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A review by vintovka
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
HtN was what I wanted and expected it to be and at the same time it was not.
I loved the descend into unreliableness and madness. Harrow's an interesting protagonist in any story, it's hard to miss with her, and this one was no exception. I loved her gaslighting herself, her dynamic with John was truly something, her growth and poignant moments were beautiful to watch, her trainings in necromancy was very interesting. I loved the chosen narration style, somehow it fits Harrow very well. (Also Ortus and his Nonius poetry were great.)
On other hand, I feel like I was promised something far greater than I received. John was a very interesting addition to the story, no complaints about him, but I disliked everything else. The lyctors were not interesting, not charming, and generally a bother to read about, and I wished for them to leave the pages as soon as they appeared on them. I'm curious about Ianthe's relationship with Coronabeth, and she bores me to death any other time. Mithreum looks cool, I guess, except it doesn't actually matter. I probably should've anticipated that the great imperor and lyctorhood so hyped in GtN would be nothing like you'd expect, but it was supposed to be in a fun way!
Gideon's narration and character in GtN made even the most boring moments interesting because she herself is just that delightfull. Harrow doesn't work the same way. This made an already long book feel much longer, in a bad way.
It's a book that, again, is probably supposed to bloom during rereading. But it's also 600 pages long and I'm not going to reprise that any time soon. So for now it is what it is; a little bit dissapointing.
I loved the descend into unreliableness and madness. Harrow's an interesting protagonist in any story, it's hard to miss with her, and this one was no exception. I loved her gaslighting herself, her dynamic with John was truly something, her growth and poignant moments were beautiful to watch, her trainings in necromancy was very interesting. I loved the chosen narration style, somehow it fits Harrow very well. (Also Ortus and his Nonius poetry were great.)
On other hand, I feel like I was promised something far greater than I received. John was a very interesting addition to the story, no complaints about him, but I disliked everything else. The lyctors were not interesting, not charming, and generally a bother to read about, and I wished for them to leave the pages as soon as they appeared on them. I'm curious about Ianthe's relationship with Coronabeth, and she bores me to death any other time. Mithreum looks cool, I guess, except it doesn't actually matter. I probably should've anticipated that the great imperor and lyctorhood so hyped in GtN would be nothing like you'd expect, but it was supposed to be in a fun way!
Gideon's narration and character in GtN made even the most boring moments interesting because she herself is just that delightfull. Harrow doesn't work the same way. This made an already long book feel much longer, in a bad way.
It's a book that, again, is probably supposed to bloom during rereading. But it's also 600 pages long and I'm not going to reprise that any time soon. So for now it is what it is; a little bit dissapointing.