Scan barcode
trips's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
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
4.5
Reading the entirety of released Locked Tomb books in a matter of 2 months was a wild ride.
Nona is quite the different book compared to the previous 2 in the series, for good reason! It was a delight to experience The Locked Tomb universe from Nona's perspective, as well as getting to find out what is going on outside of the realm of Gideon and Harrow. I know this was originally only going to be the first part of Alecto, but I actually think its lovely that we were able to find out about what's going on with many characters we haven't seen since Canaan house.
Its a fun yet intense story about love, found family, dogs, which sounds really weird knowing this comes from a sci-fi fantasy necromancy series but!! It really is!!
Ultimately I didn't love it as much as the first two in the series, as I felt some parts moreso in the first half of this book could have been condensed but it was still great!
Nona is quite the different book compared to the previous 2 in the series, for good reason! It was a delight to experience The Locked Tomb universe from Nona's perspective, as well as getting to find out what is going on outside of the realm of Gideon and Harrow. I know this was originally only going to be the first part of Alecto, but I actually think its lovely that we were able to find out about what's going on with many characters we haven't seen since Canaan house.
Its a fun yet intense story about love, found family, dogs, which sounds really weird knowing this comes from a sci-fi fantasy necromancy series but!! It really is!!
Ultimately I didn't love it as much as the first two in the series, as I felt some parts moreso in the first half of this book could have been condensed but it was still great!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Eating disorder and War
Minor: Mental illness
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Gore, Cursing, Gun violence, and War
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
bruisedtigers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I wanted to enjoy this much more than I did. It is very clear that this was not originally meant to be a full book, and initially I was fine with that. To start, it seemed like this just meant there would be extra time spent on building relationships and fleshing things out. This is partially true.
The real draw for this series is the characters, which are all very real and lovable in their own ways. However, the plotting for this one, while less dense than Harrow the Ninth, was frustrating in different ways. There seems to be a delight in obscurity for obscurity's sake, despite it adding nothing to the experience of the reader or the course of the plot. Not to say reader's need everything laid out, and some things can be inferred, but after three books of a protagonist in various states of 'not fully aware of what's going on,' I can't help but feel like Muir wants to be purposefully dodgy just for the sake of it. Sometimes it seems like an excuse to vaguely infer at a bigger plot rather than clearly hash out all the complicated details. Gideon knew nothing of necromancy, so a lot of the lyctor trials were beyond her. Harrow had her brain in pieces, so her perspective couldn't be trusted. Nona is blissfully naive, so we skim over a lot of what happens around her. Sure, the reader can figure it out, but does that add to the experience or is it just annoying?
Then it ends with a sudden brevity that was absent for the rest of the leisurely developed book. We spend so long marinating in Nona, only for the climax to happen with barely twenty pages to spare. I know there's one more piece left, but it still feels strange.
I do care for the characters, so I wish we focused on them properly, rather than vaguely imply around them. There's so many exciting ideas here hovering around, but they're not focused on.
Also, far too many memes. None of them hit for me this time, even a little bit.
The real draw for this series is the characters, which are all very real and lovable in their own ways. However, the plotting for this one, while less dense than Harrow the Ninth, was frustrating in different ways. There seems to be a delight in obscurity for obscurity's sake, despite it adding nothing to the experience of the reader or the course of the plot. Not to say reader's need everything laid out, and some things can be inferred, but after three books of a protagonist in various states of 'not fully aware of what's going on,' I can't help but feel like Muir wants to be purposefully dodgy just for the sake of it. Sometimes it seems like an excuse to vaguely infer at a bigger plot rather than clearly hash out all the complicated details. Gideon knew nothing of necromancy, so a lot of the lyctor trials were beyond her. Harrow had her brain in pieces, so her perspective couldn't be trusted. Nona is blissfully naive, so we skim over a lot of what happens around her. Sure, the reader can figure it out, but does that add to the experience or is it just annoying?
Then it ends with a sudden brevity that was absent for the rest of the leisurely developed book. We spend so long marinating in Nona, only for the climax to happen with barely twenty pages to spare. I know there's one more piece left, but it still feels strange.
I do care for the characters, so I wish we focused on them properly, rather than vaguely imply around them. There's so many exciting ideas here hovering around, but they're not focused on.
Also, far too many memes. None of them hit for me this time, even a little bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, Body horror, and Murder
froggiebog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: War
Minor: Eating disorder
bubblyfemme's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death, Violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, War, Gore, Blood, and Medical content
softanimal's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Once again Tamsyn Muir managed to write a character I found to be one of the most charming in all of fiction. I didn't think Gideon (the book or the character) could be outdone but here we are. I love Nona so much. Bless this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Body horror, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Gore
mossylibra's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Gore
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
NONA THE NINTH deals with a necromantic version of plurality in a way whose groundwork was laid in GIDEON THE NINTH and HARROW THE NINTH. Much as "one flesh, one end" is undeniably queer, Camila and Palamedes display a version of plurality, which is necromantic in its origins, but familiar to me in its general shape. I’m a singlet, not a plural system, but several important people in my life are plural, and so much of how Nona interacts with Camilla and Palamedes echoes my interactions with those people in my own life. There’s a line in the second half of the book that makes it clear that at least some of the characters know about plurality, even if what’s happening with them is a specific magical version which canonically involves souls. In some ways plurality is more canonical to the text than any particular style of queerness (except perhaps for sapphic attraction), though this book (and the whole series) is undeniably and wonderfully queer.
