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shottel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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
Like Gideon the Ninth, the book-cover reviews and summaries don’t do it justice. Harrow the Ninth is a fantastic, funny, unique, genre-blurring novel whose worldbuilding and mystery-oriented storytelling makes it worthy of reading on their own. To an even greater degree, it is a poignant picture of psychosis and grief. I was not expecting to see in such detail a broken mind, agonized by self-doubt and the mistrust of others, and the crushing weight of immense loss.
Outside of the deep themes of regret, loss, absence, grief, and psychosis, there is much to say positively. Harrow manages to pull off pop culture references and memes humorously, without making me want to throw the book across the room. (Minimally spoiling example: A subtle joke invoking none pizza left beef.) This, combined with a tamer but still present version of the sense of humor that made Gideon distinctive makes for an enjoyable time. It doesn’t lag so hard in the first half like Gideon does (although I do feel it could’ve likely been shortened a good 50-100 pages). The ending was exciting, the payoff for working through over 400 pages of confusion (albeit a well-written 400 pages) deeply worth it. My only gripe is that, without spoiling anything, the last 5 or so pages are a bit confusing and sad in a way I don’t think fits, but this doesn’t harm it enough for me to say the ending was anything but excellent.
Overall, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who has read Gideon the Ninth and would be interested in a good mystery or an evocative portrait of disturbed mental faculties.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Self harm
Minor: Pregnancy, Dementia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
msawyer77's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Gore
celestriakle's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Jesus christ, what an absolute disaster of a book. Let me preface with this: I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth. In that book, Harrow might have been my favorite character. I was excited to read this. And instead of getting what I wanted, I was given this absolute shitshow.
Let's start with my biggest complaint: absolutely fucking nothing happens for the first 60% of this book. That's not even an exaggeration; I was reading on an e-reader and the first time I felt even a spark of interest at the goings-ons was 60%. Most of the mysteries that are presented in the first part of the book are either easily solved or not actually relevant (it's never actually important to understand thanergy vs thalergy, though the book goes to great pains to explain this repeatedly), leaving the reader with absolutely nothing to engage with. I don't know how you make killing a planet or diving through a river of souls boring, but Muir sure managed it. The only thing that kept me going was a desire to know that my assumptions were correct.
You needed one, maybe two Caanan house chapters to get the point across, but no, instead they intercut current-events with this AU every other chapter for the first two Acts, and every time I reached one, it ground the pacing to a halt. It's not subtle what these chapters are doing; the broad strokes of the mystery are very easy to solve (even if the details aren't). I didn't care about this AU Caanan House; it wasn't important and most of their content ultimately had very little relevance on the revelations they gave.
Meanwhile, the actual current present is hardly more interesting. Harrow goes from being this active character trying to figure things out in GTN to doing fuck all and, quite literally, getting dragged around the plot. She shuffles around being confused and helpless and sad and useless. Now, I get she has reasons to be sad and scared, that's fine, but she does nothing. That is not the Harrow I know. Harrow does things scared. Harrow is an active participant in her own plot. Reading this, the dialogue hardly sounded like her own voice, and I just didn't care for her plight. Somehow, they'd made my favorite character boring. (And for clarity, I love a moping character who doesn't want to do things. Shinji Ikari is my favoritest boy. But that personality is NOT the one I fell in love with Harrow for, and even Shinji is still a dynamic part of his plot. Harrow isn't. People talk around Harrow and she barely engages with any of it.)
Now, if they had surrounded Harrow with an enjoyable cast, this might have been fine. But Ianthe, Mercymorn, and Augustine are all bland and insufferable, and worse, they're all the same character copy/pasted three times. There were multiple occasions where I got confused about who was talking or doing something because their personalities were so similar. They were unpleasant (again, a thing I often like, Silas was great in Gideon), annoying, and I never had any reason to care about them. It's baffling how Muir managed this because one of the strong points of GTN was that each part of that massive cast had really strong characterization; everyone felt unique and immediately engaging, no matter how little they ended up being on screen. (Oh, and I can't forget to mention the Saint of Duty, who had scarcely any personality at all. At least God was interesting, but he appeared least of the five.)
