Reviews with content warning for Murder - Nona the Ninth

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Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

73 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

This audiobook is completely the wrong way to get the most out of this story. Not only does it fall into the fantasy trap of having cool names that look good on paper but that your average narrator can't pronounce well, and the same issue as the previous book in that there are occasional phrases in Māori that are familiar to a New Zealand audience, but that this narrator struggles with... it also has a sprawling cast and appendices that list these, and that you can't just flip back to in an audio context.

In an improvement(?) from the second book, this third installment does not have more medical terms than your average first year anatomy text book. It is still a little wordsy, but I didn't encounter the word nacreous even once! (despite it being applicable at one point). As per usual you are, metaphorically, chucked in the deep end and held there until you get used to it. Maybe this time around I was just too tired to take it all in, because I spent quite a bit of time just feeling lost and wondering what was happening.

Most of this book takes part in a semi-domestic dystopia. Surrounded by refugees, and with limited resources, some familiar characters look after Nona, while trying to find out how altered she has become by her own semi-Lyctoral transformation. Nona becomes a teacher aide working at a school for a ragtag gang of kids. There are factions vying for power, and people being executed, and militia on the street as enforcers.. but through the eyes of Nona we aren't privy to the machinations of the State.

I'm sticking with my original feel that this series is quite a bit like the Evangelion anime. Through a series of Nona's dreams (that really seem more real than what is going on for her in her life) we get some more back-story about John, the first necromancer and it all gets pretty trippy. The relationships developed between the characters all begin to feel irrelevant, like everything is falling into a huge pit of nihilism, as everything loses cohesion. There is a travel sequence for which Nona's part or skills seem to have had no lead-up or explanation, and as a result it did not hold tension or deliver a feeling of success at its climax. (yes that could be an analogy.. get out of the gutter :P )

Honestly I don't know if the story put me to sleep or if I am just finally having to succumb after an ongoing pattern of weather related insomnia. I have clearly not invested enough energy or legwork into understanding everything going on. I was excited about one revelation in this entire book, there was a whole lot more "huh?" and "uh, ok" than "oooh riiight!" in this leg of the trilogy, and its conclusion was seriously unsatisfying. Not quite a 3 star for me.

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Ever since Gideon the Ninth was published with the description "sapphic necromancers in space," I have been hardcore sold on this series. It didn't hurt that Gideon was also great. And then Harrow the Ninth, which...I've never in my life been more lost while reading a book, and yet I loved it too? So of course I bought Nona as soon as it came out. I'd heard it was a bit different, vibes-wise, from the first two, but people seemed to be enjoying it and were happy with the set-up it gave for the fourth installation. And I'm here to throw my agreement in with that crowd - very different, still great, and oh my goodness am I ready for the "all hell" set to be unleashed in Alecto the Ninth.

Nona woke up in a body that isn't hers only six months ago. She's still working on the finer points of motor control and learning the world around her. A world that is kind of falling apart. The city she's in is under siege - there's a dangerous blue sphere hanging in the sky, daily violence everywhere, the threat of zombies, and the conflict between Blood of Eden and the Emperor Undying always present. But Nona is pretty happy with the life she has. She loves living with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes (the latter two on and off, as they're sharing a body right now), even if they force her to eat breakfast every morning. She loves being a teacher's assistant and spending time with her friends in school. And she is really looking forward to her upcoming birthday, the guests and the presents and all the things a "normal" kid wants. However, Nona's potential as a weapon means that many forces are coming for her (to use or destroy her, depending) and the past she cannot remember is starting to catch back up. Plus, there's the nightly dreams she has about a red-headed woman with a skull-painted face.

Y'all I started reading this one and for perhaps the first time in this series I thought: I'm following this! I actually wrote "I might have a grasp on what’s happening...we'll see if it holds." Spoiler alert: it did not hold. Haha. But as with the rest of this series, that did not in any way stop me from enjoying the ride. From what I can tell, this story picks up after the events of the first two, as certain characters who had died are currently still dead, or reanimated (that necromancy stuff really puts a wrench in the permanence of dead), or sharing bodies, or in some other state of "not normal life." I've basically decided that the theoretical necromancy aspects of this series are beyond what my brain feel comfortable processing and I'm going to stick "I just trust that necromancy is complicated and I don’t get it but people keep…being rebirthed?…and that’s just what it is." It's allowing me to enjoy the story without getting mired down in the details.

So in the "present-day" part of the story, we get Nona. And oh my goodness, I really did love her. She is so appealingly genuine, in a sweet naive way but not cloyingly so, which is honestly a super-fine line to walk. Her interactions with her friends at school, as well as Pyrrha and Camilla/Palamedes, are weird enough to fit the series' vibe, but provide some dark levity to the otherwise really intense and, frankly, confusing story.

And then there are Nona's dreams. In these dreams, that she mostly doesn't remember, the reader gets their first glimpses into "the world before the Locked Tomb and the Nine Houses." These are sort of like flashbacks, where John Gaius (the person who became the first necromancer and Emperor Undying) basically narrates how he got to where he is currently (where the reader was introduced to the story with Gideon and Harrow). I was very excited to finally get some world-building backstory, whic did help me solidify (a bit) my understanding of the saga overall. I also definitely enjoyed reading John's voice, self-centered and condescending though it may be, for its sarcastic and satirical commentary on the (for us readers, actual current-day) social/political/environmental climate of the world. A note here: whoa, this aspect of the novel took a turn that I know is some kind of commentary on or blasphemy against or sacrilege of the Catholic Church, and I recognize it, but I just can’t pinpoint exactly how. It was so clear, and yet so opaque, simultaneously and all I can say is that the feeling that that's what Nuir was doing was strong, but exactly how she was accomplishing it was beyond me.

