An absolutely wonderful book, Nona is so full of heart and hurt and warmth whilst hinting at something much darker and deeper developing beneath the surface! Muir's writing as always is a balm to the soul with it's flawless humour and turns of phrase!
I did spend most of this book confused but happily so and cannot wait for Alecto!

The Locked Tomb has never held your hand as far as what's going on in the story, and this is no exception. But, more so than ever, it serves to put you in the characters shoes. Nona is lost, and has no memory of who she was. But she's found family, and loves the world she lives in anyway.
And this is honestly, that's about 3/4 of the book: Nona loving and interacting with the messed up world she finds herself in. It's much lighter than the others in the series (until it's absolutely not), and really goes to show how messed up the houses are compared to the rest of society.
The pacing is a little weird at times, but is more than made up for by much needed and appreciated flashbacks and reveals, as well as wholly unexpected character returns. (But honestly, why would I ever expect anyone would stay dead in a book about space necromancers?)

Nona is absolutely lovable from the start, and it really drives the book forward. It also seems to set up fantastic things for Alecto, and i can't wait to see how this all resolves. I get the sense that multiple rereads will spawn excessive theory building and an even deeper cult following among fans.

The third book in the Locked Tomb series introduces quite a few new characters in addition to the titular Nona. Muir's writing continues to be exemplary, but I'm not sure that I agree with her decision to make this story a full novel rather than the short diversion it was originally intended to be. Nona is a cypher throughout the book and doesn't really contribute to the activities going on around her. We, as readers, know (or at least assume we know) what's going on with her and are just waiting for the inevitable shoe to drop. When it does drop, the book becomes a frenetic race to the finish line and the setup for the final book in the series. Definitely intrigued with where we are in preparation for Alecto the Ninth but I'm not convinced that Nona was really necessary. Time will tell, I'm sure.

Just as tightly plotted and intricately structured book in this amazing series. Nona offers a surprisingly tender twist, but it has all the buckwild action and necromantic shenanigans I expected.

Don't mind me, I've just ascended to a higher plane of ✨existence✨

Anywho, I highly recommend reading the Locked Tomb back to back to back, and I am very nearly certain that a reread of Nona will unlock (hehe) things I missed.

Things I recommend before stepping into this third tome (no, the puns will NOT stop):

✅ Internet connection (you're gonna want to look up those names and bible verses)
✅ A notepad (you're gonna want to write down those names and bible verses)
✅ A skull mug filled with hot liquid (you're gonna want to stay hydrated)

A lot of the weird shit from the previous books was explained, although now we have a host of new mysteries to figure the fuck out with A.L.

I did feel that Nona was stretched out a bit too much (I think it was originally supposed to be part of A the N), but the extra length didn't take away my enjoyment, and I'm happy that it was a separate book because this was a LOT to unpack.

Might write further on this, maybe share some quotes, but in all likelihood, probably not. It's weird, it's got lesbians and queer people galore and it's definitely trying to convert you into a cult of some sort, but all I know is that my life is going to be settled when I can finally read book 4.

One last thing: this is one of the few times I have ever felt like I am part of a ~fandom~ with people eagerly waiting for the release and doing feverish rereads leading up to the main event. So, now I know what SJM stans must feel like EVERY. DAMN. DAY. of their existence.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

Well, if you wanted more Griddle you are not getting what you wanted in this book. I will say anytime someone says "It was originally going to be part of a longer narrative but I decided to make it a separate book" I get nervous, and I wasn't wrong to be so this time around. I would have liked this better as a shorter interlude to a different book, probably. Overall, the book didn't work for me and I was sad that the actual fun doesn't really start until near the end. John is the worst (obviously, he is meant to be the worst) and overall, the only good line and the only one that brings me back to my favorite book in the series (Gideon the Ninth) is said at basically the very end of the book, and I did find it funny.

