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A review by aeturnum
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
3.0
Excellent Vibes Are Not Enough
A vivid and inventive world undone by a directionless plot.
Gideon, an orphan raised by one of nine houses of necomanric practice, tells her story of a call from the immoral god / emperor to the houses for new Lyctors (immortal hands of the emperor) to rise. Though Gideon hates her house and everyone in it, she agrees to go as a representative because it might give her a chance to escape.
Both excellent world building a decent character work is undone by a plot that is disinterested in both. Is the first house home to an uncontrollable dark necromantic energy? How are the Lyctor trials intended to proceed? What is the nature of the enigmatic keepers of the first house? You'll never find out because, at the 11th hour, a surprise villain with a surprise motivation is revealed. None of the inter-house politics that the book spends most of its length detailing matters in the least. Instead, it turns out that some Very Smart necromancers happen to Figure it All Out and become Lyctors. It's not out of keeping with the excellent world building, but it takes our heroes and our reader by surprise. The changes in Gideon's relationships feel hollow and unearned and the revelations about her past feel unexamined.
It is a shame because both the 11th hour villain and Gideon have worthwhile stories. The world they all live in is alive in death and fascinating, but it all gets lost when the author doesn't take proper care. No time to attend to the thaumaturgic details while talking about Gideon and Harrow's relationship, no time to attend to Gideon and Harrow's relationship while dealing with the surprise villain, etc.
All that said I do not think you will regret you time with the book. I do not regret mine. However, the ending is as pat and predictable as can be. I suspect you can predict its wide outlines (though not its details) after reading the back of the jacket.
A vivid and inventive world undone by a directionless plot.
Gideon, an orphan raised by one of nine houses of necomanric practice, tells her story of a call from the immoral god / emperor to the houses for new Lyctors (immortal hands of the emperor) to rise. Though Gideon hates her house and everyone in it, she agrees to go as a representative because it might give her a chance to escape.
Both excellent world building a decent character work is undone by a plot that is disinterested in both. Is the first house home to an uncontrollable dark necromantic energy? How are the Lyctor trials intended to proceed? What is the nature of the enigmatic keepers of the first house? You'll never find out because, at the 11th hour, a surprise villain with a surprise motivation is revealed. None of the inter-house politics that the book spends most of its length detailing matters in the least. Instead, it turns out that some Very Smart necromancers happen to Figure it All Out and become Lyctors. It's not out of keeping with the excellent world building, but it takes our heroes and our reader by surprise. The changes in Gideon's relationships feel hollow and unearned and the revelations about her past feel unexamined.
It is a shame because both the 11th hour villain and Gideon have worthwhile stories. The world they all live in is alive in death and fascinating, but it all gets lost when the author doesn't take proper care. No time to attend to the thaumaturgic details while talking about Gideon and Harrow's relationship, no time to attend to Gideon and Harrow's relationship while dealing with the surprise villain, etc.
All that said I do not think you will regret you time with the book. I do not regret mine. However, the ending is as pat and predictable as can be. I suspect you can predict its wide outlines (though not its details) after reading the back of the jacket.