Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Nona the Ninth

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Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

28 reviews

k_aro's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I took the longest to finish Nona the Ninth, not really out of Nona's failings or anything, I just couldn't get into the grove of having a whole bunch of narratives at once at the same time as an entire new cast of characters/new world. I also think it's the book that's easiest for me to tackle in The Locked Tomb series, both having a better grasp of the writing style/world as well as being structured a little more accessibly.

Off the bat, Nona's internal narrative is much more loving and caring than Gideon and Harrow, which is to say I spent so much more of GtN and HtN actively being confused and annoyed by the various characters, where in Nona they're a lot more understandable. NtN really does pull out to look at what the TLT-verse looks like outside of the Houses (and to a certain degree that life outside of them are in fact so fruitful and lively, which is something I just couldn't really imagine previously).

Ianthe is worse than ever, which is a compliment because I love how terrible she is. Muir really excels at the most horrifying relationships, experienced through shreds of narrative. I agree that NtN really feels like a prologue, but frankly a prologue to what I could not say; this seems to be a running TLT joke where each book is just more confusing and more disorienting than the last. Truly, I could not imagine what Alecto will do.

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shottel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted sad tense fast-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

Muir loves switching up her genres. While Gideon was moderately mystery-focused and Harrow was definitely a mystery novel, the mystery of Nona takes a back seat to how goddamn precious Nona is. Unfortunately, that fact makes an already sad series even sadder. It’s fortunate that Muir’s writing style is hilarious, because otherwise the entire plot of Nona the Ninth would’ve been pretty depressing.

Still, I would say it’s better than Gideon and a mark worse than Harrow - which is to say, it’s very good. I had a harder time following the plot than before, and while Muir makes great strides with diversity in this book, it sometimes comes off a tad awkward (like in the repeated misgendering of a character with they/them pronouns, just for them to correct themselves). But those are pretty small problems compared to the rest of this deeply dark and funny novel. If you liked Gideon and Harrow, I highly recommend it.

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melly_book_review's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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hayleyvem's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

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hedsek's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.75

Really really enjoyed this! Again, the form and content match each other very well which made this book a lot more readable than Harrow. I loved getting Nona's perspective and the way her cheerful outlook kind of tricked you into thinking things were fine every once in a while, until you read between the lines and you realise that of course it's not. The stakes did seem a lot lower than the other books up until the very end, and I'm really excited for Alecto.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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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.

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elizmoe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

i read this book in less than two days even though, i cannot emphasize enough, i had a <i> lot </i> of other things to do.

tamsyn muir, waht is WRONG WITH you. what is. what is WRONG. IS wrong??? with you??????????

in typical muir fashion, she transitions seamlessly to a new POV character, leaves the reader mostly in the dark, and continually throws crazy world-building stuff that you didn't even know you wanted to know. but you did. <i> really </i> want to know.

essentially, this book answered many of the questions raised by Harrow the Ninth, but somehow ends up raising about a million more.

was harrow's soul in alecto's body or did it get transferred to the river, and is it now on earth having a chat with john, or john's abandoned once-human soul?? what's gonna happen to harrow's body? was nona the personification of the earth's spirit or was she alecto or was she alecto AND alecto is the personification of the earth? also, why is kiriona!gideon such a dick, and why is she friends with ianthe, sorta? who has her two-hander sword?? will tamsyn ever give us a griddlehark reunion that makes a lick of sense? will the next book have even more body/soul/etc swapping, and how is that even possible given the amount of bodily musical chairs was happening in this book? also, pAUL???????????????????????????

all i know for sure is that i am pre-ordering alecto right now and blocking off my calendar for the entire week of the release date.

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