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A review by lolajh
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
OH MY GOD????? TAMSYN GOD DAMN IT YOU WRITE SO PERFECTLY I am left wanting more without a crazy sense of dissatisfaction, I just wish there was interaction between Harrow and Gideon or Alecto and Pyrrha and noodle and paul but I get why Tamsyn wants to leave us to anticipate all that for the finale lol I’m just so in love with this series that I don’t want it to be over, I don’t want there to only be one more book and then it’s over, and if Alecto is half before Nona and half after Nona there’s like NOTHING. Tamsyn pls make Alecto super long okay PLEASE.
This book was very different to the others in so many ways—not a bad thing—in regards to theinitial tone, the happiness and fluffiness of it all, but not really the more you read it lol the found family, the innocence, NOODLE??? It was a complete twist in the series that completely shocked me, and I really loved the way it developed. I loved learning about all the fucking lore of this world, like the history of necromancy and earth and I just have come to understand so much about so many things and I’m so grateful this was turned into its own book. It was paced absolutely perfectly with Nona’s story and the dream sequences perfectly tying in together, which lets talk about the dreams, because at first I thought the dreams about the Resurrection was what Nona dreamt of each night, then I thought they were purely just harrow’s fictional dreams, but then I realised they’re Harrow’s dreams of Alecto’s memories and that what Nona’s recurring dream consists of is the pool scene with Harrow and Gideon from book 1 (this reddit thread was a godsend Jesus 😮💨) With the Resurrection dream sequence throughout the book, I was definitely quite relieved and interested to receive the intricate explanation of it that is far more in depth than in book 2. I loved learning about Alecto’s history and who she was, and was really connected with her story prior to Nona. Even though she’s a very powerful resurrection beast and the utter soul of the earth, when the earth was killed she was practically just a child who got taken advantage of by John into forming a Lyctor bond with him, into loving him, into giving him so much power and then being locked away in a tomb created just for her merely because she’s a resurrection beast for 10 000 fucking years. John’s relationship with her is very much icky and weird just as Harrow’s is, and I need to see Alecto realising he’s not good for her and go apeshit on him. Also learning how John became a necromancer, the first necromancer in fact, was so…intriguing? I feel like a lot the necromancy practiced in this series is mostly focused on humans, but the fact that John can grow flowers changes everything about the necromancy being taught in the Houses. There’s potential for life to be grown through necromancy, if it even can be called that anymore? The powers the Earth gave to John were ‘life and death’ powers, and he seemed to only use life powers on humans and death powers on everything else. I believe he could’ve actually fixed the world by growing back the deforested trees all over the world, but his thirst and greed for power didn’t even allow him to take this into account. I would really love if Harrow, after seeing these memories of necromancy, realises she could be capable of growing life like trees and plants and grass after her whole life dealing with only death. I know it’s a lot to hope for, but imagine if the series ends with John dead and Harrow and Gideon on their own planet that Harrow regrew with life and she doesn’t have to manipulate death anymore 🥹 I really need a happy ending like this man. and is written in a way that was somewhat easier to understand than the other books for the most part, though I still required the wiki and reddit to understand a lot of bits lol.
The astonishing way in which this is written allows you to find out about things at just the right time, to have questions answered after impatient weeks of reading, and to finally have some somewhat satisfaction that usually just ended up with me crying. Me realising Nona’s dying??? Camilla and Palamedes basically both dying to become a single blended soul as a Lyctor??? 😃 fuck!!!!! No but there’s actual satisfying realisations too, like understanding Nona is Alecto but that Nona and Alecto act differently because Nona has the memories of the earth, but not the memories of Alecto when she got resurrected as a person. She knows all the languages and animals that have existed on earth, finds comfort in eating sand and bathing in saltwater because she is the earth, and connects with Varun because she’s a resurrection beast too.
This book was very different to the others in so many ways—not a bad thing—in regards to the
The astonishing way in which this is written allows you to find out about things at just the right time, to have questions answered after impatient weeks of reading, and to finally have some somewhat satisfaction
I am SO excited for Alecto, for whenever the cover and synopsis are revealed and then the book itself AHHH. I’m so excited for her to become a main character
Also, after reading this and Harrow again, I feel much more connected to The Body as a character in the previous book.
ALSO I HATE PASH OH MY GOD seriously the first entirely unlikeable character of this series, not in a way to critique Tamsyn, but to critique PASH because these books are not fiction they are real 😌
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder