Review was by Michael Dodd at Grimdark Magazine. I sourced ARC for him from Sarah Reidy @ TOR and have already sent her the review link. She cc:d in Lauren Anesta too.

https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-harrow-the-ninth-by-tamsyn-muir/

I'm going to be really honest in this review - and that's because while I loved, loved this book I'm still not totally sure what the hell happened! It took a completely different direction from were I thought the story was going to go and I'm really happy that it did. I have decided that Tamsyn Muir is not one of those authors that gives their readers exactly what they want. And that is such a refreshing aspect in this genre of literature! Without spoiling anything in the first book and the this one, I'm not going to say much more, but what a mind-bending, explosive ride and I cannot wait for the next one.

This title was reviewed and featured as a "ray of hope" on a recent episode of the Beacon podcast at mainebeacon.com.

A great follow up to Gideon the Ninth. Harrow is a fascinating character and Muir's use of different povs was masterful. I loved the fanfic au section more than I can say.

I am beyond impressed by the author's ability to construct a story. This book was confusing, perplexing, intriguing, intense, emotional, awe-inspiring and incredible. I cannot adequately express all my thoughts and feelings about this one.
I love the relationship between Gideon and Harrow. It is one of the best things about the series. I am extremely eager to get my hands on the next book, as I cannot imagine where everything will end. It says a lot about the author that you stick with the story for 400+ pages of utter confusion only to understand so much and still be left with questions. The twists and turns were masterful. They were epic, in that I had about 6 running theories for the first half of the book. The storytelling is wonderful, but be aware that your brain might hurt a little and you will be confused while reading.

Sequel to the celebrated Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth continues the story of the necromancer of the Ninth House as she has become a Lyctor in service to the Emperor Undying. Harrowhark has what she wanted but she knows something is missing, even if she has no idea what. The dangers around her only get more deadly every day, and Harrow's own memories can't be trusted. A good read for fans of the first novel, but if you were hoping for answers to Gideon's mysteries, you'll have to wait for the sequel.

Wow, wow, wow, is this book ever A LOT. It is just SO MUCH. It took me two weeks to read, which I was definitely not expecting.

The first 75% of this book is...slippery. Bewildering. Just completely and totally chock full of what-the-fuckery.

The NPR review of Harrow had this to say, and I cannot top it:

<blockquote>“More: Harrow is brilliant. Harrow is driven. Harrow is paranoid. Harrow is special. What Harrow isn't is fun. Gideon was fun, but Harrow is a walking trauma.” </blockquote>

That’s it. That’s the first 3/4ths of the book. IF you can hang - and I’m the first to admit that it is exhausting and you will question everything, including why the hell you ever decided to read this book - you WILL be rewarded.

I laughed REAL HARD during the last 25%. It’s not any less filled with WTF but...I don’t know, it starts to coalesce in a way that just makes the struggle worth it.

This series does not make sense. I think I’d have to read it 10x to reallllly grok everything that’s happening, and I’m just not willing to put in that amount of work. I still think it’s worth it in the end, but just. I’m cautiously looking forward to Alecto the Ninth...but I know that I’m going to have to be in a VERY SPECIFIC HEADSPACE to deal with it. JFC.

Having read and loved Gideon the Ninth, I was intrigued to see what Tamsyn Muir would give us in this second instalment in the trilogy. What I got was a surreal and baffling exploration of space, the universe and the perils of necromancy, and I loved every minute of it! In this book, the tone is completely different. Whereas Gideon narrates her own story in book one with a sarcastic and wry sense of humour, this instalment is told in multiple perspectives, one of which is in second person, which makes for a really interesting and more challenging reading experience. The narrative also jumps around in time, which adds to the ethereal and dreamlike quality to the writing. I spent a great deal of time not having a clue what was going on, but just revelling in the skill with which Muir has constructed the narrative. Then, in the final third of the book, all of the seemingly disparate elements come together in a joyous and explosive manner that is both incredibly satisfying and sets up beautifully for the final book in the series. I do worry that there will be people who do not jibe with the change of tone here, but what I would say is that I think it is a book that will benefit from multiple readings. Overall, this won't be a book for everyone, given that there is a lot of blood and gore throughout, but I was really impressed by it and will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Way back in February, so long ago that dinosaurs still walked among us and we had to use spider skillets to make baked goods at the flames of an open hearth, the absolute angels at Tor sent me an ARC of Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth. It would be hard for me to convey the pure, all-consuming joy that I felt while read Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth — hard both because language fails when one attempts to express transcendence, and also because in these quarantimes one struggles to understand happiness.

Still, though, if you cast your mind back through the mists of time, you may recall that in the Before, when one felt the strange and alien emotion Joy, one wished to share it. Which I did! Except not that many people had read Harrow the Ninth yet so I had to track down people on Twitter and badger them into talking to me about Harrow the Ninth for an hour, and that is this podcast.

