Book Review: Gideon the Ninth (Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the myriadic year of our Lord-the ten thousandth year of the King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death!-Gideon Nav packed up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and she escaped from the House of the Ninth.

With just that opening sentence, Gideon the Ninth rocked and rolled, and it never stopped. This book was so damned good, that I didn’t even know that it could be a fantasy, even though it’s set in space. And oh my god I loved the setting of this story. First part started in Ninth House, where our title character, Gideon, is trying to escape the House of the Ninth, but she did leave Ninth House...but not in the way she wanted it to.

Gideon left Ninth House with her worst enemy, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, to be her cavalier. Now these two girls hate each other (well, actually Gideon hates Harrowhark), and they leave to go on a trial with the other houses to become the next Lyctor. In order for her to do that, they both had to train and cover their faces in black and white paint, that in the beginning Harrow told Gideon (or Griddle, as she called her), not to speak to anyone.

But as the story goes on, you meet more people, like Magnus and Amelia, and Dulcinea Sepimus and Jeannemary Chatur, until everyone. Starts. Dying. Mysteriously.

This then turns into a trial and a mystery a bit as the girls find out who is killing whom, until Gideon finds the head of the fourth house I think, in Harrow’s closet. She thinks of betraying Harrow, going to Palmedes to talk about it, even confessing that she killed Harrow’s parents. But after a heart to heart with Harrow, she learned that she was supposed to die as a baby (which, might I add, WAS FUCKED UP) so Harrow can be born and be the necromancer of Ninth House. I wanted them to kiss REALLY BADLY, like LET THEM KISS DAMMIT, but sadly it didn’t happen-one because after they went to see Dulcinea (I did say I wanted Gideon and Dulcinea to kiss, really badly), it turns out, after Gideon easedropped on her and Palmedes’s conversation, it was Dulcinea who did it…

But Dulcinea was dead.

Another one had taken her place.

And her name was Cytheria the First, a Lyctor.

The fight at the end was glorious-Gideon was badass with her longsword, Nonagesimus was spectacular, but at the end, it pissed me off, because I wanted, SO BAD, for Gideon and Harrowhark to kiss or to be in a relationship where they are together. But maybe in the next book they will be, but for now, this book was so good, even with the little memes, but it was still so good nonetheless, and I can’t wait to read Harrow the Ninth.

View all my reviews