Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Harrow the Ninth

Where do I even start to review this absolute masterpiece of a second novel? It has taken me an embarrassing amount of time to pick up Harrow and I’ll fully admit it’s because I wasn’t quite as in love with Gideon the Ninth as I expected to be. But I saw this book in the library and thought what the hell, it’s time. And what a fucking idiot I’ve been when I could have made this book my entire personality OVER A YEAR AGO if I’d only read it then.

This book is a master class in point of view, plot structure, horror as comedy, the exceptional use of gothic genre, and divinity. I’d like to discuss each of these in turn.

Point of view
I think second person POV gets a real bad rep in the book community but I am a big fan of it, it’s one of my favourite tools Muir used in this book. I think this showed the same expertise that Jemisin showed in her use of second-person POV in the The Broken Earth trilogy. This tense creates such an element of mystery and omnipotence and horror - it is a POV for horror and it is used expertly in Harrow.

Structure
I know lots of people found Harrow’s structure confusing, but somehow I actually found this one less confusing than Gideon. Maybe because of my love of books with timelines that jump around and you kind of just accept not knowing what’s going on and go along for the ride?? But I loved not knowing what the fuck was happening, loved the timeline structure that gave us past and future Harrrow, I thought it allowed us a much deeper sense of who Harrow was and a much closer connection to her which made the events of the book so much more horrific for the reader and so much more unbearable in their grief.

Horror as comedy
Have I ever read a funnier book? I definitely can’t quite remember ever laughing at one quite so much as this. Page after page, I just could not stop laughing. The soup scene absolutely undid me, and I want it to get the love it deserves as peak humour and utter genius.

Gothic
Where do I even begin? This entire book is a masterclass in the idea of gothic genre as haunting; Harrow as haunted by past, by trauma, by loss, by the genocide of her conception, by grief. It it fantastic, and it is so deeply traumatic to read, I never wanted to stop and yet it also felt like I was being repeatedly punched in the chest, and then I read the author's note and it made sense. Muir gets Harrow because Muir has lived Harrow.

Divinity
The twist to such has intimate relationship with, and worship of, divinity in Harrow was an interesting choice but one which I loved because I am of course always obsessed with the portrayal of religion in SFF. I am deeply looking forward to delving closer into divinity on reread as I feel this will be an area that so much more is noticed on reread. But all I can say is I loved the fatherly vibes, I loved the subtle darkness below the surface, I loved the relationships God had with each of his companions and how that manipulated the relationships they had with each other, I loved loved loved it.

This book is a masterpiece of gothic science fantasy, it will emotionally haunt me as Harrow is haunted by a 10,000 year old corpse.

Content warnings: hallucinations, depictions of severe mental health crisis, grief, mass child death, genocide, graphic blood and gore, war, body horror, vomit, self-harm (for magic), graphic descriptions of corpses, murder, necrophilia, sex, death of parent, death of loved one, suicide, physical abuse, emotional abuse, amputation

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Finished it with 3 minutes left of sapphic September to spare!! A MASTERPIECE. Full review incoming after I sleep.

Content Warnings

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Much like Gideon, I finished this book with more questions than I started with. They were mostly different questions then the one I started with, but questions nonetheless.

Harrow was a most unreliable narrator, by her own admission most of the time, and the hardest part was not knowing why she didn't trust herself, whether for her own protection AND plot device, or just as a plot device. This was also the first time I've read second person POV outside of a romance novel. It took a bit of getting used to, as it often does for me, and because we kept switching in and out of the second and third person narratives.

As I expect from all the Locked Tomb books, Harrow is heavy with world and lore building, but only occasionally felt bogged down by it. I felt myself zoning out a bit in longer Harrow 2nd POV chapters, mostly because Harrow herself is such a pill most of the time and she was a bit draining for me as a reader. But I am dreadfully interested in the massive left turn that Nona is going to take us!

Piecing together the signals that the nine houses are actually our solar system over the course of Harrow felt truly mind blowing at the time. Little hints that, at first, you write off as fun nods to pop culture as a reader turn into "oh no... these characters actually know meme culture." And then you start realizing that John/God might just be an elder millennial and you start to panic because you, too, are an elder millennial and also know the left pizza none beef meme...

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queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

Borderline impossible to understand the first time through. The second time through was a lot easier... things made more sense. Eye color is important so pay attention. One of the hardest books I've ever read. It was so cool... Harrow is so horribly sad, I love her she's great.

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relin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I still am untangling so much of what happened. What a ride. Plan to reread because there are so many details that you are bombarded with that would have answers, but only if you knew which questions to ask.

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apiologee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

I've never had to work so hard to understand where a book had been, let alone where it was going. Just absolutely clinging to comprehension and bread crumbs and hope. And you know what? I enjoyed every second. Masterful narrative choices and such an impressive turn from GtN while still so in line with the larger story being told. At times heartbreaking, at times hilarious, at all times Harrow at her most harrowing.

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lolo626's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Confusing as balls

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judetime's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

Part of it is written in second person and there are perspective switches, which isn’t everybody’s jam. I didn’t mind the second person so much.

Also: it hurt so bad. Tamsyn Muir is ruining my life. This is my favorite book series.

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