Reviews

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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jiimjam's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

eheidenreich's review against another edition

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5.0

Sapphic main character who is a little bit of an asshole? That's literally everything I've been wanting.

mitskacir's review against another edition

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5.0

This book was a romp, and ticked off all the things I could want in a novel: lesbians, spoopy aesthetic, a genius mash up of gothic, sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery genres, action scenes but also a lot of nerds talking about magic/science, and some straight-up-my-alley irreverent deadpan humor. Imagine reading Nancy Drew, but there are a lot more swords, everyone is seriously dedicated to spooky makeup and has magical skeleton powers, everyone has the hots for each other, and most of the characters are dead or will be soon. Nearly every character had a great hidden secret, and I couldn't help imagining each reveal as a Scooby Doo monster de-masking. There were definitely some plot holes (some of which could be addressed in book 2), and the sheer number of characters and unexplained magic rules got pretty confusing, but this was so unique and fun I set those flaws aside.

garnetguardian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

wowcow98's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

murderousscottishgremlin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.75

I think I just feel very underwhelmed by this book. I can certainly see why a lot of people I know enjoy it. There were some scenes I really liked and it was an enjoyable read, but Gideon’s dialogue was just very corny and irked me at times and Muir didn’t create the emotional impact she seemed to be trying to in some key scenes. I think I’ll probably read the sequel, though, as the use of second person narration intrigues me.

Content Warnings

snoopydoo77's review against another edition

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5.0

This was such a epic fun book,it was so different from books I read in a long time.

I'm normally not the biggest SI-Fi fan but this book is such a great mix of Si-Fi and Fantasy.

I loved the world building and the characters and the slow building romance , I loved the magic system, the necromancers , the humor and snark but also suspense and action with a low- key romance.

The ending had me screaming at the book and I wanted the next one right away.

Overall there is noting that I did not love about this book. Loved the writing, characters , the story... just everything about it.

I rate this book full 5 ★

the_bookwormchronicles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was so different from what I read till now. Sci-Fi isn’t really my go-to genre, but I saw a lot of great reviews and thought “what the hell, might as well try it” 😅 Sci-Fi murder mystery, creepy mansion, strange and diverse bunch of characters, all narrated in a sarcastic way? Why not? 🤷🏻‍♀️
Could I tell you what it was about? Absolutely not!
Did I enjoy it? Very much so.

If I am to be honest, I lost the plot sometimes. Or it lost me. I struggled to understand what was happening at first, but then I just decided to go with the flow.

Gideon is one of the funniest characters I encountered. Straight up my alley. I liked that she was adaptable to the situations she was facing and still managed to be herself.

The atmosphere was mysterious and dark, but also darkly funny and I liked it.
It reminded me of “And then there were none”, by Agatha Christie: people dropping dead left and right, but add some riddles that needed to be solved along the way and an epic battle at the end.

abubble124's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Wowwww. wowowooww. wowowoowhdjfhsdjkhfgdh

estigatetes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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