It's also worth mentioning that it is well-known, in this book, memes appear. That's cool. That's fine. Except for the moments they're used? "None pizza left beef", "hi hungry im dad", and "jail for mother" all make a cameo, and frankly, I'm baffled at their inclusion. Why, in god's name, are they mentioned when they are. All three appear at critical, emotionally heavy moments where they are a meta-joke. The character referencing them isn't actually making a reference or joke intentionally; it's just for you, the reader. (Except maybe the dad one.) None pizza left beef made me put the book down for a week because it was so inappropriate and completely shattered the mood of the emotional revelation it was a part of.
Here's what I will say: at 60% the book does start to get engaging. At 80%, it becomes the book I'd been wanting to read all along. It sucked me in; it had everything I wanted. Characters I loved appeared; new characters I enjoyed appeared; people were making choices and progressing the action. There were new mysteries to dissect, and I was finally getting the answers I wanted. Characters were developing and I was seeing new and interesting sides of everyone. The final climax is so good, I was absolutely riveted.
And then the book just stops. This book does not have an ending. Literally, in the middle of the climax, it just ends. Maybe I should have seen this coming since Gideon did something similar, but at least in Gideon, the fight was over and the bast majority of mysteries got answered. Here, the characters are still trapped in life-or-death situations. And it just ends. You get nothing. In my opinion, if you're writing a book series, you don't need to give all the answers, but between books should be a resting point. There should be closing action and a pause point. If you just stop in the middle of your climax, you've fucked up, and you've left me as a reader absolutely furious. I read this whole slog of a book for that climax, and it finally got me invested, and it just ends. Friends and family encouraged me to persevere, and it was not worth it.
As a side note, it's worth mentioning how incredibly creepy and weird Muir is about fat people. The cast of GTN is huge, and more characters appear in this book, and still, the only one who isn't thin is Ortus. Particularly in the beginning of the book, the language used to describe and refer to Ortus is deeply, deeply offensive. He gets some vindication by the end, but he still spends most of the book being abused by the narration and with his fatness closely tied to his laziness and cowardice.
Having said all that, my last caveat is this: it took me 6 months to read this book. (I took breaks and stopped periodically.) Most of the friends who I spoke with finished this book in less than a week. If you are the sort of reader who finishes books at high speeds, the pacing issues that drained me will likely be a nonissue for you.
Let's start with my biggest complaint: absolutely fucking nothing happens for the first 60% of this book. That's not even an exaggeration; I was reading on an e-reader and the first time I felt even a spark of interest at the goings-ons was 60%. Most of the mysteries that are presented in the first part of the book are either easily solved or not actually relevant (it's never actually important to understand thanergy vs thalergy, though the book goes to great pains to explain this repeatedly), leaving the reader with absolutely nothing to engage with. I don't know how you make killing a planet or diving through a river of souls boring, but Muir sure managed it. The only thing that kept me going was a desire to know that my assumptions were correct.
You needed one, maybe two Caanan house chapters to get the point across, but no, instead they intercut current-events with this AU every other chapter for the first two Acts, and every time I reached one, it ground the pacing to a halt. It's not subtle what these chapters are doing; the broad strokes of the mystery are very easy to solve (even if the details aren't). I didn't care about this AU Caanan House; it wasn't important and most of their content ultimately had very little relevance on the revelations they gave.
Meanwhile, the actual current present is hardly more interesting. Harrow goes from being this active character trying to figure things out in GTN to doing fuck all and, quite literally, getting dragged around the plot. She shuffles around being confused and helpless and sad and useless. Now, I get she has reasons to be sad and scared, that's fine, but she does nothing. That is not the Harrow I know. Harrow does things scared. Harrow is an active participant in her own plot. Reading this, the dialogue hardly sounded like her own voice, and I just didn't care for her plight. Somehow, they'd made my favorite character boring. (And for clarity, I love a moping character who doesn't want to do things. Shinji Ikari is my favoritest boy. But that personality is NOT the one I fell in love with Harrow for, and even Shinji is still a dynamic part of his plot. Harrow isn't. People talk around Harrow and she barely engages with any of it.)
