TLDR: Dark, decayed setting and premise, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is a gorgeous and grim mystery, with purpose and love at its heart.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Necromancy IS this book. You can’t escape it. If you’re not a fan of bones, skeletons, dirt, blood and just moldy, decaying worlds, this book is not for you. But within that darkness lies an interesting tale of love, friendship, loyalty, and secrets that once unwrapped, grabs you by the throat and won’t let you go.

It is a very long book that doesn’t get going until approx. 220 pages in, so if you’re unwilling to go that long for the action, this book is not for you. And plenty of reviewers have had that very complaint. I get it. I felt it was a bit slow as well, but it was complex enough and went deeply enough on who Gideon was that I kept going.

Once we hit the midpoint and the murdering begins, it’s on like Donkey Kong (yes, I know, my age is showing).

And I loved it. I felt it, more than I expected to. I got the relationship between Gideon and Harrowhawk and I understood why the author spent the time she did in the setup. It wasn’t just for the characters, but for the world as well (it’s a trilogy, with book 2, Harrow the Ninth, out already).

For all these reasons, I give it 5 stars even though the first half of the book is a bit of a plod fest.

The Plot

Gideon Nav lives in the Ninth House, a cold, gray desolate planet. She is an orphan and was brought up by nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons in an extremely unloving environment. She counterbalances it by reading smut magazines and being very good at a two-handed broadsword. She also wants to escape the plant.

Harrowhawk Nonasegimus is the Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and a bone necromancer. She is also Gideon’s tormentor and has been since they were kids together. In this bleak environment comes an opportunity. The Emperor is calling his eight loyal houses together to achieve the highest feat a necromancer can — become an immortal Lyctor. For this, it requires both a necromancer and a cavalier, someone who is good with a sword.

For Harrowhawk, it promises immortal life, service at the hands of the Emperor Necrolord, and honor for her house.

For Gideon, if she survives it, it’s freedom from her cold dark prison. But to get her freedom, she has to present as the cavalier of the house and keep up the pretense that nothing is wrong, either with the Ninth House, between her and Harrowhawk, or with her ‘status’ of cavalier.

The trials are a challenge of wit and skill and not everyone will survive, especially if one of the other houses are killing off the competitors. And the secrets of the trials are not as great as the secrets between the houses or between Harrowhawk and Gideon.

T;LDR: Harrowhawk, necromancer to the Ninth House, requires Gideon Nav’s assistance as cavalier in the necromancer trials set up by the Emperor. It will bring glory to Harrowhawk and give Gideon her freedom. But something dark lurks in the halls of the trial’s location and it’s not just eight powerful necromancers and their cavaliers. Will Harrowhawk and Gideon survive each other and the trials, or will the dark thing waiting in the wings be the downfall of them all?

What I Liked & Liked Less

The world building is amazing. This isn’t just necromancy, but eight flavors of necromancy that is revealed as we get to know each of the houses and their strengths (and weaknesses). I never knew there could be eight, but then I never really gave it as much thought as Muir obviously did. The backdrop to the story is rich, dark and decaying; it is the perfect foil for the relationships that unfold on the page.

I loved Gideon, mostly (see the next section for more). She’s mouthy, sarcastic, but also quite damaged from her upbringing. I also loved Harrowhawk. It took a bit of time, but once you see why she is the way she is, she’s beautiful.

The author did an amazing job creating very real and fully fleshed out secondary characters as well. I won’t give away spoilers, but there were a few characters where their deaths made me genuinely sad.

The mystery is well-done, and it unfolds beautifully before our eyes. The red herrings persist, paranoia is rampant, and it hides the real killer well.

The beginning half of the book is a bit slow. A lot of it relates to world building, which I found a bit confusing. The descriptions are a bit heavy-handed, but also didn’t provide the imagery in my head I expected to be there for the amount of words used. In other words, I was a bit confused.

Gideon spends most of it sulking around like a bored teenager (which technically she is). But we also get a clearer picture of the rest of the characters through her eyes (she’s been told by Harrowhawk not to speak) and also the fear that the Ninth house engenders even in the powerful and odd other houses. Her lack of anything resembling friendliness, even to one of the houses going out of their way to be friendly, is annoying. Her lack of empathy, up until it gets real for her, is also annoying.

But, it’s the setup for the character, for her growth and for the underlying themes of her character arc. And once you get there. Once you realize why it was done that way, it all makes sense. So while I liked it less, I also love what it does for the second half of the book.

Because I felt it so much more having slogged through all of that — and I think, I hope, that was the point.

To Sum Up (Too Late!)

Overall, this is a tale of love, secrets that bind and separate, and loyalty. It’s wrapped in a gruesome, dying, and dour world where it all makes sense. The setup half of the book is a bit slow, but the second half of the book more than makes up for it. I loved this book so much, it inspired me to write a short fantasy horror story — something I’ve never done before.

For all its flaws, it is as good as many people said it is, which is why I give it my top rating of five stars.

About the Author

TAMSYN MUIR is the bestselling author of the Locked Tomb Trilogy, which begins with Gideon the Ninth, continues with Harrow the Ninth, and concludes with Alecto the Ninth. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Eugie Foster Memorial Award. A Kiwi, she has spent most of her life in Howick, New Zealand, with time living in Waiuku and central Wellington. She currently lives and works in Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice here, or just cave to the man and get it from Amazon here.

This book fulfills another square in my Fantasy Bingo Card — the square with Debut Novel.

Originally published on Feedium.