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A review by bruisedtigers
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I wanted to enjoy this much more than I did. It is very clear that this was not originally meant to be a full book, and initially I was fine with that. To start, it seemed like this just meant there would be extra time spent on building relationships and fleshing things out. This is partially true.
The real draw for this series is the characters, which are all very real and lovable in their own ways. However, the plotting for this one, while less dense than Harrow the Ninth, was frustrating in different ways. There seems to be a delight in obscurity for obscurity's sake, despite it adding nothing to the experience of the reader or the course of the plot. Not to say reader's need everything laid out, and some things can be inferred, but after three books of a protagonist in various states of 'not fully aware of what's going on,' I can't help but feel like Muir wants to be purposefully dodgy just for the sake of it. Sometimes it seems like an excuse to vaguely infer at a bigger plot rather than clearly hash out all the complicated details. Gideon knew nothing of necromancy, so a lot of the lyctor trials were beyond her. Harrow had her brain in pieces, so her perspective couldn't be trusted. Nona is blissfully naive, so we skim over a lot of what happens around her. Sure, the reader can figure it out, but does that add to the experience or is it just annoying?
Then it ends with a sudden brevity that was absent for the rest of the leisurely developed book. We spend so long marinating in Nona, only for the climax to happen with barely twenty pages to spare. I know there's one more piece left, but it still feels strange.
I do care for the characters, so I wish we focused on them properly, rather than vaguely imply around them. There's so many exciting ideas here hovering around, but they're not focused on.
Also, far too many memes. None of them hit for me this time, even a little bit.
The real draw for this series is the characters, which are all very real and lovable in their own ways. However, the plotting for this one, while less dense than Harrow the Ninth, was frustrating in different ways. There seems to be a delight in obscurity for obscurity's sake, despite it adding nothing to the experience of the reader or the course of the plot. Not to say reader's need everything laid out, and some things can be inferred, but after three books of a protagonist in various states of 'not fully aware of what's going on,' I can't help but feel like Muir wants to be purposefully dodgy just for the sake of it. Sometimes it seems like an excuse to vaguely infer at a bigger plot rather than clearly hash out all the complicated details. Gideon knew nothing of necromancy, so a lot of the lyctor trials were beyond her. Harrow had her brain in pieces, so her perspective couldn't be trusted. Nona is blissfully naive, so we skim over a lot of what happens around her. Sure, the reader can figure it out, but does that add to the experience or is it just annoying?
Then it ends with a sudden brevity that was absent for the rest of the leisurely developed book. We spend so long marinating in Nona, only for the climax to happen with barely twenty pages to spare. I know there's one more piece left, but it still feels strange.
I do care for the characters, so I wish we focused on them properly, rather than vaguely imply around them. There's so many exciting ideas here hovering around, but they're not focused on.
Also, far too many memes. None of them hit for me this time, even a little bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, Body horror, and Murder