Now, if they had surrounded Harrow with an enjoyable cast, this might have been fine. But Ianthe, Mercymorn, and Augustine are all bland and insufferable, and worse, they're all the same character copy/pasted three times. There were multiple occasions where I got confused about who was talking or doing something because their personalities were so similar. They were unpleasant (again, a thing I often like, Silas was great in Gideon), annoying, and I never had any reason to care about them. It's baffling how Muir managed this because one of the strong points of GTN was that each part of that massive cast had really strong characterization; everyone felt unique and immediately engaging, no matter how little they ended up being on screen. (Oh, and I can't forget to mention the Saint of Duty, who had scarcely any personality at all. At least God was interesting, but he appeared least of the five.)
It's also worth mentioning that it is well-known, in this book, memes appear. That's cool. That's fine. Except for the moments they're used? "None pizza left beef", "hi hungry im dad", and "jail for mother" all make a cameo, and frankly, I'm baffled at their inclusion. Why, in god's name, are they mentioned when they are. All three appear at critical, emotionally heavy moments where they are a meta-joke. The character referencing them isn't actually making a reference or joke intentionally; it's just for you, the reader. (Except maybe the dad one.) None pizza left beef made me put the book down for a week because it was so inappropriate and completely shattered the mood of the emotional revelation it was a part of.
Here's what I will say: at 60% the book does start to get engaging. At 80%, it becomes the book I'd been wanting to read all along. It sucked me in; it had everything I wanted. Characters I loved appeared; new characters I enjoyed appeared; people were making choices and progressing the action. There were new mysteries to dissect, and I was finally getting the answers I wanted. Characters were developing and I was seeing new and interesting sides of everyone. The final climax is so good, I was absolutely riveted.
And then the book just stops. This book does not have an ending. Literally, in the middle of the climax, it just ends. Maybe I should have seen this coming since Gideon did something similar, but at least in Gideon, the fight was over and the bast majority of mysteries got answered. Here, the characters are still trapped in life-or-death situations. And it just ends. You get nothing. In my opinion, if you're writing a book series, you don't need to give all the answers, but between books should be a resting point. There should be closing action and a pause point. If you just stop in the middle of your climax, you've fucked up, and you've left me as a reader absolutely furious. I read this whole slog of a book for that climax, and it finally got me invested, and it just ends. Friends and family encouraged me to persevere, and it was not worth it.
As a side note, it's worth mentioning how incredibly creepy and weird Muir is about fat people. The cast of GTN is huge, and more characters appear in this book, and still, the only one who isn't thin is Ortus. Particularly in the beginning of the book, the language used to describe and refer to Ortus is deeply, deeply offensive. He gets some vindication by the end, but he still spends most of the book being abused by the narration and with his fatness closely tied to his laziness and cowardice.
Having said all that, my last caveat is this: it took me 6 months to read this book. (I took breaks and stopped periodically.) Most of the friends who I spoke with finished this book in less than a week. If you are the sort of reader who finishes books at high speeds, the pacing issues that drained me will likely be a nonissue for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Fatphobia, and Violence
There are more content warnings but I can't remember them all.boywonder's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.75
I liked this better than the last book, which surprised me because I'm not a fan of second-person writing most of the time. I think the effect here is confusing on purpose; the reader is confused because Harrow is confused.
This book helped me understand Harrow a lot better (though I don't like her all that much, but liking a character has nothing to do with whether they are well-written or a good character). I think the pacing is kind of slow at the start, which is in keeping with the last book.
I don't really like or appreciate the tumblr meme additions like "none x with left y" and things like that. Because I know a bunch of spoilers that come after this, I sort of understand why they might fit, but it doesn't work for me. I also think after the reveal of who the second-person narrator is, the tone changes to be more what you expect from that character and it was almost jarring.
For me, seeing that this author CAN write less snappy on purpose than the last book, I was almost disappointed. The first book really stood out to me as internet writing and this one didn't (for the most part) until the last quarter. Still, overall I like this book better, though I like Gideon as a character more than Harrow.
This book helped me understand Harrow a lot better (though I don't like her all that much, but liking a character has nothing to do with whether they are well-written or a good character). I think the pacing is kind of slow at the start, which is in keeping with the last book.
I don't really like or appreciate the tumblr meme additions like "none x with left y" and things like that. Because I know a bunch of spoilers that come after this, I sort of understand why they might fit, but it doesn't work for me. I also think after the reveal of who the second-person narrator is, the tone changes to be more what you expect from that character and it was almost jarring.
