Paperback, 448 pages
Published Aug. 6, 2019 by Tor.com.
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their …
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead.
Now I didn't, but I liked a bunch of things that it does. I enjoyed reading it, but I'm not eager to continue with the series.
Just incredible. Pretty rare to find such and imaginative and rich world built into such a compelling narrative that is SO FUN. It's funny, heartbreaking, action-packed, mesmerizing, and thoughtful all at once. Can't wait to read the rest.
Oh my GOD did I love this book! I didn't head into it with very high hopes even, as I've been let down by highly rated and recommended books before. While initially I was a little put off at some of the Marvel-movie-esque dialogue from the protagonist, I slowly settled into loving every bit of every single character written in this universe. To the point where "turbo cancer" absolutely took me out in the best way.
Muir has done an incredible job at crafting both an incredibly in-depth world and magic system. With such beautiful and ornate descriptions let you picture every single thing in remarkable clarity. As I mentioned prior, she's also crafted so many well rounded and intriguing characters that I wanted to know more about every. single. one of them. Even the assholes. I find most authors are either good at building worlds or building characters, Muir …
Oh my GOD did I love this book! I didn't head into it with very high hopes even, as I've been let down by highly rated and recommended books before. While initially I was a little put off at some of the Marvel-movie-esque dialogue from the protagonist, I slowly settled into loving every bit of every single character written in this universe. To the point where "turbo cancer" absolutely took me out in the best way.
Muir has done an incredible job at crafting both an incredibly in-depth world and magic system. With such beautiful and ornate descriptions let you picture every single thing in remarkable clarity. As I mentioned prior, she's also crafted so many well rounded and intriguing characters that I wanted to know more about every. single. one of them. Even the assholes. I find most authors are either good at building worlds or building characters, Muir has shown to be so amazing at both I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was two people in one body!
I'm immediately moving on to the next in the series because I cannot bear to be away from this world and the characters a day longer.
Runs on Rule of Cool, nothing strictly makes sense, but that's ok. I feel like this is the apex of a certain genre of young adult novels - the ones with factions and theming and everything. It's really well-written and having fun with it.
Refreshingly free of hetero plots.
Shallow, or at least nothing in it to interest me specifically. I will not be prioritizing the sequels.
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I …
From a universe where necromancy abounds, comes Gideon the Ninth.Her home planet, the Ninth Planet, holds trials to determine who will inherit unimaginable power.
As the heir of the Ninth and the strongest necromancer on the planet, Harrow needs... a sword. Luckily, Gideon knows the sword.
Since they can remember, Gideon and Harrow have hated each other.
The moment Harrow dangles freedom in front of Gideon, Gideon knows she will have to follow through with the plan... even to the very end.
There’s just something about this book that doesn’t work for me. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to get into it. My second attempt was more challenging, but I got through it.
It is because of Gideon herself and the style of the book that I did not enjoy it. She sounded like she was trying way too complicated to be edgy and cool. I found the other characters to be one-dimensional - even Harrow doesn’t get much development until the end of the book. Oh, and if you are seeking a good lesbian romance, you will be disappointed. There’s nothing romantic about it.
The second problem was that it felt aimless. The start of the series seemed promising, and for a while it did. However, once it became apparent, it was going to be a pointless tournament arc with murder; I lost interest. There are no rules, only vague objectives, and it is impossible to follow the person solving the puzzle, so things just sort of... happen. The characters and style didn’t appeal to me, which would have been fine if I enjoyed it.
The third problem, I also found the world building to be vague. There was a lot of aesthetic detail on, with skeletons and bones and locked doors everywhere. Beyond that, it was hollow. Despite the brief spaceship journey at the beginning, it is not science fiction, rather fantasy.
What is the purpose of the Emperor? Are there any reasons becoming his servant is so desirable? Where do the other planets stand? What is the purpose of necromancy?
I’m not sure whether I’m going to continue.
You can also find this review on my blog: Click here
I'm not sure how else to describe Gideon. The dark atmosphere of the book is one that I really enjoy. It's got little twists and turns. I found it easy to settle in with and difficult to put down.
I loved Gideon as a character and her relationship with Harrow. But that's about it. The book is written in a very confusing way. For example, all the characters are dumped at once into your lap without any sort of introduction, and it's hard to know what's happening in particular scenes. <spoiler> Because of this, it was impossible for me to connect with any character other than Gideon and Harrow, so I really didn't care as they died... and by the time all the revelations came I was so bored I didn't care either. I also think the ending was terrible.</spoiler>
Schönes Setting, doch zu wenig ausgebaut bisher die Welt. Manche Charas hätten spannend sein können, blieben aber zu oberflächlich, insbesondere halt 90% der Leute aus den anderen Häusern. Der Mittelteil war verworren, der Showdown dafür all over the place?! Werde mir die zwei Folge-Bücher mal anschauen. Mit gefiel auf jeden Fall der space goth Aspekt davon sehr.