I’m still stunned I was granted a copy and I’m so so so glad that I was because this book was insanely good and just as confusing as the rest lol

OMG OMG OMG! I was shaking when this appeared in my inbox. I absolutely loved Harrow the Ninth and could not wait to read Nona the Ninth, and let me just say, it was worth the wait! Tamsyn Muir writing was so beautiful in Nona the Ninth. The book reminded me of an epic symphony, a beautiful plot with an epic climax. Ugh, I cannot wait for everyone to read/listen to this masterpiece

Since the Locked Tomb series as a whole frequently defies description, it shouldn’t shock anyone that its latest installment, Nona the Ninth, does too. A book that wasn’t even supposed to exist in the first place—the bones of this story were originally slated for the first act of the upcoming series finale Alecto the Ninth—Nona is the series’ most personal and human. To be fair, it also contains just as much violence and cruelty as its predecessors. Characters die, get resurrected, and swap bodies just as easily as ever. But where Gideon the Ninth ended in tragedy and Harrow the Ninth was a study in grief, Nona the Ninth feels like something altogether different: A story about life, and maybe even a little bit about hope.

Nothing gets me on my crazy Catholic bullshit like a new Tamsyn Muir book. When I finally (FINALLY) got my hands on Nona the Ninth, after ten thousand (fact check: two) years of pining for it, I curled up on my sofa with it and my Bible and unfortunately no wine because I was on a clean living kick, and read it and thought of tweets like “New Revised Standard Version in the streets, King James Version in the sheets”, a tweet you were only spared because I couldn’t stop reading Nona the Ninth long enough to write it.

One fact about the Locked Tomb trilogy is that any man who falls behind is left behind; by which I mean that it is impossible to describe the events of this book to someone who has not read the prior two books. I know this to be true because I have read Harrow the Ninth eleventy-thousand times, and I have even written a blog post that tiresomely explicates its references to memes and Bible verses, yet when I picked up Nona the Ninth and flipped to the end to check how things were going for certain parties, the pages that I read were goddamn gibberish. I remember this from getting the ARC of Harrow the Ninth. Here was I, all determined to discover what was going to happen, and here was the end of Harrow the Ninth like “and then Mercymorn exploded, and some sunglasses, and we went under the River, and there was a Body GOOD LUCK BITCH.”

I love it here; I love everyone in this bar.

Thirty seconds after I had finished reading Nona the Ninth, I handed my copy to my mother. She said, “Were any of our theories right?” and I just stared at her with unseeing eyes like a necromancer whose blindness may or may not have protected her from the blue madness wrought by Varun the Eater (Number Seven). She said, patiently, “Who did Nona turn out to be?” and my facial expression did not alter because the fuck do I know. (I think I do know. But I am not confident.) It’s like when the first of my Twitter mutuals copped to having read Harrow the Ninth, way back in the innocent time before the plague, and I immediately DMed them to demand they tell me if Gideon was alive, and they were all like, “S…ort of? Yes? Or, maybe?”

If this makes it sound like Tamsyn Muir continues to be coy with the giving out of answers, that is an accurate takeaway. Or to put it another way, Tamsyn Muir has this uncanny knack for letting loose an avalanche of answers, at the end of which you have ten thousand more questions than you had in the first place. Of those, the one I have been shrieking most loudly at my friends-and-relations (who bear it very patiently, considering) is WHO THE ABSOLUTE ENTIRE LIVING FUCK IS E!!!! (I refuse to inquire if Gideon and Harrow are going to be reunited and okay. Of course they are going to be reunited and okay. They might both be dead; I am not sure; it does not affect my belief in their future happiness. I did a little Tarot spread for them, and the outcome card was the Six of Wands, so things are going to be fine.)

“Jenny please just tell us what the book is about.” Yes, okay. Sorry. So the book is about a girl called Nona, who only attained consciousness a short while ago, and who is living inside a body that doesn’t seem to be hers. She lives with Pyrrha (I love Pyrrha so much) and Camilla, who sometimes is Palamedes, and she goes to a school where she has a little gang of friends who are children. This is good for Nona because although she seems to be nineteenish, she is in many ways a child too. She can’t read, but she can speak every language. She loves everyone in her life, including and especially her teacher’s little dog Noodle. She and her little family are in constant danger from threats that include the armies of the Nine Houses, a Resurrection Beast in ?orbit?? or something? over their planet, and various Blood of Eden factions.

If I am absolutely honest, I have to confess that Nona is not quite my thing, as a character. Obviously she’s a good girl, and she cares about her people and she cares about Noodle, and that’s all well and good. But if I am anything, I am a second-book-in-the-trilogy bitch all the way up to my eyeballs, and if I am anything else, I am soft for a Shuos Jedao / Captain Flint type, and what I am saying is that Harrowhark Nonagesimus was always going to be the narrator of my heart. Good though Nona is, she was the least interesting character in her book, partly because everyone else has more information than she does, and I — frustratingly — had access to very little of it.

