[Andorion]

Abyss, on 07 October 2019 - 05:18 PM, said:

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.

Uterly 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 hopefull 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 lad 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.

I think we agree 100% on the book. This was an utterly sensational read and its quite rare that a series becomes must read for me.

[Abyss]

Another point re the ending...

Spoiler

Because we see Ianthe struggling with Nibirius' soul, the reader may think that Gideon will still 'live' inside Harrow's head...
then, probably because the transfer was voluntary and Harrow is better than Ianthe, Gid's voice inside Harrow's head fades and says goodbye and is gone.
....and may i add that the earbook narrator beyond nails the delivery of that scene....

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO TAMSYN MUIR YOU CANT DO THAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT.
Fuck.

Of course, because Harrow is that good, we may yet see/hear Gid again in bk 2, but the impact, the subtle twist on the reader..... AAAAAAAAHHH.

[champ]

Abyss, on 08 October 2019 - 02:41 PM, said:

Another point re the ending...

Spoiler

Because we see Ianthe struggling with Nibirius' soul, the reader may think that Gideon will still 'live' inside Harrow's head...
then, probably because the transfer was voluntary and Harrow is better than Ianthe, Gid's voice inside Harrow's head fades and says goodbye and is gone.
....and may i add that the earbook narrator beyond nails the delivery of that scene....

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO TAMSYN MUIR YOU CANT DO THAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT.
Fuck.

Of course, because Harrow is that good, we may yet see/hear Gid again in bk 2, but the impact, the subtle twist on the reader..... AAAAAAAAHHH.

I was reading through her AMA and...

Spoiler

I don't think we've seen the last of Gideon.

She doesn't say that obviously and doesn't really hint to it but it was just the impression that I got reading between the lines.

I'd be happy either way though as if the ending of the book is the last we see of Gideon then I can take that it was that well done.

I'm dying to know about the one true enemy of the Necro Prime we see in the tomb and especially why he couldn't go down to the First House to search for the survivors/remains...

Quote

Why can't you go back? It seemed to be the whole of Cytherea's plan."
The Emperor said, "I saved the world once - but not for me."

What the hell?! Could you be any more cryptic.

You also know something significant has gone down when you're told some bodies/remains are missing.

[Abyss]

champ, on 08 October 2019 - 03:10 PM, said:

Abyss, on 08 October 2019 - 02:41 PM, said:

Another point re the ending...

Spoiler

Because we see Ianthe struggling with Nibirius' soul, the reader may think that Gideon will still 'live' inside Harrow's head...
then, probably because the transfer was voluntary and Harrow is better than Ianthe, Gid's voice inside Harrow's head fades and says goodbye and is gone.
....and may i add that the earbook narrator beyond nails the delivery of that scene....

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO TAMSYN MUIR YOU CANT DO THAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT.
Fuck.

Of course, because Harrow is that good, we may yet see/hear Gid again in bk 2, but the impact, the subtle twist on the reader..... AAAAAAAAHHH.

I was reading through her AMA and...

Spoiler

I don't think we've seen the last of Gideon.

She doesn't say that obviously and doesn't really hint to it but it was just the impression that I got reading between the lines.

I'd be happy either way though as if the ending of the book is the last we see of Gideon then I can take that it was that well done.

I'm dying to know about the one true enemy of the Necro Prime we see in the tomb and especially why he couldn't go down to the First House to search for the survivors/remains...

Quote

Why can't you go back? It seemed to be the whole of Cytherea's plan."
The Emperor said, "I saved the world once - but not for me."

What the hell?! Could you be any more cryptic.

You also know something significant has gone down when you're told some bodies/remains are missing.

reponsifying

Spoiler

Re Gideon - yeah, i agree we might see or hear her again. The series IS about necromancers.

Still i'd be good either way.

Re the Emperor, cryptic as hell, that. But there were a few comments through the book along the lines of something 'could kill a planet', so maybe preventing that has a price.

Re no bodies - very much so. And honestly, Cam was SO damn cool i really want her to show up again.

As a related aside... this exchange, paraphrasing...

Quote

Cam: Did Palamedes... did he say anything for me before he died?
Gid: Ummm... yeah... yeah he said he loved you.
Cam: What? No he didn't.
Gid: Ok, sorry, no, no he didn't say that. He said you would know what to do.
Cam: That makes more sense. And, hey, right, i DO know what to do.

...was both funny and awesome.

[Salt-Man Z]

Lotta good Gideon stuff on Twitter:

[Abyss]

That last one!

[JPK]

And he'll never go back.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

BfuckinK, on 13 October 2019 - 07:25 PM, said:

Finally finished Ch 22. Been on it 5 days now I believe. Sucks this book is now regulated to standard BK speed it seems. I’m fucking trying to change that though. I’m just stretched so far with everything I keep getting myself into and my stubbornness won’t allow me a great many times to cut things out.

Have you tried tying string to a door and slamming it shut?