Durante más de la mitad del libro no tenía ni idea de que iba,pero aún así me tenía enganchadisimo. A ver cuándo puedo poner las manos encima de la segunda parte.
Count me as one of the people who really can't stand the author's extremely strong authorial voice. Sometimes it was genuinely funny and I loved it but it was SO omnipresent and overbearing that eventually it felt like I was being told a pretty interesting scifi/fantasy story by someone who desperately needs me to find them hilarious.
I love the world it's set in, I love the whole goth cultists in space thing. I don't like the protagonist and I don't like that most of the characters are emotionally confused teenagers. It feels like I was tricked into reading a mislabeled YA novel. And like, YA is fine, but I like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time?
I think that if your sense of humor aligns with the author you might love this novel! But if you don't, you might hate it.
Wow.
Just... wow.
This was a hell of a fun ride. I love stories which just throw you into the world, and expect you to figure it out as the story goes along. That is, as long as the author can give you enough clues and description and character development to show you the world she's building.
And Tamsyn Muir is more than capable of doing just that. She is a wonderful writer, and I would read anything else she chooses to write, no matter the genre or material. Hell, even the Acknowledgements at the end of the book were entertaining.
I won't give the plot away, except to say that this is a great twist on the traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy genre, with a bit of a sci-fi element. Her characters are modern and smart and three-dimensional. The dialogue is crisp and funny and sometimes poignant and always moving …
Wow.
Just... wow.
This was a hell of a fun ride. I love stories which just throw you into the world, and expect you to figure it out as the story goes along. That is, as long as the author can give you enough clues and description and character development to show you the world she's building.
And Tamsyn Muir is more than capable of doing just that. She is a wonderful writer, and I would read anything else she chooses to write, no matter the genre or material. Hell, even the Acknowledgements at the end of the book were entertaining.
I won't give the plot away, except to say that this is a great twist on the traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy genre, with a bit of a sci-fi element. Her characters are modern and smart and three-dimensional. The dialogue is crisp and funny and sometimes poignant and always moving forward. The characters are well developed and in full 3D, and while you have to be paying attention, it is sooooooo worth it.
There's a reason why this book was nominated for a Hugo and a Nebula. There are a million worse ways to spend your reading time and dollars, and while there may actually be one or two better ways, I can't think of any.
This book is the most original fiction I have read since picking up The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. It's not as flawless as the previously mentioned book, but it's different for sure.
Theoretically it's science-fiction, but the science part only comes up in passing. There is mention of planets, shuttles, spaceships, a galactic empire, but that's not what we experience in this novel. Instead we get a necromantic version of And Then There Were None by Agatha Cristie, the seven heirs to the necromantic houses of the Empire, and their respective cavaliers stuck in an ancient building, trying to figure out how they can ascend to the role of Lyctor, an important position to the Emperor. While they explore the crumbling ruins, there are mysterious deaths and scary bone monsters.
Our protagonist is the somewhat unwilling cavalier Gideon the Ninth, who is an orphan in the Ninth House which …
This book is the most original fiction I have read since picking up The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. It's not as flawless as the previously mentioned book, but it's different for sure.
Theoretically it's science-fiction, but the science part only comes up in passing. There is mention of planets, shuttles, spaceships, a galactic empire, but that's not what we experience in this novel. Instead we get a necromantic version of And Then There Were None by Agatha Cristie, the seven heirs to the necromantic houses of the Empire, and their respective cavaliers stuck in an ancient building, trying to figure out how they can ascend to the role of Lyctor, an important position to the Emperor. While they explore the crumbling ruins, there are mysterious deaths and scary bone monsters.
Our protagonist is the somewhat unwilling cavalier Gideon the Ninth, who is an orphan in the Ninth House which excels at bone magic. Her necromancer Harrowhark and Gideon kinda hate each other since their childhoods, and the whole cavalier gig is Gideon's ticket to freedom from the Ninth. Gideon herself is a delight. She's queer, foul-mouthed and extremely good at swordfighting.
The book is uneven. The pacing of the first third before the arrival at Canaan House is not great, and the world-building is confusing. Yet the rest of the book kicks so much ass and is so fascinating, in a unique writing style that I can't but love it. There are glimpses of a bigger world at the end of the book and I want to learn more. Can't wait for the next book, Harrowhark the Ninth.
This was an incredible book to read and I can see why it's being praised so highly. I though the characters were great and I wanted to learn more about the individual Houses and what made them unique. The plot was very engaging as well and I raced through the last hundred pages or so. I look forward to the next in the series, which I understand is coming out in June of this year, and I highly recommend it for fans of either fantasy or science fiction.
For my full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/03/book-review-gideon-ninth-by-tamsyn-muir.html
I’ve got really mixed feelings about this book. There were moments that it was exactly what I wanted it to be, but then there were long stretches where it got into details about unnecessary things. Though later those things turned out to be important. So I guess the problem was that the foreshadowing was too subtle? I really liked the universe and the characters were memorable and well developed. I would recommend it with the caveat that it’s more of a mystery than an adventure.