That said, Nona the Ninth is a banner book for fans of the Sixth House. If ever you have wished that fiction would give more space to best friendship (as opposed to, for instance, romance) between men and women, I believe that you will enjoy the whole arc that Palamedes and Camilla undergo, except uhhhhh possibly for one thing towards the end that I do not myself know quite how to feel about so I guess I’ll have to wait until Alecto the Ninth comes out to make a decision on that.

Major spoilers in this paragraph: When I was listing my hopes and dreams for the Locked Tomb trilogy, I said that I wanted a really really good Palamedes and Camilla reunion. Here is what I have learned, friends: Tamsyn Muir may give you what you said you wanted, but whatever the case, she will find a way to inflict the maximum amount of psychic damage on you as she goes. Before Nona came out, I spoke to a friend who was rereading Gideon, and they were like, “Can you imagine Crux’s face if he ever found out Gideon was God’s daughter? Like, I know that could never happen, but can you imagine?” and I was all “wow yeah that would be satisfying,” but secretly inside my own heart I was thinking, “It will not be satisfying and you will be devastated.” Anyway that was a very charming thing that happened to me, and I wanted to share it. Hopefully my friend was able to derive satisfaction from Gideon’s very spot-on burn of how badly Crux fucked up both her and Harrow. I certainly enjoyed it. I am very much in the tank for Gideon and Harrow’s devotion to each other, and it sends a zing of pleasure up my spine any time one of them heatedly defends the other. They’re so in love! They’re such good girls! I love them!

In interstitial chapters, John is explaining to Harrow — but he doesn’t really really seem to be talking to Harrow — what he did and why things are like this. You do not discover answers to questions like “is Harrow alive” or “where did necromancy come from really” but you do discover answers to questions like “why does nobody ever talk about Ulysses and Titania” and “is it chill and fine to turn cows inside out, or will people get upset” and “how soon did people start correctly identifying that John is a fucking cult leader.” There is also the creepiest possible scene which I will share here for extensive discussion in the comments:

He was scooping indentations in the sand, making big, print-block child’s letters with the tip of his forefinger. As she watched, he made a pothook–J–then the finned spine of E. He wiped that E clean, and replaced it with A. He wiped that clean, and he drew the prison bars of H. This J and H he barred around with an uneven heart.

Just a few quick follow-up Qs:

What?
How is John so altogether fucking creepy?
J is John and H is Harrow and A is Alecto, so who the shit is E?
What?

Implied major spoilers in this paragraph: I had a dream in graphic novel form about some Catholic teenagers ruining one another’s lives, and in the dream one of the Catholic teenagers was reading Nona the Ninth and she looked up from the ?page? (idk she was a pen and ink drawing, I don’t think there even was a page, it was a weird dream) and said, “Is E the Earth?” and now I can’t stop thinking about that. E is the Earth, right? Alecto’s the Earth? And if I may, how many fucking times has John rebuilt all his fucking friends? Please discuss in the comments. I am troubled by the implication that a) they possibly may have had different names the first time around; and b) John resurrected them after killing them; and c) it is not outside the realm of possibility that John has done this more than once. Eeeeeeuuuuurrrrrrrgggghhhh.

Have you read Nona yet? Did you love it? Do you have theories you wish to share in the comments?

I will die on the particular hill that "Tamsyn Muir is a bona fide genius" and will be dissuaded by nothing and no one. NONA is somehow the most joyous Locked Tomb book and also the most devastating. Like Palamedes and Ianthe, I spent much of the book missing Harrow terribly, but I also found new depths to my seemingly-endless love for every single character. They're all beautiful and awful testaments to the wonder and terror of love. This book has taken over occupancy of my entire brain, and I regret nothing. I will be selling approximately one million copies, as I cannot rest until everyone on earth has read these books!!

I'm convinced that Tamsyn Muir simply cannot write a bad book. Nona is my least favourite book of this series so far, but that's not saying much to be honest, because I still enjoyed it so much. We get a lot of developments plot-wise--a lot more information about the history of this world, about how the events from the end of Harrow have progressed and unfolded--but by far what I love most of these books, Nona included, is the memorable and deeply moving character work. I adore these characters, and in Nona we get such a lovely and heartwarming trio: Camilla/Palamedes, Pyrrha, and Nona. I cannot tell you how excited (and, frankly, scared) I am for Alecto.