The Guests

Constance Grady is a culture writer for Vox and fearless leader of the Vox Book Club. Follow her on Twitter!

Bria LaVorgna is the managing editor at Tosche Station and our nation’s most preeminent scholar of the life and works of Dr. Aphra. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

Natalie Zutter is a playwright, podcaster, and pop culture critic who writes about (among many things!) TV, books, fan culture. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram and find her at New Play Exchange.

Here are some useful time signatures, if you’d like to avoid being spoiled, get totally spoiled, or listen to some people screaming about That One Thing (lol I’m kidding, there’s no One Thing in this book that’s so specifically outrageous it’s immediately identifiable as The thing):

2:05 – Non-spoilery reactions
12:00 – All the spoilers
47:17 – We address that one threesome

You can get at me on Twitter, email the podcast, and friend me (Gin Jenny) and Whiskey Jenny on Goodreads. As a brand new feature, you can also follow me (Gin Jenny) and Whiskey Jenny on Storygraph! If you like what we do, support us on Patreon. Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very very much).

Credits
Producer: Captain Hammer
Photo credit: The Illustrious Annalee
Theme song by: Jessie Barbour
Transcripts by: Sharon of Library Hungry

Warning: This review may contain spoilers for Gideon the Ninth, the first book in the Locked Tomb trilogy.

Seriously.

It’s really hard to talk about Harrow the Ninth without major plot reveals from Gideon, though I will do my best. If you haven’t read it yet, well…

First things first. Gideon the Ninth was probably the best book that I read in 2019. Like, hands down. I went all out to try to track down a first printing.

2nd.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Y’all.

Like.

Y’all.

Harrow’s back, but she’s not altogether all together.

She passed the Emperor’s test back at Canaan House. She survived the trials, and solved the mysteries of Lyctorhood. She succeeded, as only the genius Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House could do. She gained supreme necromantic power.

And she lost her mind.

Unless she didn’t.

Now she finds herself on board the Emperor’s space station, preparing for a war the likes of which she never could’ve imagined. God himself is there, the Necrolord Supreme, with the rest of his remaining Lyctors, helping to train Harrow in the use of her newfound abilities. But something, or someone, is stalking Harrow through the halls, bypassing every layer of protection she can come up with. Her talents with skeletal constructs alone will not be enough, and if she can’t fully tap into her Lyctor powers, she will die. Not even God can help her if she can’t acknowledge the reality she faces.

But…

Now she finds herself at Canaan House, arriving for the first time to begin her training to become a Lyctor. The heirs to the other seven houses are there as well, and Teacher bids them welcome as they begin studying the ancient arts of necromancy that will help them to unlock their greatest power. Familiar and wrong as the same time, most seems well until something, or someone, begins to track them, killing them off one by one. Harrow’s cavalier stands as bravely as he can beside her while… wait…

He?

Where’s Gideon?

Tamsyn Muir skillfully ties her timelines together, blending Harrow’s present-day trauma to that of her past, leaving readers to spend much of the novel pondering the necromancer’s reliability as a narrator. Muir provides a much wider view of the world of the nine houses and the magic blending life and death that powers so much of it. New characters and old try their best to help Harrow navigate a vast universe in which she may well be her own worst enemy. Harrow the Ninth is just as difficult to put down as its predecessor, and it left me yearning for the release of Alecto the Ninth, currently scheduled for 2021.

“Are you sure this is how this happened?”



“One for the Emperor, first of us all;
One for his Lyctors, who answered the call;
One for his Saints, who were chosen of old;
One for his Hands, and the swords that they
hold.
Two is for discipline, heedless of trial;
Three for the gleam of a jewel or a smile;
Four for fidelity, facing ahead;
Five for tradition and debts to the dead;
Six for the truth over solace in lies;
Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies;
Eight for salvation no matter the cost;
Nine for the Tomb, and for all that was lost.”

Harrow the Ninth is available for purchase tomorrow, August 4th. Gideon the Ninth is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and digital.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review. It made 2020 bearable.

It’s even more confusing than Gideon the Ninth but that’s not necessarily a minus. The pieces click together about 2/3 of the way on with the reintroduction of a character voice I had very dearly missed for the entirety of the book. There are explanations for everything that is happening but the journey is a real mind bender. I think I need to read it again to see how I really like it. Overall, I didn’t like the book as much as the first in the series but I am desperate to read book 3 so it’s a real win.