The worldbuilding gets more of a chance to breathe this time around. GIDEON THE NINTH was a murder mystery until other things started being much more important. HARROW THE NINTH is a fever dream of confusion which suddenly snaps into coherence at the 90% mark. NONA THE NINTH is a breath, pausing for a story which has a clear framework, a lovable protagonist, and a sense of rhythm and pattern to her days. This calm amidst the storm is ripped open by a descent into war and the deterioration of her body as the day approaches when the Locked Tomb will open. I like the interludes as John tells the story of how this started. These sections helped with pacing and framing, as well as bringing the extremely welcome event of someone actually explaining what the fuck is going on for once.
As the third book in the series, NONA THE NINTH continues Several things begun in earlier books, specifically, but not only, the fates of a great many characters such as Camila and Palamedes. There's so much in each book that it's very difficult to know which details will be picked up later and which ones have been completely handled in their first treatment, but this does eventually give some answers about things first raised in earlier books. There’s an entirely new storyline related to Nona, her relative newness, and everyone she cares about at home and the school. She’s just so happy in a way that incorporates strangeness and allows for a joking grotesquerie, effortlessly finding beauty in weirdness. It also leaves a huge thing for later, promising that the Locked Tomb will be opened, even counting down to that promised day before leaving the aftermath of its opening to be handled in the next book, ALECTO THE NINTH.
There are many fewer memes than the previous books, but the few that are in there are expertly chosen to devastating effect. There's one near the very end that I refuse to spoil which threads the needs between fantastically illustrating the meaning of the surrounding text and needing to be imperceptible to anyone not already in the know. I applaud the execution of it, even if by its nature it's frustrating that this is what the author decided to include. Masterfully done, I tip my cap.
As was the case for HARROW THE NINTH, if someone tried to read this as their introduction to the series, it would likely make sense almost all the way through... and then the ending would be strange and sideways because it relies on several things established in previous books as well as bringing many returning characters who have been more thoroughly introduced elsewhere. Also, the way that the John interludes are explaining how things came to be like this would be a bit strange without the grounding provided in GTN and HTN.
I think this is my favorite book in the whole series, and I'm looking forward to what ALECTO THE NINTH brings.
The worldbuilding gets more of a chance to breathe this time around. GIDEON THE NINTH was a murder mystery until other things started being much more important. HARROW THE NINTH is a fever dream of confusion which suddenly snaps into coherence at the 90% mark. NONA THE NINTH is a breath, pausing for a story which has a clear framework, a lovable protagonist, and a sense of rhythm and pattern to her days. This calm amidst the storm is ripped open by a descent into war and the deterioration of her body as the day approaches when the Locked Tomb will open. I like the interludes as John tells the story of how this started. These sections helped with pacing and framing, as well as bringing the extremely welcome event of someone actually explaining what the fuck is going on for once.
As the third book in the series, NONA THE NINTH continues Several things begun in earlier books, specifically, but not only, the fates of a great many characters such as Camila and Palamedes. There's so much in each book that it's very difficult to know which details will be picked up later and which ones have been completely handled in their first treatment, but this does eventually give some answers about things first raised in earlier books. There’s an entirely new storyline related to Nona, her relative newness, and everyone she cares about at home and the school. She’s just so happy in a way that incorporates strangeness and allows for a joking grotesquerie, effortlessly finding beauty in weirdness. It also leaves a huge thing for later, promising that the Locked Tomb will be opened, even counting down to that promised day before leaving the aftermath of its opening to be handled in the next book, ALECTO THE NINTH.
There are many fewer memes than the previous books, but the few that are in there are expertly chosen to devastating effect. There's one near the very end that I refuse to spoil which threads the needs between fantastically illustrating the meaning of the surrounding text and needing to be imperceptible to anyone not already in the know. I applaud the execution of it, even if by its nature it's frustrating that this is what the author decided to include. Masterfully done, I tip my cap.
As was the case for HARROW THE NINTH, if someone tried to read this as their introduction to the series, it would likely make sense almost all the way through... and then the ending would be strange and sideways because it relies on several things established in previous books as well as bringing many returning characters who have been more thoroughly introduced elsewhere. Also, the way that the John interludes are explaining how things came to be like this would be a bit strange without the grounding provided in GTN and HTN.
I think this is my favorite book in the whole series, and I'm looking forward to what ALECTO THE NINTH brings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Death, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Medical content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Kidnapping, Vomit, Genocide, Terminal illness, Animal death, War, Death of parent, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Excrement, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use
angietheace's review against another edition
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: War
Minor: Vomit
traa's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Body horror, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Murder, Self harm, War, and Medical content
Moderate: Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Cannibalism