Gideon the Ninth has been parsed into four words that gave me instant grabby hands: “Lesbian necromancers in space.” It was one of my most coveted books to try and snag at BEA, and I preordered it because my goth-loving heart was swayed by the black-stained edges of its first printing. All of this leads to a very tough situation: will a book I’ve been anticipating (and many others, too) will live up to its hype.
The answer: sort of.
Gideon Nav has been an indentured servant to the Ninth, the House of the Sewn Tongue, the Anchorite’s House, the House of Heretical Secrets, for the past eighteen years. She was discovered next to her dead mother when she was just a day old. And because the full title of the House is unwieldy, it’ll hereby be referred to as the Ninth or Ninth House. Gideon is now ready to blow this popsicle stand for a life of freedom. Unfortunately, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, has been onto her plan for the past week. If Gideon wants her freedom, she’ll need to help Harrowhark one last time and this final favor is no small feat. Gideon must help Harrowhark survive a deadly competition of brains and brawn with the other House leaders, a trial sanctioned by the ruling Emperor.
Oh and I should mention that Gideon and Harrowhark absolutely hate one another.
A metric shit ton of things happens in this book; it’s also the longest book I’ve read in a while. It doesn’t feel long (that’s what she said) and events are handily divided into acts. There are five acts total and an epilogue. (No babies in this one!) The compartmentalizing is very reminiscent of an ancient tome or some lovely ballad to a fallen warrior. You have Gideon’s origin in Act One, there’s the “hero’s journey”, grand realizations that make her question all she’s ever known, and foes becoming friends. Some real Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. stuff happening. But with porno mags.
The feel of Gideon the Ninth is one that may divide readers. It has this really fun and interesting mix of high fantasy language and elements, but with foul-mouthed potty humor and modern idioms (i.e. bag of ass, douchebag, etc.). I loved it; there’s a quirky anti-hero-style deviousness to everyone introduced.
Gideon is a snark-machine who loves dirty magazines and scandalizing those in higher positions with her sass-master antics.
Here’s her response when chided about her lack of loyalty and fidelity:
“I know. It’s fine. Don’t get me wrong, Captain. Where I’m going, I promise to piss fidelity all the livelong day. I have lots of fealty in me. I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body. I fealt hard.”
Gideon’s origins are mysterious; no one knows anything about how her mother came to the Ninth House to literally die on their doorstep. And it’s a classic setup of Gideon thinking the grass is greener, but then realizing that everyone is pretty much just as fucked up in the other Houses.
I love a good “everyone is kind of awful” story (just not when it’s real life).
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I loved Harrowhark just a tiny bit more than Gideon. She’s conniving and ruthless. The way she reveals that she’s known about Gideon’s escape all along is just…*chef’s kiss*. It’s real badass, movie villain shenanigans.
Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus had pretty much cornered the market on wearing black and sneering. It comprised 100 percent of her personality. Gideon marvelled that someone could live in the universe only seventeen years and yet wear black and sneer with such ancient self-assurance.
My romance-loving heart hopes that Gideon and Harrowhark’s sniping at one another turns into hate fucks and angry kissing in subsequent books. And then maybe they can live in a grand tomb with a bunch of little skeleton butlers and a walk-in closet filled with fantastic black robes and capes.
Though there is obvious humor in Gideon the Ninth, it’s pretty dark in terms of violence and graphic descriptions. I want to make that very clear. The Ninth House is for the dead and dying. There are varying degrees of body horror and definitely vulgarity. Don’t let the lightness of the snark fool you! If you prefer your scifi/fantasy to be on the sillier end of the spectrum, tread lightly here.
But I have to be honest and say that there were many parts where I had no clue what the hell was going on. MANY PARTS. A glossary would have been helpful for certain concepts, namely in relationship to characters’ titles and what it meant for their roles within the Houses. It’s possible the finished edition will have one or will possess extra material; I sure hope so.
Because I have the book preordered, I will undoubtedly do a re-read the second I get it. Additionally, another pass through might connect more dots in my brain. I foresee my grade only getting higher when that happens.
The experience requires some effort, though, on account of concepts that are already established and not necessarily explained. For me, reading this one digitally was not the way to go. Gideon the Ninth is a unique and bloody bananapants book, and I do think it’s worth a reader’s curiosity. Gideon is an unforgettable protagonist. The world is creepy, sometimes bleak, and yet…still fun, almost like The Addam’s Family. And yes, there are lesbian necromancers in space.
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I must confess to being a bit mystified as to what kind of world this book is set in. Is there advanced technology as well as magic, or is it more like a blend of high and low fantasy but just in space?
As someone whose teenage bedroom was decorated with NIN and Sandman posters, I am DYING for this cover.
Can someone spoiler tag Momo’s post? It’s too late for me, dammit, but maybe it will help someone else not see it
@Teev Sorry, my bad! I forgot that the paragraph I was referencing was under spoiler tags. Unfortunately, I can’t go back and edit it
I have a question about that second quote. Is it actually “It compromised 100 percent of her personality.” in the book? Not comprised? Just curious.
I look forward to reading this. Thanks for the review, Amanda.
@Momo: Spoiler tagged the last part! And the genre is really a mishmash. The setting is sci-fi-ish with fantasy concepts (magic, hierarchies, etc). It feels high fantasy in the grandeur of the plot, but the dialogue and characterization are bawdy and more low fantasy.
@PamG: Whoops, that was my error!
Looking forward to this one and keeping my expectations in check!
I just finished this book and it didn’t work for me. The first part (probably the first three Acts) was fine, but then the whole thing devolved into a nonstop fight that was impossible to follow. In seeing above how others interpreted the end of the book, I will just say I came away with a COMPLETELY different impression. I felt like we know exactly what happened to Gideon, so I’m not sure why others think that’s unclear. It all goes to how very confusing this book was.
I joined the Bad Decisions Book Club to finish this last night.
I highly recommend it as a good SF/F read with an intriguing world and engaging characters. Damaged, engaging characters, on an arc that doesn’t make them any less damaged.
Here, on a romance forum, it’s important to manage expectations by saying that this is not a romance. The story reaches an appropriate end-point, which is not a conventional HEA. If you start it expecting that the genre contract promises these things you will most likely be disappointed.
I absolutely loved this book, and I recommend checking out the audio version. Moira Quirk gives each character a voice that perfectly suits them. I cannot wait for the other two books of the trilogy.
I LOVED it. I also just finished Harrow the Ninth and I think the combination of them is great. Definitely cliff-hangers but the second resolved some things from the first and also explains how to say the names. I agree with some of the other comments, you just get dropped into the world and things aren’t necessarily explained to you or other characters are having conversations that don’t make sense but a reread would make perfect sense. There’s also a lot of words that are either made up or are archaic or a combination of both, so it’s probably something you either love or hate. I like it when I get to try to figure things out without having it explained to me and I thought the payoff was worth it. I would be dropped into the world and try to figure out the rules like a puzzle than have an info-dump. Even though they’re teenagers I thought they often read as older and sometimes it was hard to visualize the side characters based on the descriptions. I pulled a bad decisions book club night for each of them and I can’t wait for the third. I’m also looking up where I can learn about swords and face paint for a possible Halloween costume.