A review by bosskey
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Did not finish book. Stopped at 51%.

I really wanted to love this book since it was sold as 'lesbian necromancers in space' I thought it would hit instantly with me. But this book is littered with issues. First of all the meme-like humor instantly dates the book and just makes the character dialogue feel cringe. Secondly the cast is far too big and the names all sound like they were run through a fantasy generator, making everyone besides the title character completely forgettable. I don't know who half these people are nor am I given much reason to care about their motivations. Last but not least, while I understand the author was maybe going for a 'rival to lovers' trope the two main characters barely interact for a decent chunk of the book, and when they do interact, it's just not enjoyable to read because they dislike each other so much. Overall it just feels like we're stuck in introductions and set up for so long that nothing happens, and by the time the plot finally kicks off, I just don't care about a single character on the page. I had to just call it quits.