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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Too slow for my taste.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
funny
mysterious
a fun premise and concept in terms of world building! while the characters were intriguing as they developed none of the characters really stuck with me. the first part was a but slow, it really picked up towards the end! i feel like i missed something because there were alot of rich scenes in this book between slower moments
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really don't know what to think of this one. For the first 350 pages I thought it was a really competent example of a type of story & storytelling that I hate, and then there was some backstory that piqued my interest, and then there were about 80 more pages of villain monologues and sword fights that I only got through because I was hoping we'd end up back at the thing that piqued my interest. And it seems like the next book might get there, but I'm also really suspicious that it's going to be buried in 400 more pages of nonsense.
I didn't realize that this was a competition narrative, for lack of a better term. This is a trend in YA fantasy and sci-fi that I've read a bunch of times over the last few years (Caraval, Mask of Shadows, Maid of Wonder, etc) and really don't see the appeal of; it makes everything feel so weightless and irrelevant. Especially here, when paired with the book's dreadful, flippant tone. Gideon the Ninth had all the atmosphere of a standard Reddit thread, which was a bit of a letdown because I don't think that Muir is a bad author and there were hints of something less smarmy buried between the memes and the snark. The overall effect, for me, was of an inexperienced author who wasn't confident enough to let her book take itself seriously.
Because of that, and because of the man vs game narrative structure, I really struggled to get invested in this. Are other people really that interested in reading about how characters that someone made up solve puzzles that the same someone also made up? I felt like there was a more interesting story being intentionally hidden from me in the service of a game show narrative that only kind of made sense. (And maybe this is also a young author thing, because I think the puzzle house is probably easier to write than the century spanning epic that's hidden behind it.)
That said, there were some things here that I liked. Not the main character by any stretch of the imagination, and not really the action scenes, but the glimpses into Harrow's story were good enough that I am probably going to read the second book, even though I have suspicions that it's going to lay another dumb narrative trick on top of the story that I actually care about.
Overall, I'm a little surprised by how well received this has been; I didn't hate it by any means, but I felt like it ruined a unique premise by forcing it into a paint-by-numbers narrative device. I'm interested but a little doubtful about what Muir will do with the rest of the series.
A big spoiler below that you should probably not click if you haven't read this:
I didn't realize that this was a competition narrative, for lack of a better term. This is a trend in YA fantasy and sci-fi that I've read a bunch of times over the last few years (Caraval, Mask of Shadows, Maid of Wonder, etc) and really don't see the appeal of; it makes everything feel so weightless and irrelevant. Especially here, when paired with the book's dreadful, flippant tone. Gideon the Ninth had all the atmosphere of a standard Reddit thread, which was a bit of a letdown because I don't think that Muir is a bad author and there were hints of something less smarmy buried between the memes and the snark. The overall effect, for me, was of an inexperienced author who wasn't confident enough to let her book take itself seriously.
Because of that, and because of the man vs game narrative structure, I really struggled to get invested in this. Are other people really that interested in reading about how characters that someone made up solve puzzles that the same someone also made up? I felt like there was a more interesting story being intentionally hidden from me in the service of a game show narrative that only kind of made sense. (And maybe this is also a young author thing, because I think the puzzle house is probably easier to write than the century spanning epic that's hidden behind it.)
That said, there were some things here that I liked. Not the main character by any stretch of the imagination, and not really the action scenes, but the glimpses into Harrow's story were good enough that I am probably going to read the second book, even though I have suspicions that it's going to lay another dumb narrative trick on top of the story that I actually care about.
Overall, I'm a little surprised by how well received this has been; I didn't hate it by any means, but I felt like it ruined a unique premise by forcing it into a paint-by-numbers narrative device. I'm interested but a little doubtful about what Muir will do with the rest of the series.
A big spoiler below that you should probably not click if you haven't read this:
Spoiler
I absolutely couldn't have spent four hundred more pages in Gideon's head, and the only thing I felt at the end was relief. I don't think that was intended?
dark
mysterious
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
adventurous
funny
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Gideon my beloved