HARROW THE NINTH is the best kind of second book: not only does it live up to the first in the trilogy, but it also pushes the boundaries to the extent that it is impossible to predict the plot. Muir immediately immerses the reader in an unfamiliar setting with a (mostly) new cast of characters, and even our beloved necromancer Harrowhark the First is wildly different from her familiar Ninth House incarnation. As each chapter unfolded, another piece of Harrow's puzzle fell into place; with each piece, I loved Harrow and her guts (her metaphorical guts, although we do see quite a bit of her literal guts) even more.

I loved, LOVED “Gideon the Ninth,” so I am thrilled that to say that “Harrow the Ninth” is a fantastic sequel that flips the entire story so far on its head. The first half was...not what I expected, and it wasn’t until about halfway through that I felt I was finally getting a grasp on what was going on. Sticking with it is 1000% worth it, trust me. This is a story about a lot of things—but foremost, grief. There are so many layers to this book, and while there is a ton of action, necromancy, and intricate world-building to thrill you, the emotional journey “Harrow” takes you on is heart-wrenching and just as striking.

My first thought after finishing this at 2:30am was "I cannot wait to re-read this,” which is not my reaction to most books after reading 512 pages of interesting, funny but incredibly intricate prose. It’s one of those books where there are hints and teeny nudges all along the way and you know they’ll (probably) come into play later on, but you don’t quite know how or when yet, and need to store it away until its time. Add in nonlinear and second-person POVs, and its even more of a wild ride. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite way of reading a story, but I loved how much this felt like a gothic mystery novel where I and the narrator(s) were unraveling the story synchronously—I *truly* could not guess what was going to happen next. I know that the next time I read “Gideon” and “Harrow,” I’ll pickup more info I didn’t register the first time and I cannot wait.

I will add a TW for those who are squeamish about body horror because there is a lot more necromancy, and its very detailed!

Also, this series reminded me of how much I loved my physical anthropology courses at uni, where we got to study bones and I am thankful for them because I remembered the names of more bones than I thought I would!

My thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC copy of this book for me.

Unfortunately, this second book in the series didn't resonate with me quite as much as the first book did. I found the first 75% of the book to be a bit confusing, what with jumping around in the timeline and with using multiple names/titles for many of the characters. The snappy patter, ongoing snarky commentaries and the last 25% of the book did help to redeem it, and the epilogue alone will have me coming back to read the final book in this trilogy.

This book people.

This book.

Where to start?

At the beginning, I suppose. Or a little bit further than that with Gideon the Ninth.

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

Gideon is sarcastic, irreverent, and stubborn. She's in your face and demands your attention, tempestuous and bold. We start with a laugh as we dive into this twisting murder mystery adventure about lesbian necromancers in space. We end with tears.

"One flesh, one end."

The prologue is titled "The Night Before the Emperor's Murder," told from a second person narrator that makes it very clear that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Next we get the parados (from Merriam-Webster: "the first choral passage in an ancient Greek drama recited or sung as the chorus enters the orchestra"), titled "Fourteen Months Before the Emperor's Murder," which takes us back to the very start of Gideon... with Ortus Nigenad as Harrow's cavalier. Gideon's absence is a confusing slap in the face.

The shifting narrative teases with the truth, rewriting the narrative we read in Gideon the Ninth, leaving the reader wondering if we are learning more or encountering a pure fabrication. Meanwhile Harrow struggles as an incomplete Lyctor, unable to call upon her Cavalier and bearing a sword that reviles her touch. The Emperor is nothing like she expected, a man undying with the power to resurrect legions, but once just a man who pushed beyond limitations into the impossible and now lives as legend with his origins and those of his Lyctors the subject of myth.

One should never meet their gods face to face.

As we chase the truth and rush towards the Emperor's murder, we are witness to treachery and loyalty formed over eons or binding of soul and flesh, and to acts of necromancy bone magic that if are not perceived as chilling it is only because they are crafted by our heroes not our villains.

Clive Barker, attend. It's as if Muir went "what if the Cenobytes were our heroes?" and then shed light on the true horror of Harrow's artistry. For all of Harrow's repeatedly described frailty, this woman is hardcore in a way that unsettles and catches everyone, including the Emperor and his Lyctors, off-guard.

Then when it all comes together in an emotional whirlwind for the reader, pages turning in anticipation and heartstrings singing.

I admit, this is all vague and full of implication, but if you've read Gideon it should come as no surprise that Harrow is to be experienced.

If you wish a simpler review, here is my TL;DR summary:
1. unreliable narrators and hidden secrets
2. a crisis of faith
3. god makes a dad joke
4. in space everyone is queer

Content warnings: Suicidal ideation, bones, murder, cannibalism, blood

It is very hard to summarize this book without spoiling the ending of Gideon the Ninth. But it picks up right where that left off and goes into the adventures of Harrowhark the Ninth as she starts service as a Lyctor to the Emperor of the Nine Houses.