[Macros]

Have started, only read a litte

[Abyss]

AHHHHHHHHHH!

Warren Ellis:

Quote

I am also most of the way through HARROW THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir,
which has the same razored, drunken prose as GIDEON THE NINTH
but played for very different, most complex effect.  (Out June 2 2020)

[Aptorian]

50 pages. This is a fun book. The insults in this book are do childish and pety you have to admire them.

[Lady Bliss]

Wow fucking awesome!

[Macros]

Just finished Act 1.

It's a set up obviously.

So far its ok, just ok. The two main characters aren't overly grabbing me, their voices are too similar when not in public. I guess they are of an age and have grown up around each other, hatred or not this will rub off.

A few speculations

Spoiler

Teacher is obviously a lot more than he seems.
The sick girl from the seventh, will be a key player. The possibility that the illness is faked, using the genetic line as a simple way to slip it in for political manoeuvrings would be clever.

[Macros]

Random far left wild theory early doors, this is just something that came to my head bizarrely

Spoiler

Teacher is an active agent of the lord, or possibly some form of avatar. The other two are dead or not really real. The whole thing is an exercise on some level of power garnering, in the manner of the black ships and the god emperor in 40k.
Harrow and Gideon will figure this out, and somehow end up head to head with the evil twins, the sick seventh will be stuck in the middle of machinations, but there will be a truce or something involving Gideon and her

Or not

[amphibian]

My overall impressions: There's a very, very strong Gormenghast feel to the beginning sections, there's a Vagrant-like feel to the middle sections, the writing isn't extraordinarily fine yet it *works* because this is an extremely fun read because the character work is superb and the action scenes are terrific, and there's enough left unsaid in a smart way that leaves Muir plenty of space with some guideposts to explore if she wants (or not!).

Very much worth reading and I actually think that this book is better than The Library at Mount Char, even with the potty mouth thing going on, because it's such a good example of consistently terrific character work within an overarching story that makes sense.

[Aptorian]

2/3rds into the book now.

I'm really enjoying it but halfway through I also realized that this story is the cooky cutter plot for a thousand B-movie sci-fi/horror/action films I watched in the 80s/90s. It could be terrible but it's carried by a great protagonist and interesting side characters.

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 28 October 2019 - 02:28 PM, said:

2/3rds into the book now.

I'm really enjoying it but halfway through I also realized that this story is the cooky cutter plot for a thousand B-movie sci-fi/horror/action films I watched in the 80s/90s. It could be terrible but it's carried by a great protagonist and interesting side characters.

Accurate to a point, but keep reading.

BfuckinK, on 29 October 2019 - 05:25 AM, said:

Really liked this book though I struggled in the middle just because I hate when books

Spoiler

confine me to one location most of the time. I get claustrophobic reading. I unBKlike zipped through the last 100+ pgs thankfully cause it was awesome. Got a bit tired of the whodunnit drag out. Nice world building in the beginning of this book on Drearburg or whatever it was called. I still think it's Pluto/Kipper Belt body. Totally looking forward to getting away from Caanan House in Harrow and hope we aren't tied down to one place for so long in it. Let's see some of that world building in the beginning of Gideon please!

Spoiler

The claustrophobic element you mention is very much deliberate and a standard trope of the gothic mystery stories the books draws on that all tend to take place in one dreary massive castle with hidden rooms and dank basements sort of thing. The author also made fun of it at times, turning the corpse pit into a swimming pool, etc.

I thought Muir made it work beautifully in the sf/f context.

[worry]

Yah!

Spoiler

That was my favorite aspect of the book, honestly, as those tend to be my favorite kinds of mysteries. But at the very least, I agree with BK that the next book has to expand a lot on the worldbuilding -- at least where this one ended, it appears it won't be repeating this same trick, and it's pretty exciting to see what else Muir has up her sleeve! What else is out there?

[Tiste Simeon]

Started this yesterday, am about an hour and a half in and I'm already loving it. Gideon is an instantly likeable character and the bizarre, morbid world she is in is fascinating. The narrator is brilliant too, which always helps...

[Abyss]

HARROW THE NINTH

Some early blurbs...

"Muir's headlong contemporary prose style finds a new and unsettling register in this witty, yet disturbing and doomed novel of space magic and lost girls." - Warren Ellis

“Harrow the Ninth is a psychological rollercoaster covering forty billion light-years. It’s wonderful to see the universe of Gideon expand, while staying as twisted and full of bones as ever.” ―Django Wexler

Book back blab...

Quote

She answered the Emperor's call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman's shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath — but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor's Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

THE LOCKED TOMB TRILOGY
BOOK 1: Gideon the Ninth
BOOK 2: Harrow the Ninth
BOOK 3: Alecto the Ninth

The most interesting take from the blurb is that Muir appears to be going for a similar setting to GIDEON.

Per Ellis' comment tho, she appears to have a distinct voice for Harrow from Gideon.