Gideon the Ninth

It's so easy to feel cheated by such works, around whom a huge flame of hype and publicity keeps burning bright.Luckily, at least with respect to this novel, I didn’t feel cheated. Instead, this was one hefty tome that confused, angered, stunned, shocked and finally flattened me.True to the praise, the book was full of suspense, mystery, wit, action, and emotion. But unlike most generic fantasy, here the character-building was not only three-dimensional. It was even superior to the world-building. Every person, non-person (including skeletons, revenants and reanimated bone-monsters) and other unclassifiable entities have been drawn so brilliantly that they stay with us even after the last page has been turned.Above all, the book has Gideon Nav— who drives the story forward until we reach the end.But was it the end? Nope!And now it’s the job of Harrow the Ninth to take it forward. Next inevitable Amazon visit would have to include that one, I guess.In the meanwhile, this one is recommended in highest possible terms to every lover of fantasy, mystery, or plain fantastic storytelling.

3.5 stars*Okay, wow. This book has such a fun take on necromancy. I absolutely loved the magic system in this one. Although, it's one of those books where you have to trust the author to reveal information at her own pace and be accepting of the vague and incomplete explanations that are given. I feel like I still don't understand everything but I'm hopeful that the second book will give me better clarity.There is a vast variety of characters in this book, each having eccentric personalities and interesting backstories. The main character, Gideon is refreshing, relatable and her humor is on point. Harrow, the other main character, is kinda predictable in her broodiness and unwarranted angst. However, her being an all-powerful brainy leader balances out the personality of Gideon really well and I did fell in love with her character over the course of this book. I'm excited to get on board her journey in Harrow The Ninth.I've conflicted feelings about the writing style. It seemed really pretty and awe-inspiring at times and over-descript/stuffy/confusing at others. The plot is pretty generic but the execution is masterfully done. This book is dark and gothic in true sense of the words. It has some of the best plot twists that I've ever read. Highly recommend this one if you are into complex plot driven high fantasy and sci-fi.

Never thought i'd enjoy book about necromancy but it was amazing, the beginning was slow and might give readers second thoughts. But stick with it, progressively the author's writing shines and the story is amazing.As of writing this review Im half-way through the sequel, Harrow of the ninth, which is also amazing.

There are many many space novels and sci-fi thrillers but this one stands out due to its unique storyline, concepts and plot. The personality of the key characters jumps out of the pages to make the reader love them and literally live them. Highly recommended!

Love the characters, the plot and the stellar writing. Rollicking good fun from start to finish. Great if you want a light yet substantial SFF read to blaze through.

The blurb doesn't do this justice and is frankly misleading. The book begins well and moves into standard whodunnit with people trapped in a castle looking for a killer. The setting of necromancer's is refreshing and the novels gradually builds to a smashing climax.Though the plot and certain key events are guessable, it still is a edge of seat roller coaster ride.The biggest gripe is author hasn't built the world outside of the novel setting. Also then of.meodern swear slang in fantasy world is jarring.Recommended!

Got it delivered in perfect condition. Love the hardcover. Story is amazing too, it being a science fantasy.

What a great book, what a great story, what great characters, what great dialog.I'm not usually a fan of fantasy. More into hard science fiction and technology. I got this book based on the ratings and knew nothing about it. When I started I thought, oops a fantasy, but continued reading anyway. The clever writing style and snarky dialog kept me going initially until the story really kicked in. And the ride accelerated and spun a fascinating and compelling story that brought to life a well drawn eclectic ensemble of characters in a desperate situation to an explosive end within an interesting allegory.It is basically a complex mystery story in a unique world. The world building is done gradually and unfolds slowly through the plot with minimal exposition. And it remains consistent without the gratuitous "magic plot glue" sometimes used by less skilled authors.If there was one thing about the book that hindered me it was the large number of characters to keep straight. The author does include a handy who's who listing. But I admit I did not put the effort in to keep track - and in retrospect it would have been worth the trouble even though the author refers to the same character alternately by first name, last name, title which is a pet peeve of mine that always confuses me - but that did not detract seriously from appreciating the story or the characters. (Thinking back, the alternate name use was helpful in illuminating the character motivations and skills by use of their titles - on the fly so to speak to help those of us that don't study up front.) BTW, note the representative little skulls at the beginning of each chapter.This is why I read books. Every once in awhile I find something new and amazing and it broadens my thinking. I think I enjoyed this book so much because it was so unexpected. I have tried to write a book, sad results, and I am in awe of those who can produce such a complex crystalline pure structure with intriguing and believable protagonists that carry you off to new places.Warning: IMHO the 2nd and 3rd books are not as good. I was not intrigued enough to even finish the 3rd.

O que mais me impressionou nesse livro foi o mundo e como a autora faz seu worldbuilding. Foi um daqueles livros que não dá para parar de ler.Já os personagens... Melhor ficar sem spoiler, recomendo a leitura.

This has been quite the ride - an amazing one.I'll be honest, the overall tone took some getting used to. We're in Gideon's head here, and she is a rebellious teenager, no two ways about it. She curses a lot, and her mind's in the gutter by nature. But Tamsyn Muir did an excellent job of making her a real person: by seeing things from her perspective, we get to live through her loneliness and self-loathing, as well as her growth into the best cavalier any of the Houses has ever had to offer.The rest of the cast - and the cast is huge, let me tell you - also comes alive on those pages, and I must salute Muir yet again for how distinguishable she made this plethora of people. Most of them were very recognizable, and those who weren't were so on purpose (the young teens of the Fourth House who actively hide, the soldiers of the Second whose identity is in their unity). There is a lot to keep track of, but I never found it difficult to know who is who and what they might be up to. I found the pacing well-accomplished, from it's pretty wild start through the measured middle to the fulminant end; my heart was in it the entire time.I consumed (iykyk) this as an audiobook, and special mention goes to Moira Quirk, the reader. She does a truly excellent job with the voices here, which is so important for maintaining clarity. Kudos also for the sound effects, which she voices with aplomb and more gravity than I could ever give them.While the audiobook was a really neat experience, I decided to get a print edition, as well. On one hand, because I like to own things, and on the other, because having the Dramatis Personae as a reference in the front of the book would have been extremely useful in the beginning.I have to say, this is a new favorite, and I've already started on the sequel, Harrow the Ninth. Wish me luck.

Just didn't imagine I would love this book the way that I did, is wonderfully written, it's fun but also intricate and the characters u come to love them ❤️

Es simplemente perfecto, Gideon es genial y todo los que pasa en el libro cada paso que das descubres algo nuevo tanto del mundo en el que están como de los personajes, en todo momento sientes que son personajes tridimensionales y dinámicos