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A review by house_of_hannah
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-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
2.0
This ended up being much more of a slog to get through than it should have been. It wasn't until the last 100 pages that I was interested enough to want to keep reading. I found myself not reading some days, because I just did not want to pick this book up, and I was quite close to DNF-ing.
Firstly, this is advertised right on the front cover as, "lesbian necromancers in space". I do feel this a little misleading. The only "confirmed" lesbian character (who could also be argued as bi based on mutliple comments they make throughout the book) is not a necromancer. The story then mostly takes place on Earth, so we're hard pressed to actually have the space vibes that were promised.
For the first 200 pages of this book nothing happens. It mostly consists of our MC, Gideon, walking down hallways, checking out abandoned rooms, and eating food. She isn't allowed to talk to the other people that are there either, so this whole chunk of story is pretty much just urban exploring.
When the plot finally starts to get rolling it still doesn't take off like I thought it would. The main meat of this book happens in the last 40 pages, and the ending just kind of left me feeling like the entire thing was pointless. This is a series, but I just cannot see myself wanting to pick up the next book.
The relationship between the two MCs, Gideon and Harrow, is exceptionally complicated, which does provide some intrigue as we want to see if they can work together. However, their attitudes towards each other shift so drastically in just one scene that it ends up being a bit off-putting. The way the rest of the characters interact with our MCs is just fine though.
The best thing in this book are by far the fight scenes. Unfortunately, they are few and far between, but they really do shine. Overall, I just feel like this story didn't deliver what it was offering.
Firstly, this is advertised right on the front cover as, "lesbian necromancers in space". I do feel this a little misleading. The only "confirmed" lesbian character (who could also be argued as bi based on mutliple comments they make throughout the book) is not a necromancer. The story then mostly takes place on Earth, so we're hard pressed to actually have the space vibes that were promised.
For the first 200 pages of this book nothing happens. It mostly consists of our MC, Gideon, walking down hallways, checking out abandoned rooms, and eating food. She isn't allowed to talk to the other people that are there either, so this whole chunk of story is pretty much just urban exploring.
When the plot finally starts to get rolling it still doesn't take off like I thought it would. The main meat of this book happens in the last 40 pages, and the ending just kind of left me feeling like the entire thing was pointless. This is a series, but I just cannot see myself wanting to pick up the next book.
The relationship between the two MCs, Gideon and Harrow, is exceptionally complicated, which does provide some intrigue as we want to see if they can work together. However, their attitudes towards each other shift so drastically in just one scene that it ends up being a bit off-putting. The way the rest of the characters interact with our MCs is just fine though.
The best thing in this book are by far the fight scenes. Unfortunately, they are few and far between, but they really do shine. Overall, I just feel like this story didn't deliver what it was offering.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Cursing, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War and Vomit