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A review by dembury
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
5.0
Closer to 4/4.5 but I'm rounding up because it was a genuinely wild and fun story! "Gideon the Ninth" is like Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" but set in space and the characters are all necromancers and cavaliers, so that really just set the stage for a good time. I grew to love multiple characters, especially Gideon and Harrowhawk, who steal the show. Seriously, the relationship between Gideon and Harrow just GUTTED me at points and I was losing my mind during certain scenes. Also, I really liked the setting: I'm a sucker for an abandoned palace/house plot point and I think this one was well executed.
On the flip side, the cast of characters is HUGE and they aren't introduced in a very easy to follow way. I kept having to flip back to the character list (thank goodness there was one) and remember who was who. Also, some characters are referred to by multiple names; Gideon alone is call Gideon, Griddle, Nav, Cav, etc. and it's even more difficult when this happens with side characters the reader doesn't know very well yet. There are two characters whose names start with "P" and I constantly mixed them up until about 3/4 into the book.
The other main thing I think needed revision were the descriptions/explanations of certain magical things. There is a necromancy science that seems to underlie the magic system, which is cool, but there is so much talk of it that just went right over my head. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what they MIGHT be talking about. I just felt lost when the characters were trying to figure out the Big Mystery because I didn't (and kind of still don't?) understand what was at stake.
Finally, the worldbuilding is very thin and needs work, BUT because the novel was so contained to really one area this didn't bother me too much. The first 30 or so pages of the novel I struggled with because a lot was thrown in my face at once, but as the plot settled down it was okay.
On the whole: a super fun read that was never what I thought it was going to be, and I was downright shocked at times. I hope the sequel goes through some better revision, and Muir is able to smooth over some clunkier bits of writing, but I'm definitely planning on reading it.
On the flip side, the cast of characters is HUGE and they aren't introduced in a very easy to follow way. I kept having to flip back to the character list (thank goodness there was one) and remember who was who. Also, some characters are referred to by multiple names; Gideon alone is call Gideon, Griddle, Nav, Cav, etc. and it's even more difficult when this happens with side characters the reader doesn't know very well yet. There are two characters whose names start with "P" and I constantly mixed them up until about 3/4 into the book.
The other main thing I think needed revision were the descriptions/explanations of certain magical things. There is a necromancy science that seems to underlie the magic system, which is cool, but there is so much talk of it that just went right over my head. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what they MIGHT be talking about. I just felt lost when the characters were trying to figure out the Big Mystery because I didn't (and kind of still don't?) understand what was at stake.
Finally, the worldbuilding is very thin and needs work, BUT because the novel was so contained to really one area this didn't bother me too much. The first 30 or so pages of the novel I struggled with because a lot was thrown in my face at once, but as the plot settled down it was okay.
On the whole: a super fun read that was never what I thought it was going to be, and I was downright shocked at times. I hope the sequel goes through some better revision, and Muir is able to smooth over some clunkier bits of writing, but I'm definitely planning on reading it.