As the flashback narrative unfolds to where it meets Nona's story in the "present," we are brought back to the physical Ninth House, cold and dreary and death-and-bone-filled, and the literal locked tomb...which (not really a spoiler because the countdown to this happening is in every chapter title throughout the rest of the novel), said tomb is unlocked!! And now that I have a *smidge* of understanding on who is in that tomb and how it got to that state, I am super excited for the next book, Alecto the Ninth, to find out more about how they're (clearly, deeply) tied into the origin story of this series, as well as to experience to promised "all hell" that they're be bringing now that they're awakened. Plus, of course, I am hoping for the Nona/Harrow and Gideon/"redacted body sharing persona" relationship to rekindle with all the snarky, gothic, sapphic vibes they started with. That's just for personal enjoyment honestly, and not at all related to the unraveling plot-based drama.

So, while I thought for a second I was finally getting my head around this series, I have finished in the same "this story is amazing, but metaphorical/ephemeral beyond my grasp" place that I started. I honestly do not understand how something feels so just-out-of-reach, (which should be frustrating) and yet I love it so much! What a fantastic otherworldly continuation of this super dark, super mystifying, series. Very hype for Alecto!

“I could never stop you from loving anything. I don't have the right. Nobody has the right to tell you who to love or who not to love, and equally nobody's obliged to love you. If you were forced into loving them, it wouldn’t be love…”

“It felt so easy to be good when you were happy.”

“…I still can’t believe they wouldn’t give me the time of day and they were scared of me. It's not fair. Either you're the evil wizard and everyone wants to know what you think, or you're the good wizard and nobody cares. It wasn't fair. That wasn't how it was meant to work.”

“Nona fell with hers and suffered the incredibly disagreeable experience of two big, dead people landing very hard on top of her, and in no way becoming less heavy or less dead.” (I mean that is quality writing - and a great example of the overall tone.)

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kers_tin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

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vercopaanir's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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mossgoblins's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

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ashwaar's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense 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? Yes

5.0

'This is all there is to love? Simply by being in your life, I have added indelibly to its weight?'

Thoughts I wrote in my notes when reading this book: This book is controlling my life, and I love it. All I want to do is burrow into the sofa and absorb into it. I already know that after finishing, I’ll want to start again like I’m reading it for the first time.

So yeah, I loved this book. I’ve loved all of the Locked Tomb series, and Nona the Ninth is the completely unexpected, wonderful addition we didn’t know we needed. Tamsyn Muir has such a sharp, gorgeous way of writing, and you’re immediately drawn into the narrative and invested in the story. The concept behind these books is so original, fresh, and exciting. I can’t stop talking about it.

After the two previous books, Gideon the Ninth and 2021’s Harrow the Ninth, you would naturally expect a third and final book to round out what we thought would be a trilogy. But then Muir throws in Nona like a delightful little spanner in the works, and suddenly you realise how necessary and just how delightful and funny and dark and sad and bittersweet this interlude is. It allows us to focus on characters we hadn’t seen in Harrow the Ninth, gives context to and humanises Blood of Eden and the other side of this conflict, and provides us with God’s villainous origin story.

Although I was a little lost at times, especially figuring out where Harrow ends and Nona starts, I didn’t really mind. Muir doesn’t pander to the reader with lots of exposition - she trusts you to figure it out. It's the sort of writing that I love, where sometimes you have no idea what's going on, but you don’t mind because you’re so swept up in the story and characters. Even when I put the book down, I still kept on thinking about it and tugging on the threads of the storytelling that are kept dangling for us.

This book is gorgeous and delightful and funny and so so sad. You will love Nona to pieces, and Palamedes and Camilla and all of the other characters that Nona adores so much. It's just an absolutely bat-shit crazy book, and I can’t express my love for it enough. It’s wild, surprising, heart-wrenching and very very special.

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woweewhoa's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

I was a big fan of this book! I think Nona is a very big surprise character and is one I really liked a Lot, and is honestly my favorite protag of these books.
As someone who read each book a year apart because I didn't want to rush through it(and also that's just the kind of reader I am), I felt this book stood very well on its own and brought in the elements of the other two books in such a way where they don't need to be 100% fresh on your mind but still is impactful.
I came to this book being Really 'eh' on Harrow the Ninth, especially since I was Extremely Into Gideon the Ninth, and decided to give this book a shot because I wasn't sure if it was because the book was just 'Okay' or if it was just my mindset when I read it, because I had some mutuals whose opinion's i respect who were really into the whole series, and I'm glad I did! This is my favorite of The Locked Tomb and I'm super excited now to read the last book when that comes out!
Also I do feel like Tamsyn Muir's writing has really improved in this book, which is just really cool as a reader to see! Like seeing a comic artist get better at drawing throughout the series.
Also, I really liked the setting of this book, because I think contextualizing the world more clearly in not just the view of the Houses, and more just the normal cities that exist in any empire, was a fantastic move. My favorite arcs of Gundam are the ones that zoom into the people Living On Earth who are generally not the people politically gaining From not separating the colonies, because those are the normal people. what if you aren't benefitting in any way any of the systems in play, but are forced to field all the consequences of the system whose land your own are causing?
Also

Camilla and Palamedes are the most Romantic characters on the planet their love is just so alive oh my god. some of the final act stuff involving them is just.

some of my favorite parts of the book.

Sorry if this was a mess of a review to read, but I AM super high and my roommate's cat is continually yelling at me because it is less than an hour before dinner time and even though i have Never fed her early she is just like this. Very hard to write a review like this, but I hope you got what I was putting down!

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