Tamsyn Muir - Blog Posts

Darcy Reads: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Back with another review! This little number was recommended by a friend. Anytime a person tells me to read something, I decide to go forward with the vaguest expectations, but the cover gives this one away pretty quickly.

"Lesbian necromancers"... say less. (Spoilers ahead)

Story Telling (3/5): To be honest, I took a while to get into this book. Like with many other hard scifi and fantasy novels where authors built their own worlds from the ground up, there's this initial disorientation while you try to figure out what the hell is going on. They have swords so that means this is a medieval setting, right? Oh, but she mentions porn magazines. How the hell do you pronounce "Nonagesimus" (I did not discover the pronunciation guide until about halfway through)?

And then just as I think I figured out the Ninth House, we are literally transported to a whole other world with a startlingly large number of new characters that I have to memorize. Fortunately, the plot starts to pick up and we get to see Gideon interacting with people who do not immediately despise her for being a ginger haired orphan.

There are still many instances of guesswork involved in the setting and motivations, but much less than before. You could say that I was as equally clueless as Gideon. I suspect the second book, Harrowhark The Ninth, will not be as forgiving.

Plot (4/5): My own cluelessness aside, I genuinely enjoyed the plot. It was unique and engaging, hinting at a rich lore oozing with potential. There were a lot of loose strands at the end of the novel that are clearly meant to extend into a much larger story. I'm interested to see how the rest of the Houses are explored in the rest of the series.

With that being said, I also felt as if the book was being excessive, throwing out plot devices willy-nilly. I am still wondering what exactly the purpose of Coronabeth's character was or if she was just supposed to be eye candy the whole time. In addition, were the Second Houses' deaths necessary? I get the sense that Muir just wanted to create a post-apocalyptic world based on our own solar system and the characters that came from the less important planets were just an afterthought.

With that being said, I genuinely did enjoy the plot. While it started out slow, the tension kept building. Each gruesome death further proved how much danger Gideon and Harrowhark were really in. I appreciate Gideon's sacrifice being an actual sacrifice. She's not going to be resurrected or returned to her body. She will stay in Harrowhark's head, annoying her with bad puns and reminding her to drink more protein shakes. The more I think back on it, the more credit I have to give it.

Characters (4/5): While this book has a lot more characters than I care for, some significantly less necessary than others (looking at you Crux and Coronabeth), I appreciate the effort to give each one a unique personality and motivation. There are still some tropes, such as the fatherly figure that makes bad puns, the embarrassed teens, the meek nerd, etc., but at least they are developed in the short time before their brutal deaths.

I especially like Gideon. Immature. Stubborn. Strong Morals. Biceps that you can sink your teeth into. Gideon's frustration with Harrowhark and the Ninth Planet is justified, but I respect that she tries her best to meet their demands. Similarly, while I can't say that I like Harrowhark, her backstory as an engineered monster makes her at least somewhat sympathetic.

Characters I didn't enjoy: Cytherea and Dulcinea. I am intentionally counting those as separate entities. I understand that Cytherea is meant to bring Gideon and Harrowhark closer to the Emperor and drive the plot as a whole, but I wish her lore was more explicit earlier in the story. The Emperor and his Lyctors are only vaguely mentioned and frankly, I'm still unsure what Lyctorhood is all about. While I love a big baddy, Cytherea's introduction and motives were introduced too late for me.

As for Dulcinea, I suspected she had darker motives right from the beginning. It was too ideal to have a sweet, sickly, girl fainting lavishly around a derelict castle (laboratory?). She was Chekov's missile tank. While I appreciated watching Gideon get flustered with gay panic, I kept waiting for the other shoe to eventually drop. It was only two dimensional, which I suppose makes sense once the twist is revealed.

Final Thoughts: I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Locked Tomb books. While confusing, the setting and plot were refreshing. I'm almost disappointed that we won't see most of the same characters in book #2, but I'm sure Muir already has a massive lineup of replacements waiting for us.

Furthermore, It's great reading a story that hits the queer aesthetic dead on. Save the rainbows and club mixes for June. The rest of the year, we like our lazy goth aesthetic, our gritty cyberpunk core, and our lovecraftian lore, etc.

While I am a sucker for romance and shipping wars, it can get quite repetitive. I'm also glad that the novel does not veer in that direction. Harrowhark and Gideon's relationship evolved more naturally. Even though I partially expected a more romantic payoff, I am not at all disappointed with the ending. It's a unique dynamic to have your potential love interest mesh their soul with yours and share the same body to become a powerhouse of magic and sword fighting. I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like

oh.

masc lesbian save me...save me masc lesbian

what brand of mentally ill are you? based on what you think of first when you see tlt

I do love that as a fandom we're like "pre-locked tomb reading list: the iliad the bible shakespeare's entire works lolita edgar allen poe's poems the oral history of aotearoa the epic of gilgamesh and the oxford dictionary." And then you read it and half the prose is:

I'm looking up lots of words in my read of Gideon the Ninth

Thanks Tamsyn Muir <3

i love your writing

This is a side blog for my side project.

What am I doing?

I am creating a necklace for each of the nine houses in Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb.

Why?

Short answer, because I have ADHD

Long answer, because beading and the locked tomb both set off the good chemicals in my brain. Quietly beading in a corner while occasionally muttering about symbolism is a good way to be a roomate. Pacing back and forth while trying to express my love for camilla hect is Less Well Received.

Also I want to create fan art but 2d art is got my strong suit.

Also my adhd goblin brain likes pretty necklace.

What will I do with them when I am done?

IDK wear them. If Tamsyn Muir asked, I'd give her one.

Will I post instructions?

Sort of....

Some of the necklaces I will create instructions for.

Some of the patterns are really about a technique. If you understand, the technique, then recreating the necklace will be strait forward. I'd rather link to a good tutorial and give material and dimensions than try to write a bad tutorial.

Also, I have a small neck, so some of them may need to resized with math.

Will I go in order?

No.

Do I have rules?

Yes, so many.... my adhd Brain wants symbolism! It wants meaning out of chaos. It wants ART! So here are the rules, or at least the Internal logic

Every house gets a necklace. 1st though 9th.

Every necklace will include size 11 seads beads, though they can also include other beads

Each necklace will be made with house colors

Each necklace will have the number of unique beads related to house number. (Ex. 2nd house is made with 2 colors of red size 11 sead beads)

Findings are not counting against the unique beads count, but should reflect the house number if possible.

Only houses I think would attend a sexy party willing get metallic beads. But what constitutes shiny beads is left up to my discretion.

The construction of the necklace will be thematically appropriate. And something that I can imagine a member of the house wearing.

The value labor+materials will be thematically appropriate. So rich houses will be bigger and more complex than poorer houses. Except for the 9th house, will will include animal bone beads which are expensive.

Each necklace will have a gold "One flesh, One End" charm on the clasp.

Will I post updates?

Yes, though a lot of it will be bitch about the 3rd.