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A review by hagwife
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
What I love most about this book is that it is incredibly ambitious narratively, and Muir absolutely delivers on that ambition. The plotting of the narrative alone is so much fun and is designed to support the mystery but leave enough handholds for the reader to get a grasp of what's going on. The different narrative voices and the switches back and forth from "present" to "before" but all of it leading up to the Emperor's supposed murder is quite something, and while I guessed that Gideon had to be narrating the portions in second-person, I did not guess that Harrow's overwritten memories were actually playing out in "real time" as she slept. I knew they were overwritten but thought they were truly just memories.
I also think the balance of shown and withheld information is much better than the first book. There are plot aspects that you can guess as the reader and have confirmed – for me these were that the Body is an attempt of Harrow's brain to overwrite Gideon in her memories not of Canaan House, that Gideon is narrating the second person portions, that Ortus the First = Gideon the First, and that *someone* is piloting Cyth but had no clue as to who – and plenty that whollop you with a good dose of surprise when dropped. I don't think too much is purposefully withheld though I do think the Emperor Undying and OG Lyctor subplot is almost impossible to disentangle before the reveal. We simply just don't have enough information about their history to muddle through their cryptic and melodramatic bullshit (affectionate). I also think that the snapshot instances of Harrow's brain trying to rewrite more fantastic scenarios in her River construct with Abigail's ghost interrupting them was perhaps unnecessary giving that those interruptions aren't what wake up Harrow.
Possibly my only real gripe about withheld information is the narrative voice for the parts that Gideon is narrating. I completely understand that using Gideon's normal voice would have undone much of the mystery and completely changed the tone of the book, but Gideon doesn't sound like Gideon for almost 3/4 of the book, and I can't really see a good reason for that within the story. So its weird in that it has to be purposefully hidden for the reveal and for the overall plotting, but beside meta-knowledge of the way the novel works, there's no reason in-story for this to be that case, and that's a little frustrating.
Perhaps the funniest thing about reading this was that initially I didn't believe the note on the back cover that says "The Necromancers are back are gayer than ever". Not that Lesbianism isn't strong but it didn't feel "gayer than ever". And then the other shoe dropped about 350 pages in and suddenly we were right in the middle of some serious pining and classic Lesbian panic, and I absolutely adore every second of it. I was alternately crying and cackling.
My last note is unfortunately too steeped in spoilers to leave any of it out of the tags. I am so here for the depth and intensity of Gideon and Harrow's relationship. It's not traditional on the necromancer / cavalier side nor does it fit at either end of the platonic / romantic spectrum. I freaking adore stories that give space and time to relationships where the characters love each other unyieldingly and that love doesn't fit into a nice box. It's also really nice to see the trust and belief of Cam and Pal continue. Cam doesn't need anyone else to understand why she carries part of Pal's skull around; Pal told her that he can be brought back and that's exactly what she's going to do.
Edit: After reading Nona, I realized that I was slightly wrong about the Body. Spoilers upcoming are for both Harrow and Nona. The Body is not Harrow's attempt to overwrite Gideon; since God didn't know about Gideon, he didn't know that Harrow could have any of his genetic material, and therefore break the blood ward. So Harrow was being haunted by Alecto which is how we get the exact soul swappage of Gideon back in Gideon, Alecto in Harrow as Nona, and Harrow in Alecto's body talking to God in a bubble on the River. <\spoiler>
I also think the balance of shown and withheld information is much better than the first book. There are plot aspects that you can guess as the reader and have confirmed –
Possibly my only real gripe about withheld information is
Perhaps the funniest thing about reading this was that initially I didn't believe the note on the back cover that says "The Necromancers are back are gayer than ever". Not that Lesbianism isn't strong but it didn't feel "gayer than ever". And then the other shoe dropped about 350 pages in and suddenly we were right in the middle of some serious pining and classic Lesbian panic, and I absolutely adore every second of it. I was alternately crying and cackling.
My last note is unfortunately too steeped in spoilers to leave any of it out of the tags.
Edit: After reading Nona, I realized that I was slightly wrong about the Body. Spoilers upcoming are for both Harrow and Nona.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
I'm still not really sure how to add warnings well, but this had things a little more compartmentalized so I tried. Overall, most of these boil down to the fact that you're reading a book where most of the characters have a supernatural control over everything from their blood to their soul so shit is going to get weird in the physical sense.