For me, seeing that this author CAN write less snappy on purpose than the last book, I was almost disappointed. The first book really stood out to me as internet writing and this one didn't (for the most part) until the last quarter. Still, overall I like this book better, though I like Gideon as a character more than Harrow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Child death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: War and Vomit
lindenelm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i took about 2 months to read the first half and read the latter in two days. minus one star bc tamsyn blasphemes herself w the meme references
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Gore
Minor: Violence
ellenwm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Stock up on red string and push pins because this book is wild!!! You will say “what the hell is happening?!” many times. You’ll re-read (or replay the audio book) for many sections. You’ll check character lists. You will be frustrated that the puzzle pieces aren’t coming together and don’t seem to even be from the same puzzle.
But Woaw is it worth it!!! This is not an easy or quick read, though. Two things kept me going: reviews that (correctly) said the final quarter brings it all together in a satisfying way and my absolute adoration for Gideon the Ninth. The majority of the novel alternates between two plot lines, with one written in second person to distinguish it. That choice irked me at first, but the function and the reason were eventually borne out. There’s a glaring difference from Gideon the Ninth for most of the book that will also disappoint many readers (but that you can’t really say without spoiling GtN), but it’ll make sense eventually.
But Woaw is it worth it!!! This is not an easy or quick read, though. Two things kept me going: reviews that (correctly) said the final quarter brings it all together in a satisfying way and my absolute adoration for Gideon the Ninth. The majority of the novel alternates between two plot lines, with one written in second person to distinguish it. That choice irked me at first, but the function and the reason were eventually borne out. There’s a glaring difference from Gideon the Ninth for most of the book that will also disappoint many readers (but that you can’t really say without spoiling GtN), but it’ll make sense eventually.
This curious, dark exploration of grief, trauma, ethics, love and mortality asks as many questions as it answers. It is rare that a novel is so carefully plotted, complicated and connected, featuring a world and characters full of surprises.
Same as with GtN though, CONTENT WARNINGS for violence, gore and body horror. I’m still kind of shocked at how well I’m tolerating that content, but somehow the intense plot and beautiful writing make the gross bones and body stuff worth it to me?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Child death, Cursing, and Murder
Minor: Cursing
skudiklier's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
- 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
4.75
Oh my god this book. I have no idea what to say about it. I don't know how else to say this but reading it made me feel like I was going crazy. I'm so glad I was reading this well after it came out and I could look up just enough people talking about it online so that I could know I was actually having the intended experience and not wildly misunderstanding something. For a book that made me feel like I had no idea what was happening, I loved it. I definitely want to read the next one. It made me scream at the people who recommended it to me. It has such a good payoff after all the confusion and disorientation. I wish all books were this devastating and this satisfying and this funny.
mild spoilersNONE HOUSES LEFT GRIEF???? what the fuck.
mild spoilers
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Cursing, Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death and Sexual content
ee_comins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Suicide
grace_b_3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
3.0
I loved Gideon the Ninth and thus was so excited for the sequel. Harrow ended up being more of a slog than I expected, but it really stuck the landing. About midway through Harrow, I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish it, much less read the third book, but the last act pulled right back into this world and these characters.
One of the things I liked the least in this book is that most of the chapters are told in 2nd person.While this choice is eventually explained when Gideon comes back and starts some 1st person chapters, it was still rather grating to read through. I also heard that the 2nd person narration choice was made to emphasize that Harrow is an unreliable narrator, but there is so much else going on to communicate that so it felt so unnecessary until the last act with the Gideon reveal and then that choice clicked into place for me. Didn’t quite make up for the rest of the book though.
Also,I didn’t love the Gideon potentially being in love with Harrow thing. I have never read their relationship as being romantic and felt like that romantic angle to their relationship was never really developed? I much preferred the Ianthe/Harrow pairing in this book—in a romantic sense. I love the friendship between Harrow and Gideon and how that builds over the first book.
I’d reccomend this series if you like dense, twisty fiction with a gothic vibe. Just don’t go into Harrow expecting it to be similar to Gideon.
One of the things I liked the least in this book is that most of the chapters are told in 2nd person.
Also,
I’d reccomend this series if you like dense, twisty fiction with a gothic vibe. Just don’t go into Harrow expecting it to be similar to Gideon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide
hthg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore