Reviews

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Only show reviews with written explanations

fantine525's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was a true rollercoaster of a book. I went from being extremely confused to starting to slowly get it, then to having the time of my life and then back to being even more confused.
I LOVED the world-building! The mixture of necromantic fantasy with space science and a dash of post-apocalyptic themes - absolutely phenomenal. The author throws you right into the universe without any previous explanations, so it’s very confusing at first, but once you start to understand the magic system it becomes fascinating.
I’ve seen some people complain that the humour is immature and, yeah sure, it is, but that the point. I certainly was enjoying myself and laughing out loud.
The plot was amazing, I loved the combination of trials with a murder mystery. The whole theme with different puzzles they had to solve was my favourite, absolutely brilliant. Having said that, THE ENDING?!? Not so great. Nuh uh, to weird for me. The author creates this amazing magic system and once you start to get it, she completely turns it on its head

with throwing in overpowered beings scheming to destroy the universe.

Sorry, but I was a bit disappointed.
ALSO

PALAMEDES DIES???? MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER??? AGDHEJCJDNLWOWIEBRRB

I was also a bit disappointed with the romance subplot. Although, “disappointed” isn’t exactly the right word. “Surprised” is perhaps a better one. From what I’ve heard, the whole enemies-to-lovers trope that Gideon and Harrow had was supposed to be very important to the overall plot. But, honestly, it was barely there. I thought I’m going to finish this pride month with a good LGBTQ+ ship, but if someone were to tell me, that they were just friends and that I was gaslighted by the fandom, I would’ve believed them. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, I didn’t read this book for romance after all, but I certainly was surprised.
The beginning was a bit slow and the ending

reminded me of this scene in Jurassic World, where the super-killer-dinosaur is about to kill the main characters, but is suddenly attacked by a T-Rex

, but overall this was a great book. The plot was slowly getting more and more insane, and I was loving it. Some of the very gory scenes took me aback, but, honestly? They just contributed to the AMAZING vibe this book had going.
8,75/10, would recommend, but I don’t know, if I’m going to read the next one. Who knows?

togethertomes's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 ⭐ rounded to 4 for GR.

This was bloody good! My only reason for not giving it 5 ⭐ was that by the end I was still a bit confused by the world-building, but not enough that it affected my understanding of what was going on.

It was such an amalgamation of genres, including but not limited to: sci-fi, paranormal, gothic, fantasy?

Gideon is gay as heck and I LOVE IT. She's also super funny.

I listened to the audiobook and it was great, the narrator did a fantastic job.

megbecker's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

kkayla113's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

I think this book is very inconsistent? Portions I really loved, others… The beginning was a struggle for me to get through and I still don’t completely understand this universe? The bits of the world building that came through to me were enjoyable and intriguing, however mainly I was confused. One thing especially confusing to me was how this blended sci-fi and fantasy while also using some present day like language. They have space shuttles but no cell phones or any like handheld communication devices?? Also an entire planet for each house seems a bit much? Countries would’ve made more sense to me. Anyways I really enjoyed the characters, their relationships with each other, and the mystery plot! The final fight scene was also really cool and I would love to see it animated!!