Reviews

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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nicekweenreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

anakira's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

This book made no sense at all. Incredibly well-written, humorous, and imaginative. I've never read anything like it. But it's wildly different from #1 in the series, which I loved. I hated the change in pov. I finished it, but kind of hated that I did. At the same time it's an amazing book. I have no idea what to rate it.

livpot47's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-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

3.0

togidemi's review against another edition

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5.0

AUGH

I've always had difficulty picking a favorite book (outside of My Immortal because it's literary perfection), and though I already knew Gideon the Ninth had my tastes by the balls, I hesitated calling it one of my faves given that I slogged through the first half and- yeah, okay, I didn't want to be that much of a Tumblr bitch. But this book changed my mind. The Locked Tomb is unapologetically my favorite book series, and I don't give a shit how Tumblr it is and how thick the Homestuck Accent(tm) is in the writing. I love it to pieces. As they said in Ito's Enigma of Amigara Fault... this hole was made for me.

It's Catholic guilt distilled into a grieving, turbo-vomiting, mean little goth lesbian. There's space. There's more in-depth necromancy. There's a god that cracks jokes and makes terrible analogies and

Spoiler

gaslights his followers

. There's soup. There's Ianthe. IANTHE. AUGH. I can't, I can't help but love her. How can they make the act of building bone more erotic than actual sex scenes?

All of this told in back-and-forth between the Mithraeum bullshit and the Ortus AU, and I had no idea what was going on for most of it but when the bricks started falling into place they were severely satisfying. Augh. Aughghghhh. What else can I say but that I love this series, and in particular I love this book for the more thoughtful and complex perspective it gives compared to the first?

Spoiler

I still love the nice chunks of my kinnie Gideon that we got, though. Griddlehark will always destroy me.

And it was really satisfying to theorize and quote and discuss with my girlfriend while we were reading it, so, yeah whatever there's that personal aspect to how much this book means to me too. Leave me alone. Great, great book - I would say my love for it is 50% on its technical brilliance and 50% just that it tickles my specific tastes. Muir you are a menace.