Gideon the Ninth

The Emperor needs Necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

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.

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 wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

*****

This isn’t going to have a happy ending, is it?

I’ve had my copy of ‘Gideon the Ninth’ for years, but I always put off reading it. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps I just wasn’t ready for lesbian necromancers exploring a haunted gothic castle in space. Or perhaps I knew that this book (and probably series) would completely break me. Now that I’ve finally read it, I think it might have been the latter.

When we first meet Gideon Nav and Harrowhark Nonagesimus, they hate each other. Gideon is trying to escape from the Ninth House, and Harrow is intent on stopping her. It’s unclear at first why they hate each other, but as readers, we get to see their relationship progress in a beautiful, artful way. For me, this book is the epitome of “enemies to lovers”. The two women go from being willing to kill each other to get what they want, to Harrow telling Gideon: “I am undone without you.” I have to confess that that one line broke me a little. But what broke me even more was the pool scene (I’ll speak about this later).
Gideon is trying to escape, to reach the Cohort and fight on the front lines. Even after reading the book, I’m still not sure what the Cohort is fighting, but that doesn’t matter in relation to the plot and I’m sure that at some point, the rest of the books will delve into this. Gideon is waiting for a shuttle that will take her far away from the Ninth House when she’s accosted by Harrow, who refuses to let her leave. Instead, she dangles Gideon’s freedom in front of her, telling the other woman that if she truly wants to leave, Harrow will let her, as long as Gideon does something for her first.
The Emperor has invited the heirs of the Nine Houses to undertake a series of tasks. The ‘winner’ will be granted immortality and power as one of his Lyctors, but the heirs cannot compete without their cavaliers. For Harrow, this is a problem; her cavalier, Ortus, has fled from the Ninth House, and she has no choice but to turn to Gideon, a skilled swordswoman. She tells Gideon that, if she accompanies Harrow, Gideon can have her freedom. She can go wherever she wants. Do whatever she wants. But Gideon doesn’t trust her. After a lot of thought, however, she sees no choice but to do what Harrow asks.

The two journey across space to the First House, home of the King Undying and the Necrolord Prime. There, they meet the heirs and cavaliers of the other Eight Houses, including Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect from the Sixth House, and Coronabeth and Ianthe Tridentarius from the Third House. They’re welcomed by a strange little man known only as Teacher, and the cavaliers are all gifted a key ring, the purpose of which is at first unknown.
For a lot of the first half of the book, Harrowhark is not there. She leaves Gideon to her own devices, and Gideon loves this. The only catch: Gideon cannot talk to anyone. Harrow has ordered her to fake a vow of silence. This, however, does not stop her from making friends… and enemies. The heir of the Seventh House, Dulcinea Septimus, takes a shine to Gideon, while the cavalier of the Third House, Naberius Tern, hates her. At first, I was enjoying the relationships that were being formed between the Houses, but I wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen.

Gideon finds Harrowhark’s body in a facility under the tower of the First House. Of course, Harrowhark isn’t dead; she’s a necromancer, after all. But Gideon slowly learns from her that the trials of the Emperor are more dangerous than any of them originally thought, and things get even more dangerous when Magnus Quinn and his necromancer, Abigail Pent, are found dead within the facility. Here, the book takes on a darker tone, which I really enjoyed. Honestly, after I’d reached this point in the book, I found it very easy to read. The prose that Muir uses is enthralling and simply fantastic, and I found it easy to visualise the characters surrounding the bodies of the Fifth House.

After more murders, secrets, lies and horrible puns from Gideon, Harrow thinks that the time has come to tell Gideon the truth of the Ninth House. I won’t be giving away many spoilers, but I will share one quote that still sits with me, even after finishing the book.

“I am a war crime.”

These are the words Harrowhark says to Gideon in the pool, a scene filled with so much homoeroticism that I found myself genuinely upset that they didn’t kiss here. Without even realising it, the two have apparently fallen in love (that’s my interpretation, at least). They have begun to understand each other more than they ever have, and in the end, this talk in the pool helps them to cast aside their childhood hatred of each other. I found myself rooting for the two of them. I found myself loving the way they spoke to each other, refusing to put up with each other’s nonsense. The relationship between them grows in such a natural way, their hatred not completely disappearing, even at the end of the book.

This is where the plot gets both better and more confusing. Honestly, I still don’t understand some parts of what I read, I just know that I loved it. The ending broke me (but I’m not going to spoil it here).
If I had one issue with this book, it would be the beginning. The first 100 pages or so were really difficult for me to get into. It felt like nothing was happening, and while I understand that this was necessary, I did take a break from reading for a couple of months until I felt ready to try again. Even then, it took me a while to get into it, but I’m very happy that I did get into it. Overall, I give this book a 4.5 star rating (I’ve apparently lost my USB stick so there’s no visual 4.5 star at the bottom by the book cover today).

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. I cannot wait to read Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth and Alecto the Ninth (even if I have no idea who Alecto is yet). I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this book from your local bookshop or your local library.