This is one of the books I put off for several reasons: one, necromancers have never been my go-to sort of paranormal power, and two, there was so much hype around this book that I just wasn't sure. I've had such a bad track record of not liking books that so many have loved. Plus, this seemed like such a dark and dreary read. So I shelved it and along came a buddy read through Instagram. I was like perfect! At least two of us have been a bit intimidated by this book, we can hype each other up.
I'm so grateful for this buddy read for giving me a reason to pick this up. I absolutely enjoyed this book, and my reward for going through my current TBR stack will be the second book in this series Harrow.
Okay, let's kick this off with world-building. I have to give Tamsyn Muir some serious kudos because she has created a killer world and caste system. I also really loved the cheat guide at the back of the book. Because there is no prologue to the world, you just dumped into. So it was nice to have the guide to each House to flip back to. I liked that each House sort of had their sort of necromancy that they were known there, a field of study if you will. And, it really was a caste system with Ninth at the bottom as the House that shouldn't be.
Tamsyn Muir did a beautiful job of building the two actual worlds that saw in this book: Drearbruh and Canaan Housse. Each is described so well that are honestly night and day from each other. Drearbruh is without a doubt where the world goes to die, and the Canaan Household all the beauty of the world.
I also liked the cause and effect that came with the use of necromancy. None of our characters were all-powerful, they needed a source for that power. Characters could drain themselves and be forced to tap out all while spilling their own blood. Whether through sweat or an orifice. But there was cause and effect to everything each necromancer did which I appreciated. I hate when magic is and there is no outward effect to be had. So was glad to see there was positive and negatives to the use of magic and necromancy through Gideon the Ninth.
Going back to the caste system, I honestly loved that the wardrobe of characters matched their rank and position. It's all so flushed out and well done. Each House had a role to play in this plot, and each role made sense with how they were raised. Core values and what have you.
And the cast of characters, I love a good character to you love to hate. From the first page, Harrowhawk is that character but she definitely not the only one. I wasn't fond of either woman for the Second, and Sextus was the worst. Every time that character spoke I groaned out loud. There were some characters I wished I saw more of like Ianthe. What we got of her at the end was badass, so I would have liked more. She was sort of the wildcard throughout the whole book. I will say, Babs death hands down my favorite part. Couldn't have happened to a better person.
This brings me to Gideon, loved her. I didn't expect to laugh as much with these books as I did, and all of that was thanks to our main character Gideon. The whole book is told from her point of view, and it was what kept this story from being too dry. She was a little bit of light throughout everything with her quip and her sass. Even during her "vow of silence". I really think without her smart attitude this would have been a different book, and the ending wouldn't have hit me like it did.
I was not okay, I'm still not okay. I mean I figure it was gonna happen after the big reveal. That doesn't mean I was emotionally ready.
All of this being said, let's talk about the plot the Gideon the Ninth. As a whole, I loved this idea. I love a good cat and mouse, racing the clock, sort of plot. In a lot of ways all the boxes I wanted were ticked off plot ways. Creepy foreshadowing, unexplained deaths, and some weird laboratories were thrown in. However, there were times I got flipped around with the plot because right before someone said something important something else happened. And, there's a bit in the middle where actually put the book aside and took a break. So much was happened that felt off, like the conversation with Sixth and Gideon that didn't matter because Harroe came clean without any push. Just it felt like unneeded filler.
