I just finished reading Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir.
There are times when I hate reading new releases, especially ones that are the first in a series. You can’t fucking leave me like this, Gideon. I need the sequel as soon as physically possible. This book got under my skin, and I read it in about two days.
A quick synopsis: In an interplanetary science-fiction empire run by space necromancers, where people for some reason consider guns to be archaic technology and fight with swords instead (not even magic swords or high-tech powered swords, everyone’s just swinging around pointy bits of metal in a world with actual spaceships), foundling lesbian swordmaster Gideon of the empire’s sepulchral Ninth House wants nothing more than to get the hell away from everyone and everything she knows and join the Cohort, the space army that fights the Empire’s wars on distant planets. Unfortunately, the Empire has other plans for her, and instead of winning glory and the affection of hot ladies on the battlefield she finds herself in a locked house murder mystery in a gruesomely haunted space palace, along with a Ninth House necromancer that she really hates and a bunch of other colorful characters/suspects.
This novel is knowingly and smirkingly gothic. It is all black everything, painted up in a skull mask, with animated skeletons everywhere and sinister necromantic experiments and cryptic pronouncements from mad scientists. It would be overwhelmingly bleak if it weren’t for Gideon herself, who reacts to everything like a disrespectful teenager who’s grown up on pulp comics and dirty magazines, because that’s what she is. She’s immature, impatient, loves bad puns, and thinks that annoying serious necromancers with dirty jokes is the funniest thing in the world (she’s right). And she is absolutely goddamn perfect for puncturing the self-serious awfulness of the world that surrounds her. Gideon, and her irreverent commentary, makes this book. She’s great.
A word of warning, however: Gideon’s delightful personality doesn’t detract from the fact that this book really is as dark as it pretends to be. Don’t go into it expecting happy endings. Murder, mayhem, and unflinching tragedy are the order of the day here. Expect grief, and you will not be disappointed. There’s a reason that necromancers are usually the villains, after all.
So the characters and the setting are great. The actual plot of the book has left me with some questions. Asking some of them in a review would be spoilers, but…
Who is the Cohort always fighting? What are these planets that I hear about being occupied, with the Empire battling insurgent forces? What enemies does the emperor need more lyctors to help fight? Why is everyone using swords, when guns clearly existed in the setting previously (Gideon even finds a carbine at one point, and remarks on how old it is–this from someone who uses A FUCKING ZWEIHANDER)? There are a few more obvious questions as well, things that the book obviously wants us to ask (who is in the Locked Tomb? Who is Gideon? No, not that Gideon, the other one), but because they’re so obvious I know that the series is going to answer them. My other questions about the setting are less certain of getting answers, which is unfortunate because I really want them.
A quick Google search estimates the release date of Gideon’s sequel, Harrow the Ninth, as being June of next year. I’ve already preordered it, without reading the book description on Amazon. I don’t want to know a single goddamn thing about the next book in the series until I crack it open and read it for myself.
We’re not done with you yet, Gideon Nav.