Published July 18, 2019 by Tor.com.

ISBN:
978-1-250-31319-5
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4 stars (9 reviews)

"The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of …

3 editions

Review of 'Gideon the Ninth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Oh my GOD did I love this book! I didn't head into it with very high hopes even, as I've been let down by highly rated and recommended books before. While initially I was a little put off at some of the Marvel-movie-esque dialogue from the protagonist, I slowly settled into loving every bit of every single character written in this universe. To the point where "turbo cancer" absolutely took me out in the best way.

Muir has done an incredible job at crafting both an incredibly in-depth world and magic system. With such beautiful and ornate descriptions let you picture every single thing in remarkable clarity. As I mentioned prior, she's also crafted so many well rounded and intriguing characters that I wanted to know more about every. single. one of them. Even the assholes. I find most authors are either good at building worlds or building characters, Muir …

The only horror-genre novel I've ever liked?

No rating

I'm not into horror. Period. Don't like to read it, don't like to watch it. Don't even really like to hear it talked about. But this was a good ride, engaging, with profoundly beautiful visual description. It managed to be quite long and complex, and yet still relatively simple too. It turned cliches about and brought them back with something new.

Review of 'Gideon the Ninth' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

I loved Gideon as a character and her relationship with Harrow. But that's about it. The book is written in a very confusing way. For example, all the characters are dumped at once into your lap without any sort of introduction, and it's hard to know what's happening in particular scenes. <spoiler> Because of this, it was impossible for me to connect with any character other than Gideon and Harrow, so I really didn't care as they died... and by the time all the revelations came I was so bored I didn't care either. I also think the ending was terrible.</spoiler>

Spannende Ansätze

3 stars

Schönes Setting, doch zu wenig ausgebaut bisher die Welt. Manche Charas hätten spannend sein können, blieben aber zu oberflächlich, insbesondere halt 90% der Leute aus den anderen Häusern. Der Mittelteil war verworren, der Showdown dafür all over the place?! Werde mir die zwei Folge-Bücher mal anschauen. Mit gefiel auf jeden Fall der space goth Aspekt davon sehr.

A love-it-or-hate-it proposition

3 stars

Count me as one of the people who really can't stand the author's extremely strong authorial voice. Sometimes it was genuinely funny and I loved it but it was SO omnipresent and overbearing that eventually it felt like I was being told a pretty interesting scifi/fantasy story by someone who desperately needs me to find them hilarious.

I love the world it's set in, I love the whole goth cultists in space thing. I don't like the protagonist and I don't like that most of the characters are emotionally confused teenagers. It feels like I was tricked into reading a mislabeled YA novel. And like, YA is fine, but I like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time?

I think that if your sense of humor aligns with the author you might love this novel! But if you don't, you might hate it.

Review of 'Gideon the Ninth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Wow.

Just... wow.

This was a hell of a fun ride. I love stories which just throw you into the world, and expect you to figure it out as the story goes along. That is, as long as the author can give you enough clues and description and character development to show you the world she's building.

And Tamsyn Muir is more than capable of doing just that. She is a wonderful writer, and I would read anything else she chooses to write, no matter the genre or material. Hell, even the Acknowledgements at the end of the book were entertaining.

I won't give the plot away, except to say that this is a great twist on the traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy genre, with a bit of a sci-fi element. Her characters are modern and smart and three-dimensional. The dialogue is crisp and funny and sometimes poignant and always moving …