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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
dark
funny
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
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don’t know if I’ve really read anything like this before. I had about as much of an idea as Gideon as what the heck was going on half the time, which was great. Really appreciated just being booted into the universe with absolutely no introduction or handholding. Idk I loved this. The relationships are multifaceted and weird and make sense to me, the way in which people speak is insane but not in a twee way, and the visuals are so BIZARRE and YUCKY and unlike the other fantasy books currently circulating around… had a great time. I love weird fucked up nightmare lesbians.
I would let you live in my head rent free, griddle!!!!
I would let you live in my head rent free, griddle!!!!
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
No
Such a good book. The characters were incredibly well developed and the writing is funny, gory, and entertaining the whole way through. This is the kind of book you reread and find new things each time I think. The only reason this is not a 5 star for me is how disappointed I am that Gideon is not "technically" in the next book. I could see the ending coming and was hoping it happened in a way that we would still get parts of her in the second book but it didn't turn out like that. That being said it does make total sense for the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This could’ve been a 5-star read, but I just didn’t connect with the characters in the first half, so it took me ages to get through it. 🫠
Ok ok ok. I think it is finally time for me to DNF this one at 59%.
I really wanted to like this hence why I have been trying (but failing) to read this for the past five months. This just wasn't for me. The world is so dense but there is very little world building I was so confused with regards to what was going on and how everything worked. From the beginning to well the 59% mark I just didn't follow what was going on I was left feeling baffled and having to reread chunks as I had no recollection of what I had just read. This may very well be a me problem but I just couldn't connect with it.
Also I felt the characters aside from Gideon were very similar so much so that I could not distinguish between who was who, which was even more confusing.
I tried the audiobook as well but again I just found it very difficult to follow. It really is such a shame because I was convinced I would love this but I was far too confused.
I really wanted to like this hence why I have been trying (but failing) to read this for the past five months. This just wasn't for me. The world is so dense but there is very little world building I was so confused with regards to what was going on and how everything worked. From the beginning to well the 59% mark I just didn't follow what was going on I was left feeling baffled and having to reread chunks as I had no recollection of what I had just read. This may very well be a me problem but I just couldn't connect with it.
Also I felt the characters aside from Gideon were very similar so much so that I could not distinguish between who was who, which was even more confusing.
I tried the audiobook as well but again I just found it very difficult to follow. It really is such a shame because I was convinced I would love this but I was far too confused.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
originally posted on gr in 2021
6 stars
Holy shit.
Gideon The Ninth is one of those books where the less you try to overthink and analyze, the more fun it will be for you. Just ride the waves as they come and you’ll be greatly rewarded. I intermittently spent about half of this book being confused, parts of it wanting girls to kiss, and parts of it rooting for characters in kick-ass fight scenes. I don't know how Tamsyn Muir managed to create "sapphic necromancers in space" and "competition to murder-mystery," but she did it and she did it well! Everything was wrapped up nicely by the end. The confusing parts were answered with information that pieced themselves together like a puzzle in a nonlinear fashion. The fights made me feel like I was watching an action anime--they were fucking awesome. The characters were fun and lovable—I was afraid they would be boring and stiff but they all had enough depth to serve the story. There’s a ton of snark, jokes, and banter that I loved. I was left wanting more story, more character development, and more of everything else in between! I tagged this book as “slow burn” and "hate to love," but it's not in the traditional, romantic sense although it could be perceived as one—your miles may vary. The extra content describes the relationship between necromancer and cavalier as deep but not "libidinous" which...why? Just let them kiss!
The ending had me wanting more. I would swap between reading the physical edition during the day and my library ebook loan at night. In case you were interested in more information, the Kindle edition has a glossary explaining jargon, name pronunciation, and extra content—dossiers on competitors and information on relationships—in the end. Also, the people getting mad at Muir for their lack of understanding can take that thanergetic energy and eat shit 😎
----
cover artist: tommy arnold
6 stars
Holy shit.
Gideon The Ninth is one of those books where the less you try to overthink and analyze, the more fun it will be for you. Just ride the waves as they come and you’ll be greatly rewarded. I intermittently spent about half of this book being confused, parts of it wanting girls to kiss, and parts of it rooting for characters in kick-ass fight scenes. I don't know how Tamsyn Muir managed to create "sapphic necromancers in space" and "competition to murder-mystery," but she did it and she did it well! Everything was wrapped up nicely by the end. The confusing parts were answered with information that pieced themselves together like a puzzle in a nonlinear fashion. The fights made me feel like I was watching an action anime--they were fucking awesome. The characters were fun and lovable—I was afraid they would be boring and stiff but they all had enough depth to serve the story. There’s a ton of snark, jokes, and banter that I loved. I was left wanting more story, more character development, and more of everything else in between! I tagged this book as “slow burn” and "hate to love," but it's not in the traditional, romantic sense although it could be perceived as one—your miles may vary. The extra content describes the relationship between necromancer and cavalier as deep but not "libidinous" which...why? Just let them kiss!
The ending had me wanting more. I would swap between reading the physical edition during the day and my library ebook loan at night. In case you were interested in more information, the Kindle edition has a glossary explaining jargon, name pronunciation, and extra content—dossiers on competitors and information on relationships—in the end. Also, the people getting mad at Muir for their lack of understanding can take that thanergetic energy and eat shit 😎
----
cover artist: tommy arnold
Spoiler
There was a lot to like about Gideon the Ninth, and a lot to dislike.It suffered from attempting to be funny. Describing a crumbling wall as a "broken-ass wall" in the final boss fight didn't endear me to the narrator, it took me out of the narrative and made me sigh.
It suffered from character bloat. I don't see why there were so many characters, who had so many names and titles. The 1st, 2nd and 8th houses, and Coronabeth, could have been left out and the plot would barely have changed.
It suffered from poor pacing. This is my main issue with the book. Every good scene (and there were several!) was followed by three scenes of characters standing around talking. After the first deaths, we didn't get a frantic search of the property or interrogation of possible suspects, we got people standing around talking about it. After Isaac's death, Jean-Marie's death was as anticlimactic as it gets. The MC wakes up from a nap and she's dead. It was just disappointing. The start of the book felt overly drawn-out (it could have started at act 2 honestly) whilst the last couple of acts felt rushed. This book would have definitely been improved if somebody had forced the author to shorten it by ~15%.
Complaints out of the way, there was also plenty to like.
The characters were all enjoyable and generally well-fleshed-out. I found myself getting attached to side characters (Naberious, Sextus and Camilla, for example) because of the character attributed to them in their few scenes. The scene where Gideon and Babs duelled, he won, she headbutted him, and he got mardy was a great bit of character building.
The writing, where it wasn't trying to be funny, was sometimes lovely. “The house was abandoned, and was breathlessly waiting to be used by somebody other than time.â€
The plot was surprisingly coherent. I won't read it again but I think if I had enjoyed it, a second reading would be exciting from the POV of looking for the plot twists before they happened.
Ultimately I think if the book had taken itself a bit more seriously (something I've never said before) and been shorter, this might have been a 4/5 for me. Unfortunately for now it's a 3/5.