A review by orionmerlin
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.75

Characters: 10/10
Gideon Nav is an absolute menace in the best possible way—her razor-sharp wit and unapologetic irreverence make her one of the most unforgettable protagonists I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. And Harrowhark? A walking disaster wrapped in gothic misery and raw brilliance. The side characters? Equally unhinged, equally fascinating. Sure, there are a lot of them, and yes, it takes a second to get everyone straight, but once you do, every interaction crackles with tension, snark, or outright heartbreak. I was invested—if anything happened to these characters, I was going to riot.
Atmosphere/Setting: 10/10
Ever wanted to be trapped in a decaying necromantic death palace filled with haunted skeletons, crumbling gothic horror, and enough existential dread to fuel a lifetime of therapy? Welcome to this book. The world is eerie, unsettling, and gorgeously grotesque in the best way. You don’t just read this setting—you live in its shadows, and trust me, it’s one hell of a place to get lost. The balance between sheer dread and absurd humor makes the entire experience feel like an elaborate, beautifully constructed fever dream, and I adored every second of it.
Writing Style: 10/10
Tamsyn Muir’s prose is what happens when you mix whip-smart humor, bone-dry sarcasm, and gut-wrenching poignancy into a blender and hit "liquefy." The dialogue is absurdly good—sharp, clever, and actually funny, which is rarer than it should be in books. The descriptions? Cinematic. The emotions? Brutal. It demands your full attention, and yeah, it makes you work for it, but the payoff is so good that I’d read Muir’s grocery lists at this point.
Plot: 9/10
Necromantic duels, locked-room mysteries, murder, and bone magic—what more could you possibly want? The twists slap, the tension builds beautifully, and the emotional gut punches land hard. If I have to nitpick (and I do), the middle drags a tiny bit as the story sinks into its labyrinthine secrets, but once things start clicking into place, it’s pure chaos in the best way. The ending? Brutal, stunning, and exactly what it needed to be.
Intrigue: 10/10
My daily responsibilities? Ignored. Sleep? Overrated. Social life? Nonexistent. This book consumed me. The dynamic between Gideon and Harrow is the kind of intense, complicated relationship that keeps you glued to the page, and the ever-present mystery made it impossible to put down. Every twist had me questioning everything, and by the time I finished, my only thought was I need more immediately.
Logic/Relationships: 9/10
The characters’ motivations feel real, their choices make sense, and their relationships—especially the Gideon-Harrow dynamic—are so layered you could write an entire thesis on them. The necromantic magic system is fascinating, and while some worldbuilding elements are left intentionally vague, it adds to the book’s eerie, dreamlike quality rather than feeling like an oversight. Would I have liked a little more clarity in a few places? Sure. Am I also totally fine with just rolling with the delicious madness? Absolutely.
Enjoyment: 10/10
This book is unhinged in all the right ways. It’s a genre-bending, whip-smart, emotionally devastating ride that had me cackling one moment and clutching my chest the next. Even the slower parts were worth it, because the payoff is phenomenal. The blend of gothic horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and sheer absurdity is unlike anything I’ve read before, and I’ll be shoving this book into the hands of unsuspecting readers for years to come. If you haven’t read it yet, what are you even doing?