Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Gideon the Ninth

I was drawn in tight from the first chapter, which felt unique! The prose is fun. Gideon is just an awesome, magnetic character to get to know. The exposition feels natural and not too heavy handed. I enjoyed the mystery component and the characters immensely. This isn’t my typical genre, so grain of salt, but the world and concept felt totally fresh. I loved the audiobook narrator!!! Once you’re in the thick of it though it takes some doing to really keep the main 17 characters sorted in your mind, with who’s with what house and which partners and which skills and which titles. Might have been easier reading it written out, but keeping a character list nearby helped until I had it straight. There were a couple important emotional beats that faltered, unfortunately. Do be warned, there are some sections of body horror that aren’t enjoyable near meals or if you’re squeamish. Excited for the next in the series.

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soofsaphony's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

The only thing I can say is that this book reads like an anime

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maybephasing's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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castle_samj's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

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essentialnpc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.0

I feel like Gideon the Ninth has a lot of potential, but I just couldn’t connect with the story. However, I know a lot of people I know have absolutely loved it.
To me, it felt like Muir was trying to cram too much into one story and that led to the story’s detriment.
I think the strongest part of the story was the “whodunnit” in the last half. Even though this was a large part of the second half, it felt like the plot was attached as an afterthought rather than an intentional plot. I thought the characters were interesting but they weren’t fleshed out enough for me to be too incredibly invested in their wellbeing.

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rshenk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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bree_h_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

As well-written and funny as I found this book, I also can’t deny that it disappointed me.

I personally found the writing style very unique and enjoyed it a lot. I thought the narration was funny and it really suited the main character’s personality. It felt modern, but not in a way that was poorly executed. I’ve read books set in the modern day that didn’t even come close to using modern slang/terms as well as this did. The use of language was also expertly used to convey descriptions of spaces and people.

I also really liked all the characters, they all felt very distinct from each other and well rounded. When allowed to be in smaller groups with Gideon it was so clear who was who and why they might act the way they do. However when in groups it felt more like they blended together and I quickly lost track of who was who. The narrator did help some with this, but I did still occasionally still mix them up. With the distinctness of the characters it also lends well to interesting and complex group dynamics and conflicts.

I also really enjoyed early in the book when Gideon wasn’t speaking. It’s not a slight against the character, I just found the way she navigated interacting with others (and how they interacted with her in return) extremely interesting.

The narrator was also excellent. I felt like she really captured the main character and her voice acting ability really shone through with the large cast of characters.

However despite all I liked about the book it had its pitfalls.

I personally found what world building we got was really interesting, but it was giving so sparingly and in such little doses I found myself confused and lost on the regular. Some bits of information were mentioned like they were common knowledge and I had a hard time keeping track of if and when the information had been mentioned.

The confusion continued into plot beats and elements. Especially near the end of the book. Information was presented and treated as if it had been hinted at the entire book when it felt very sudden and out of nowhere.

My final issue was Gideon and Harrow’s relationship. They grew closer over the book, but considering where their relationship started (and that Harrow OWNED Gideon) it didn’t feel warned or well developed. Especially as it seemed to be building towards romance. It felt so gross considering Harrow’s ownership of Gideon and the awful terms they started the book on. Overall it was the most disappointing part of the book to me.

In the end I think the book had a lot of positive qualities and the author is clearly skilled, but in the end just fell short and was lacking in plot and relationship development.

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