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A review by mbmartin42
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Gideon winked at her increasingly agitated companion. She said, sotto voce: “But then you couldn’t have admired … these,” and whipped on the glasses she’d unearthed back home. They were ancient smoked-glass sunglasses, with thin black frames and big mirrored lenses, and they greyed out Harrow’s expression of incredulous horror as she adjusted them on her nose.”
Sorry in advance for this review being a bit rambly (and a month late). It’s been hard to fully formulate thoughts on it as it’s hard to describe wtf I read but it definitely still has me in a chokehold.
The complete and utter confusion that came with the first 100 pages was still there all the way up until the ending. Which left me feeling so empty, all I want to do is flip back and start all over again at the very beginning.
While delving into forums after readings I found a Reddit post that said Gideon is “a mystery from the perspective of not only the least informed person in the room, but also the person least interested in being informed”, this completely unlocked a holy shit moment for me and completely explained why I felt so damn confused during the entirety of this book.
That coupled with that fact that Muir simply throws you into the world and expects you to immediately keep up.
Going into this book all I knew was “lesbian necromancers in space.”
If I had to fully give a description of Gideon the Ninth it would be “lesbian necromancers in space explore a gothic cathedral, do a dungeon crawl full of tests to gain keys for reasons, all while trying to solve a locked room (locked tomb 😏) murder mystery that all reads from an unreliable/ doesn’t give a f*k narrator’s PoV.”
“We do bones motherfucker!”
All confusion aside, I had an absolute blast with this one. The vibes, the quirk, the snark, Muir expertly throwing in modern expressions/ idioms in here and there…utter perfection.
I love Gideon and Harrowhark definitely grew on me too. I absolutely adored watching them work together -reluctantly- and the development of their relationship.
As a matter of fact every side character is also pretty fantastically written. And there is a decently large cast of characters.
Personally, I found everything a bit easier to follow once I made the switch to audio book. For which I would love to give a round of applause to Moira Quirk and her stellar audio performance.
I cannot believe I waited so long to read this one, I knew I was going to love it. Thanks to @jess_the_ninth for giving me the push I needed and recommending it for my #12challenge in 2023.
Weeks later and this book is still running around my brain. I’ve already secured the other two books.
And you better bet, I will most definitely be rereading this one and paying way more attention to the small details and even those details that Gideon completely glosses over or ignores.
“Maybe it's that I find the idea comforting...that thousands of years after you're gone...is when you really live. That your echo is louder than your voice is.”
Sorry in advance for this review being a bit rambly (and a month late). It’s been hard to fully formulate thoughts on it as it’s hard to describe wtf I read but it definitely still has me in a chokehold.
The complete and utter confusion that came with the first 100 pages was still there all the way up until the ending. Which left me feeling so empty, all I want to do is flip back and start all over again at the very beginning.
While delving into forums after readings I found a Reddit post that said Gideon is “a mystery from the perspective of not only the least informed person in the room, but also the person least interested in being informed”, this completely unlocked a holy shit moment for me and completely explained why I felt so damn confused during the entirety of this book.
That coupled with that fact that Muir simply throws you into the world and expects you to immediately keep up.
Going into this book all I knew was “lesbian necromancers in space.”
If I had to fully give a description of Gideon the Ninth it would be “lesbian necromancers in space explore a gothic cathedral, do a dungeon crawl full of tests to gain keys for reasons, all while trying to solve a locked room (locked tomb 😏) murder mystery that all reads from an unreliable/ doesn’t give a f*k narrator’s PoV.”
“We do bones motherfucker!”
All confusion aside, I had an absolute blast with this one. The vibes, the quirk, the snark, Muir expertly throwing in modern expressions/ idioms in here and there…utter perfection.
I love Gideon and Harrowhark definitely grew on me too. I absolutely adored watching them work together -reluctantly- and the development of their relationship.
As a matter of fact every side character is also pretty fantastically written. And there is a decently large cast of characters.
Personally, I found everything a bit easier to follow once I made the switch to audio book. For which I would love to give a round of applause to Moira Quirk and her stellar audio performance.
I cannot believe I waited so long to read this one, I knew I was going to love it. Thanks to @jess_the_ninth for giving me the push I needed and recommending it for my #12challenge in 2023.
Weeks later and this book is still running around my brain. I’ve already secured the other two books.
And you better bet, I will most definitely be rereading this one and paying way more attention to the small details and even those details that Gideon completely glosses over or ignores.
“Maybe it's that I find the idea comforting...that thousands of years after you're gone...is when you really live. That your echo is louder than your voice is.”