This book examines trauma through magic and science fiction in a way that I’ve never seen in any other kind of book. It is what grimdark wishes it could. The prose shifts between third and second, never flinching from the grief of the and pain of the end of Gideon. There is sincerity, tough love, and the grossness you’d expect from necromancy (soup is cancelled), but there is a joke and a colorful insult thrown in from time to time to get some relief as part of that processing. There is a deep sense of loss of control, being lost, and constant violence, but the empathy radiates off the page. Such a unique reading experience, and then there is another perspective shift that had my heart and mouth screaming.

A surreal sequel that maintains the tone and aesthetic of the first book, definitely pick up Harrow if you loved Gideon. Give me Alecto, now.

This was a lot. There's so much detail; I should have read Gideon the Ninth right before so I would understand how the two books for together better. It takes a while to get good. I feel like I read a lot of fluff before getting to the important plot at 70% in. The vocabulary is tough, especially since a lot of words are made up so it's hard to tell whether you can look up a definition of something or not. I'm not sure if I'll read the third book when it comes out. Maybe not if it takes over a year again.

Thanks to Tor Books for the free advance copy of this book.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, newly minted Lyctor, has been drafted by God to fight a battle to save the cosmos. But picking up her sword makes her sick, and nothing quite seems to be as it should be. Something is off, and Harrow doesn't have the time or the brainpower to figure out what.

Okay, I will begin this review by admitting that I am still trying to work out what the heck happened in this book. If you think GIDEON THE NINTH threw you in with minimal explanation, buckle up. HARROW THE NINTH explains less and adds nonlinear storytelling to the mix. The pieces do begin to fall together about halfway through, but the only way to get there is to trust Muir to guide you.

The writing is as gross and sharp and sarcastic as ever. I hesitate to comment on any plot points, even early in the book, as I think it's best for readers to go in with nothing. Let's just say that Muir could have quite easily replicated the formula created with GIDEON and we would have all been satisfied, but instead she takes a hard left turn with this book and knocks it out of the park. I cannot wait to see what she dishes up for the conclusion of this trilogy.

Readers who have been impatiently waiting for a sequel to the phenomenal Gideon the Ninth will be thrilled to know that Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth lives up to the promise of that first novel and more. Considering how good Gideon was and how Harrow raises the stakes, the last book in the trilogy will probably be so good that my head will explode. One quick note: if you haven’t read Gideon the Ninth, you will be very lost if you try to start the story with Harrow.

Harrow is a broken woman after the events of Gideon the Ninth, but isn’t quite sure why. She knows that something went wrong with the process of becoming a necromantic dynamo known as a Lyctor, but she believes that she can out-stubborn, outsmart, and out-magic anything that the universe throws at her. She’s not so confident about the state of her mind or about the rest of the Lyctors’ odds against ravening beasts that have been trying to destroy all living things since the beginning of time—beasts that she has only just learned about after waking up as a newly minted, albeit incomplete Lyctor. Oh, and someone is trying to kill her. It’s a lot for a woman with a messed up brain to deal with.

Even though I’ve read Gideon the Ninth and remember quite a lot of it (how could I forget a book about lesbian necromancers in space!?!), I thought I had missed something in the first chapters of Harrow the Ninth. The narrator—unnamed for most of the book—tells the story to “you” (Harrow), but the story didn’t match what I remembered. Harrow’s version of events, I slowly realized, was a mental fiction created out of her grief and guilt over the loss of Gideon at the end of the first book in the trilogy. While we deal with our unreliable narrator and main character, details about all kinds of plots start to emerge. This book demands a lot of attention to detail as there are no red herrings; every dropped comment or strange discovery is a clue to what’s really going on.

Just like when I finished reading Gideon the Ninth, I am now very annoyed and saddened that I have to wait until the last volume in the series is released to find out how all of this tangled plot turns out. I even took breaks during the last hundred pages of Harrow the Ninth to make it last a little bit longer. It was a very hard thing because those last chapters were an incredible ride with multiple layers of reality, inchoate monsters from the depths of gibbering space, betrayals, conspiracies, amazing sword fights, ghosts, and big questions about sacrifice and the greater good.

Muir’s novels are so imaginative that they leave me in awe at their creativity and psychological depth. Run, do not walk, to read this series.

I. Loved. This book. Just when I thought I had a semi-firm grasp on what happened in Gideon the Ninth, this book came in to thwack me over the head and call me a fool. I had absolutely no clue what was happening for half the book, and I read each page with pure exhilaration. Every time all the pieces clicked into place to reveal something New and Important I had to set the book down and silently scream inside my heart for a full five minutes. Harrow’s POV is fascinating—because she’s deliberately made it hard for both of you/us to understand what’s going on. BRILLIANT. can’t wait to make a bookmark with all the the names & details to reference when I have my own copy to clutch to my chest like Gideon’s sword.