[Salt-Man Z]

Cover reveal for Book 2! Also a Prologue Excerpt!

Spoiler

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Just finished — lots of fun, emotionally brutal, and so many intriguing regenerating skele-tendons threads left hanging for book 2.

Great romp.

[Salt-Man Z]

Stolen from Reddit/Twitter (spoiler only for Book 2 cover):

Spoiler

[RACHEL]

I actually did send her a message on Goodreads but I have not heard anything back yet. Maybe she doesn't check Goodreads a lot but I didn't know how else to send a message to her.

[champ]

I'm finding the world and setting so intriguing. Loving the fact we are getting shown the world and not receiving any info dumps. Up to chapter 9.

[Abyss]

RACHEL, on 02 October 2019 - 02:01 PM, said:

I actually did send her a message on Goodreads but I have not heard anything back yet. Maybe she doesn't check Goodreads a lot but I didn't know how else to send a message to her.

She's active and interactive on Twitter.
Pretty entertaining too.

[Abyss]

Ch 30... dear gods SO MANY character shifts.
Credit where due, i REALLY like how she sets a character so you think you know them, then throws in a twist that is completely surprising yet entirely reasonable and even foreshadowed.

Spoiler

Sila's betrayal was entirely expected but Colum's stopping him... VERY nicely written.

Whatever is going on between the three from Third just keeps getting twistier. Corona training with a rapier made sense but Babs' reaction...

Camilla and Pal' are just awesome and that makes me deeply afraid for whatever is going to develop, because i'm going to be unhappy if they go bad, or betray Gideon, or die, and one of those things almost MUST happen.

Dulcinea is completely utterly setting Gideon up, and whether Dulc dies quietly or goes out in a huge blast of necromantic whatthefuck, it's going to be messy.

The Second are just a disaster waiting to happen and i vote them Most Likely To Do Something Honourably Stupid And Die Horribly.

[RACHEL]

I'm not on Twitter, but someone who is should contact her.

[RACHEL]

https://www.tor.com/...rs-r-books-ama/

[Abyss]

RACHEL, on 02 October 2019 - 06:09 PM, said:

https://www.tor.com/...rs-r-books-ama/

OoOOOOOOOOooooo!

Quote

On the next books in the trilogy:

Harrow the Ninth is already in the main for June 2, 2020. If I give even a tentative date for Alecto the Ninth dramatic irony says that something will come out the sky and squash me, so all I can say is 2021 at some point. Everything’s basically done barring the last copy edits on Harrow for proof reading etc, and Alecto has all the ducks in a row for being written.

[Morgoth]

The ending of Gideon made me all but drool for the sequel. A rare thing for me, normally I prefer books that are entirely self contained.

I love the world building of this book. It's subtle and deep and filled with old and dusty secrets. Like BK said, there's a definite Wolf-like feel to the universe, with it's medieval sci fi and sword fighting technomancers. But there's something of Erikson too. The feel of age that weighs everything down like an oppressive heat wave. Although, I guess that is pretty Wolf-like as well.

[Abyss]

Just Finished. More later, but wow did the author stick the landing. She NAILED it.

[Macros]

Mine has just arrived.
It's the pretty black leaf one

[Imperial Historian]

Mine was the regular edition with white pages.

[Abyss]

Just reread/listened to the end for the third time.

Spoiler

...it was like the fantasy/sf lit equivalent of all the bestest superhero comic stories where the surviving heroes join together for a massive battle vs the Big Bad and its henchmonster, and only barely survive due to teamwork and sacrifice.

The level of set up/pay off is stunning. The pace is pretty much perfect. The descriptions are cinematic in a way only maybe Butcher and SE tend to pull off with any consistency. The dialogue, humor, pathos.... fuck me I think I need to read it one more time.

[champ]

Fuck me, what a stunning book... what an ending...

I had to read it a few times to let it sink in what happened... I think I'm still in shock!

I have so many questions I want answered... Roll on 2020.

Great recommend by the forum as always.

[RACHEL]

OK so time for my thoughts on the book. I loved it (the sunglasses part was perfect). All aspects of the book nailed it as far as my tastes go and I am eagerly awaiting book 2.

Spoiler

I am excited to have the next book from Harrow's viewpoint but I am going to miss Gideon's "voice". I love the ending but for some reason I just don't believe that Gideon is gone. I didn't feel too sad because I don't believe it's permanent (I know I may very well be in denial but I can't help it). There is so much left to find out in this world and I can't wait.

[Abyss]

Now then, some thoughts having Just Finished it (again, again).

Loved it.

Tamsyn Muir pretty much nailed every aspect of what i read genre lit for. Engaging characters, imaginative/original setting, great story with deep backstory, fun/interesting plot, killer actions scenes, and overall just a book that tells me a story i have not read before.

Utterly worth the money and the sequel is straight to on my 'pre-order and count down the minutes' list.

Spoiler

Where to even begin...

Gideon - As narrator and protagonist, Gideon is a treat. She knows she's beyond competent, knows she's hot, yet has massive entirely valid insecurities from a life spent being told she's useless. Her dialogue is snappy, fun, confident and vulnerable and clever and dumb. I pissed that she's dead and utterly satisfied with how she went out and hopeful we'll see her again.

Harrow - Kudos to Muir that even when we only see Harrow thru Gid's eyes for most of the book, she still has sympathetic elements in her utterly nasty character. Her interaction with Palamedes in particular hints at this til it becomes clearer.

The rest of the cast - see my upthread posts. I enjoyed everything Muir did with a fairly large cast and i am intrigues as fuck about how Ianthe fares as a Lichtor, and what hapened to Cam and Coronabeth and the Second's Cav/Lieutenant. And am not entirely convinced we might not see Pal again. I appreciate how harsh the story is to the cast. Sure, gradually killing cast members off one at a time is a long standing trope, but it sets up a situation where the protagonist(s) are genuinely at risk.

The world - Muir is an admitted Warcraft fan and those elements show, but she still built something nicely original, and regardless of trope or originality, interesting. I liked the House structure and their rolls, i'm intrigued by the war behind the scenes and the Emperor's revelations at the end, and Harrow's hints at what lie beneath the Ninth House.

And that ending... fuck me like an undead chicken pot pie that ending, from when the 6th/8th/9th fine Ianthe in the lab through to the very last scene where Harrow kills Not-Dulcinea... that ending was GLORIOUSLY AWESOME.

All of it... the way the surviving heroes take Not-Dulcincea on one at a time, the way they each seem to get somewhere then fail, the way Gideon arrives at the only possible conclusion that by that point the reader knows is inevitable but even so it's wrenching... IT'S SO MUCH GOOD READING.

So yah, loved the book, can't wait for the sequel.

[Traveller]

Sounds intriguing. It's next on my list as soon as I finish Morning Star.

[Tapper]

Bought it on sunday, made it to 70% in the Kindle version. Love it.
A physical copy will be bought and will grace the shelves of my bookcase really, really soon.