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A review by youreadtoomuch
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
5.0
Gideon the Ninth, I am in love with you! Fair warning: necromancy is NOT the art of romancing the dead. But that won’t stop this cast of characters from trying, am I right? Anyway, what a read! I can’t say I’m fully versed in the Locked Tomb world, but gods was it so satisfying to learn and learn and learn.
Not only was the world fascinating, but the premise of the nine houses embarking on the opportunity to become lyctors was too. Even more fascinating, the range of characters. Sometimes it’s easy to introduce so many characters that just disappear into the recesses of one’s mind even while reading. But here was not the case. Every character was so memorable and easy to keep track of despite my hesitation upon seeing the beginning pages outlining each character and their respective houses. But they were so easy to remember because they weren’t merely characters to prop up Harrowhark and Gideon. They had their unique opinions and attitudes, and I simply needed more of a lot of them.
Now where Harrow and Gideon are concerned, there’s so much to unpack. But I’ll start with Gideon. Gideon is so fun. I fully credit her perspective being the reason why the book is also so fun. Everything is quite literally life or death and Gideon is just cruising through it all. Silently, too. Mostly. She’s a complex character making the best out of a shit situation. Which made me super sympathetic and loyal to her. Meaning, I didn’t respect Harrow. I couldn’t understand her anger towards Gideon while reading at the time, but now I do and while I won’t justify it, it makes sense. Harrow is independent to a fault, highly intelligent, tenacious, and frankly, a danger to all. Harrow is the complete opposite of Gideon, and that built them up to be the most perfect duo. Do I think they are in love? Yes. Do I think the book is romantic? No. Upsetting, but also a small relief to see character so openly love one another platonically. At least that’s how I took it.
In some ways, I am still grieving this book too. But that’s a story for later.
Not only was the world fascinating, but the premise of the nine houses embarking on the opportunity to become lyctors was too. Even more fascinating, the range of characters. Sometimes it’s easy to introduce so many characters that just disappear into the recesses of one’s mind even while reading. But here was not the case. Every character was so memorable and easy to keep track of despite my hesitation upon seeing the beginning pages outlining each character and their respective houses. But they were so easy to remember because they weren’t merely characters to prop up Harrowhark and Gideon. They had their unique opinions and attitudes, and I simply needed more of a lot of them.
Now where Harrow and Gideon are concerned, there’s so much to unpack. But I’ll start with Gideon. Gideon is so fun. I fully credit her perspective being the reason why the book is also so fun. Everything is quite literally life or death and Gideon is just cruising through it all. Silently, too. Mostly. She’s a complex character making the best out of a shit situation. Which made me super sympathetic and loyal to her. Meaning, I didn’t respect Harrow. I couldn’t understand her anger towards Gideon while reading at the time, but now I do and while I won’t justify it, it makes sense. Harrow is independent to a fault, highly intelligent, tenacious, and frankly, a danger to all. Harrow is the complete opposite of Gideon, and that built them up to be the most perfect duo. Do I think they are in love? Yes. Do I think the book is romantic? No. Upsetting, but also a small relief to see character so openly love one another platonically. At least that’s how I took it.
In some ways, I am still grieving this book too. But that’s a story for later.