Thank you to Tor for providing me with an eARC of this via NetGalley!

I don't always understand what's going on, but I thoroughly enjoy the ride. I want to be best friends with Hot Sauce (the coolest girl gang leader ever). Don't get me started on Cam and Pal. Someone called this book a kaleidoscope and they're not wrong.

The much-anticipated third installment in Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb trilogy, Nona the Ninth—like its two predecessors—is nearly impossible to discuss without spoiling major events throughout the book. What I will say, though, is that there's a tonal shift between each book that feels like whiplash and none yet have been as jarring as with Nona the Ninth. This book is many things that the others were not: it is hopeful and full of life, containing heartfelt emotions, animals, children. Against the backdrop of what seems like the end of the world, Nona the Ninth shows, perhaps for the first time, a grounded view of who these characters are, deep down. It shows who they were, who they are, and who they will become, stripping them of any defenses they had previously and making us as readers feel things for them we never expected to. Beyond that, Nona is the Locked Tomb's most memorable protagonist yet. She is kind, loving, innocent, and not at all what we've come to expect from these books, but she is precisely what this series needed. If you haven't read the Locked Tomb yet, now is the perfect time to dive in and experience one of the most nuanced and brilliantly written series out there.

As with the others, I feel like I only grasped about half of this time, but that's fine. I'm fine. I am not fine. Nona is so perfect and wonderful and so relatable with Noodle, the dog, and I loved everything.

Actual rating: 4.5/5 stars

Nona the Ninth is an entirely new look at the world of The Locked Tomb series. Tthis one mostly takes place on a planet controlled by the rebel group Blood of Eden, where necromancers and their constructs are feared, hunted and eliminated. The change from a magic dominated sci-fi setting to a dystopian one was jarring, but not entirely unexpected given the second book in the series. It’s no secret Muir likes to keep her readers on their feet as to what’s going on for most of her novels.

As such, it’s the characters that become the anchors readers rely on to understand what’s happening. Given how new Nona is to this world, she has a childlike understanding of most things and a very bubbly personality that seems at odds with everything around her. It was very interesting to see this completely new personality in a beloved character, especially how she interacted with others. Each of her group of school friends has something that makes them stand out while Pyrrha, Camilla and Palamedes take on parental roles. Without giving too much away, other favourites do appear later in the book, though the anticipation for them was killing me.

As before, Tamsyn Muir’s writing style stands out. With Nona, she writes her world through the eyes of a very particular child while retaining her penchant for interesting comparisons and memorable descriptions. Muir’s writing always delights me, and it is made even better though Moira Quirk’s reading of it who takes care with everything, including accents and even random sounds described in the book itself.

Another fun aspect of Nona the Ninth is that Muir throws the concept of gender out far more than before, and it’s wonderful to see. Typically gendered words are used in much looser contexts across many characters, with female characters using ‘prince’ and ‘sir’ as titles. This fluidity paints a world in which gender roles are much less rigid, which is a silver lining given the lives the characters lead.

As far as the plot is concerned, it’s structured like previous books where a lot of things happen in a short period of time without it feeling rushed. The overall confusion is stronger in this one, so there is more of an emphasis on Nona as a character rather than the plot itself, though that kicks in midway through the book. Because of how confusing it was, it took a while to get my bearings; I would say this is the weakest aspect of Nona the Ninth.

Overall Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is an excellent addition to a series that keeps getting more and more expansive. It was interesting to experience planets outside the reach of the Nine Houses and their rigidity, while the backstory and greater picture are finally coming into focus. Though I’m still unclear on the ending, I do look forward to the next book in the series, and anything else Muir puts out in the future. She’s an author with a distinct style that stays with you.

Best one in the series so far! Muir continues to craft engaging and hilarious hijinks with some really detailed world building. Everyone I know loves this series and with good reason!

Listen, I read this book in 24 hours. I liked it a lot. Does that mean I understand a single goddamn thing that happened in the end? Absolutely not. I need a wiki and several diagrams and so many TikTok explainer videos. But boy is it a fun ride and made me so excited for Alecto.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

Do you have a series that means everything in the entire world to you? A book series that immediately comes to mind when someone asks you, if you could only read one series over and over again for the rest of your life, what would it be? The Locked Tomb series would be it. Despite this though, I could not possibly even try to begin to explain it, you just need to experience it.

