Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Gideon the Ninth

My favourite book. I've reread it (and listened to the audiobook) numerous times. The writing is easy to read but still fantastic prose. The characters are all deeply flawed but you can't help but adore them. There's a lot of queerness, and enemies to reluctant allies, to much deeper than lovers.

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fromthefoxhole's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think that whoever said Gideon the Ninth is about "lesbians in space" deserves to be kicked in the teeth. It is simultaneously an over and under explanation of the story, which is to say it's almost entirely incorrect.

I would move to say there is next to no romance here, only subtext and potential. I am awash with feelings, a great many of which amount only to "f***". That said, let me try.

Gideon the Ninth is DENSE. Less than 500 pages, and yet, at the beginning, I felt as though I were wading through a bog. You'll have millions of questions about the world, and receive precious few answers. I'm still not 100% sure if the houses are full on planets or space stations or some other secret third thing. I do not really understand what a Lyctor is, or why necromancing is even possible in this world. I understand even less what the hell happened in Canaan House.

Gideon is kind of the prime example for an adult who had a messed up childhood. She is brash, thoughtless, and runs on pure spite. Harrow, her childhood nemesis who also happens to be Very Important to the Ninth House, is cold, reserved, and thinks Gideon has a brain full of rocks. Their mettle and relationship are tested when Harrow half blackmails Gideon into acting as her cavalier (to the furthest I understand, a cavalier is akin to a personal bodyguard?) and accompanying her to Canaan House on the mysterious summons from the Necromancer Prime; the Resurrection; the God of the Nine Houses; the Emperor Undying (yes they're all the one person, and yes, there are actually more titles than the ones listed). Canaan House, as it turns out, is a house of horrors. Nothing is as it seems, no one can be trusted, and the truth is hidden behind doors that should probably have stayed shut. The plot actually picks up around 35% of the way through, and shifts from a slog through unfamiliar terms and jargon into a rather fascinating and terrifying scavenger hunt.

Listen, I liked this book, I think. I plan to read farther forward in the series to truly decide it, but for now it's at least passable. But god, am I mad at that ending, and am I mad at the empire. We do bones, b*tch.

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katiekeske's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A dark, gorey adventure about necromancers in space. I had read the tagline about lesbian necromancers, but that was sadly a very subtle theme in the book. I would have enjoyed some more love and action for Gideon on that front, but it's still a very good read. Just not a romance if that's what you are expecting.

Gideon was a fun and engaging character. The character arcs for her and Harrow were so well done.

This is mostly a murder mystery with an over arching plot about the Lyctors and a Necro King.

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joyandfaye's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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