#61: Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Immediately following the events of Gideon the Ninth, a necromancer joins the Emperor and his inner circle in a bid to destroy an invading army of monsters, all while trying to navigate internal politics, in Tamsyn Muir's sequel to one of my favorite books from last year, Harrow the Ninth.

However, I flat didn't know what to make of this book.  The first one hundred pages (of approximately five hundred) are basically Harrowhawk getting over the shocking finale of the previous book.  Subsequently, she has flashbacks to the events of that novel, which actually don't match the earlier storyline.  

It becomes so dense and unwieldy that I kept going back to Wikipedia and the internet to refresh my memory on who the characters were and what was going on.

When all is revealed, it is a genuine surprise, and the story rockets along for the last one hundred pages or so (and ends basically on a cliffhanger for the wrap-up of the trilogy).

I ended up really enjoying this book but can't recommend it on its own merits; at this point, I feel it is best for new readers to wait for the trilogy to complete, and then read them all straight through.  I love Muir's writing style, and  Harrow the Ninth is a highly memorable science fiction romp, but just doesn't really stand on its own merits.

But if you have already read the first one, refresh your memory and then dive right in.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library Bookmobile and read it quickly.

#57: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

A varied collection of necromancers, from rival houses, gather in a rotting old castle to vie for the attentions of their immortal emperor in Tamsyn Muir's irreverent, genre-breaking debut novel Gideon the Ninth.

Muir throws supernatural horror, locked-room mystery, and a little far-future space opera into a blender and comes out with something unlike anything I've read in a while, all written in a hip, contemporary style.

I had to keep flipping to the character list, and list of rival houses, at the beginning of the book to keep everyone straight, but the storytelling just cooks along, right to the point where it wants to jump off into a sequel, which I am eager to read as soon as it comes out.

This was a genuinely fresh novel, and recommended for horror or science fiction readers.

I checked this out from the Henry County-New Castle Public Library in New Castle, Indiana and read it quickly.