Book rec: Gideon the Ninth
Sep. 3rd, 2019 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateMy child is in school!! So I hope to be a little more present on these here internets, but in the mean time, have a book review. I responded more-or-less at random to a twitter post someone forwarded asking about favorite swords, and thus accidentally won an ARC of Tamsin Muir's Gideon the Ninth, which comes out a week from today. So I should tell you about it in time for you to pre-order, or get in early on the holds list at your library! :)
All the press I've seen has mostly been "lesbian necromancers in space!!" and maybe "swords!". Which is great-- it has both these things-- but neither of those is really why I wanted to read it, and so I am glad that I got an ARC and therefore felt obliged to get around to reading it and discovered all the reasons I wanted to do so.
So, this book contains lesbian necromancers, multiple planets, swords, and all the reanimated bones you could possibly wish for. It also has a sarcastic somewhat unlikeable protagonist, which is often a dealbreaker for me, but wasn't in this case. (She has very good reasons for being who she is.) It has also got two entirely different kinds of glorious dead worlds and a layered pair of an intellectual puzzle mystery and a locked room mystery. There are nine-- or perhaps ten-- different ways of being a necromancer (all magic is necromancy, but there are necromantic librarians...) and each one comes with their own set of dramatic personalities, distinctive costumes (I look forward to the fan art), and abilities, all of which contribute to their various arguments about what the heck is going on and what they should do about it. It has also got some lovely side moments like the hidden advantages to teaming up with your nemesis. People die, but I would class it as having dark fantasy sensibilities rather than horror. (ie, hope isn't stupid, horribleness isn't just random & omnipresent...)
I have also discovered the down-side of getting to be an early reader, in that I will have to wait several months *longer* than everyone else for the sequel. (This is a complete narrative arc; no clifhangers.)
I quite enjoyed it, and have ordered a real copy of my own. Perhaps you would like to do so also!
All the press I've seen has mostly been "lesbian necromancers in space!!" and maybe "swords!". Which is great-- it has both these things-- but neither of those is really why I wanted to read it, and so I am glad that I got an ARC and therefore felt obliged to get around to reading it and discovered all the reasons I wanted to do so.
So, this book contains lesbian necromancers, multiple planets, swords, and all the reanimated bones you could possibly wish for. It also has a sarcastic somewhat unlikeable protagonist, which is often a dealbreaker for me, but wasn't in this case. (She has very good reasons for being who she is.) It has also got two entirely different kinds of glorious dead worlds and a layered pair of an intellectual puzzle mystery and a locked room mystery. There are nine-- or perhaps ten-- different ways of being a necromancer (all magic is necromancy, but there are necromantic librarians...) and each one comes with their own set of dramatic personalities, distinctive costumes (I look forward to the fan art), and abilities, all of which contribute to their various arguments about what the heck is going on and what they should do about it. It has also got some lovely side moments like the hidden advantages to teaming up with your nemesis. People die, but I would class it as having dark fantasy sensibilities rather than horror. (ie, hope isn't stupid, horribleness isn't just random & omnipresent...)
I have also discovered the down-side of getting to be an early reader, in that I will have to wait several months *longer* than everyone else for the sequel. (This is a complete narrative arc; no clifhangers.)
I quite enjoyed it, and have ordered a real copy of my own. Perhaps you would like to do so also!