Nona the Ninth is the third installment of the series and deals with the aftermath of of Harrow the Ninth, in a way that was both excruciatingly painful and filled my heart with so much love. Nona loves you, and you will love her.

Muir excels at writing and creating her novels that make half the fun, just trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and what does this all mean? She interweaves humor, gut-wrenching emotion, and deep-soul searching meaning expertly. One moment you're crying and the next your laughing at a shitty meme 10 years out of date. I've never met a series like it.

I am waiting for the next book with baited breath, and can't wait to do a reread in the meantime.

Thank you so much to Tor and Netgalley or the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ugggggh, I love Nona so much.

Not Nona the book -- and we'll come to that later -- but Nona the character, who is about the sweetest gorram teenager you've ever met in your life. Well, technically a teenager: her body is about nineteen years old but she's only really been alive? resurrected? reborn? for almost six months now. So, ofc, she wants a birthday party, to include her friends at school, several good dogs and the few members of the Blood Of Eden guerilla group whom she's familiar with.

This last group, ofc, is strictly vetoed by her guardian Camilla Hect (yes, that Camilla, yesssssss!) who is taking care of her with the assistance of a grumpy older person named Pyrrha. Our little trio live in The Building, a somewhat scary edifice that houses all sorts of unsavory characters. Nona, no longer being a complete infant, is allowed to go to school, where she's a Teacher's Aide who hangs out with a literal gang of teenagers. These teens are very anti-zombie, which is basically what everyone on their planet calls the necromancers of the Nine Houses and their minions and soldiers. Thus sweet Nona is also anti-z-word, too, even tho she has a sneaking suspicion that her little family might be more involved with necromancy than she wants to think about. But when an honest-to-God Lyctor comes calling, demanding that this planet give up its House renegades in exchange for resettlement somewhere far away from the planet-killing threat looming in the sky, matters come to a head and Nona must finally confront who and what she really is.

Whereas the first book in the Locked Tomb series was Battle Royale meets And Then There Were None, and the second a murderous boarding school mystery in space, this third book is about a true innocent growing up in a dystopia and finding herself far more important than she'd ever imagined. It's a bit Chosen One-ish, but Nona is just so darn likeable that I eagerly read all the chapters of her adolescent adventures with her friends as war and disaster threw long shadows over them. Interspersed with these are chapters from the viewpoint of God a.k.a John, who reveals (mostly) what happened to get him to his exalted position. John is a dick but he is also hilarious, so I spent a lot of time laughing at his jokes and feeling a little bad about it later. His essentially dirtbag POV is a nice contrast to Nona's earnest desire for all her friends to love one another, as she loves them, making the first 75% of the book a quick, compelling read.

Alas that everything should get murky in the final quarter of the tome. After the thing that led to Paul (and LET ME TELL YOU, I was SOBBING when Camilla said "life is too short and love is too long",) the narrative begins to deliberately sacrifice clarity for vibes, to the point that I'm starting to worry about where this series is going. It doesn't help that I had to strongly refresh myself on what happened in Harrow The Ninth (with the help of the wonderful Space Gnomes!) because I somehow managed to forget the biggest plot twists from the final quarter of that book! I'm hardly the dumbest reader -- I figured out whose body Nona was in within the first twenty pages and am pretty certain I understand the deal with Alecto -- but there were parts that were so (I hope deliberately) obscure that I'm still trying to figure them out. The <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/NonaTheNinth">TV Tropes</a> site, btw, is excellent for helping clarify things, if you've already read the book and are looking for answers.

Nona The Ninth was originally written as part of the next book of the series, and it shows. The end isn't so much a payoff as an off-ramp, leading me to spend these past four or five hours frantically combing the internet and consulting with my fellow readers (especially Larisa, shout out!) in my efforts to finally understand what's going on here. Harrow The Ninth had a similar feel, but at least that book explained the many identities of Gideon, and felt like a more solid experience on its own. Which isn't to pan NtN at all, just that it doesn't feel as complete unto itself as the other books did (which is saying A Lot because HtN was very much a Connector Novel.)

Fans of The Locked Tomb series must absolutely read and devour this. Do not attempt if you haven't already read the first two! Shoot, I read them and I was still confused: thank goodness for the Internet and friends with better information retention than me.

Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir was published September 13 2022 and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781250854117">Bookshop!</a>