series.

Surprisingly, I found the book to be a joyful reading experience, so that's primarily why I'm rating it 5 stars. Horror and necromancers are not normally my thing, and I've read plenty of grimdark novels that, while good, were harder to get through. However, this does not qualify as horror at all, so I was safe there. There were just a few more mentions of skeletal features and viscera than I would normally seek out, but not so many as to put me off. After each listening session, I found myself in a better mood and eager to find more time to continue on!

Gideon's voice was so strong throughout, and I thought that the audiobook narrator did an excellent job in capturing it while differentiating all the other characters' voices. It first caught me off guard that Gideon does use so much "modern" language (like "that's what she said" jokes), but I guess who's to say that language doesn't belong in this world? Once I got over that initial anachronistic feeling, I thoroughly enjoyed the humor.

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confuzzledsheep's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

This is my second read of Gideon the Ninth, after about a four year break. It was just as good the second time around. It rewards you for having read it's sequels, and was just as exciting as it was the first time around.

I recommend this to people who can handle gore, general nastiness, and women with complex motivations and vengeance. If you are a fantasy fan who doesn't know much about sci-fi, don't be afraid- this is far more fantasy than Scifi. If you study any form of biology you may also get a bit more out of this experience, as the fleshy, bloody, and boney details become more interesting and enthralling. I didn't think this would be a 5* reread, but here we are.

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angorarabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

4.25

TLDR: Confusing at first the end pays off your hard work.

I was totally confused by the time I was 30% in so I went back to the dramatic personae at the beginning of the book and wrote brief descriptions which helped a lot. Ms Muir has taken the rule to tell not show so what you know about this world is what Gideon knows and deems worthy to think about. Which makes sense, I wouldn’t bother describing how trees grow in my everyday life. There are several appendices that would have been very helpful to read before instead of after. They do not contain any spoilers so perhaps they are in the front in other editions.

Besides my confusion this was a well written book. The world is intriguing and the characters are interesting and for the most part developed. Gideon is a fresh voice in a fantasy world full of heroes saving damsels. Harrowhawk has surprising depth that doesn’t appear until you are past the 50% mark. The plot is complex with surprising twists, the ending is satisfying. I do think the final boss fight was a little to long, but the action was well described. I am looking forward to reading Harrow the Ninth.

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beckahh_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

I have no idea what happened, but I had a good time. Parts of it were really funny and easy to follow, and other parts it seemed like nothing happened but there was still so much information being thrown at you that nothing quite made sense? I'll likely continue the series and want to do a reread at some point, but I'm not sure how fast that will happen

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