Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
In victory, her world has turned to ash. After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem.
In victory, her world has turned to ash. After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem.
Read: 2020-09-12
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 512
isbn: 9781250313201
I genuinely wanted to scream having finished this book. I don't think I can explain why without massive spoilers, so just let me say that this is a massive disappointment after "Gideon the Ninth", but it still, maddeningly, manages to show why Tamsyn Muir can be a great author.
Ok, that out of the way, onto the spoilers.
I posted on twitter that having come to the 75% point of this book, I wanted to punch the air and scream FUCK YEAH, and that remains true. This is not the wholehearted endorsement that might appear at first glance, however, because to get to that FUCK YEAH I had to wade, struggle, fight and plough through the first 75% of the book.
Let me be clear: The first 3/4s of this book are shite. Turgid, confusing crap. The blurb talks about a mystery, and I'm sure Muir thought that she was writing one - the problem is that it isn't and she just can't. The "mystery" is that noone at Tor Books shouted stop.
There is nothing, nothing at all, presented in that first part of the book which pays off in any way in the last. Its like two entirely different books. There are no clues scattered in the text, there is no great message, its all just a confusing mess that doesn't have any bearing on the rest of the book or the greater narrative. And that continues for page after page, passage after passage, chapter after chapter, of nonsense.
The last 25% of the book? That's awesome. Everything that was great about Gideon the Ninth is there, again, awesome fun giddy excitement. Some of the loose ends from Gideon are explored and closed, some other stuff is left open for the (apparent) third book.
I mean, gods, I know middle books are hard, I know second album syndrome exists, and after her barnstorming debut Muir had a lot of expectations to meet.
That she chose to meet them with this, where about half the book is wretched padding, is just disappointing on so many different levels. I can't help but feel that is the best way to regard this - a longish novella beefed up to a novel with plex and ash.
I'll read the last, that was almost a given because I loved the first so much, but I won't be rushing into it like I did with this. I'm gutted.
Ok, that out of the way, onto the spoilers.
I posted on twitter that having come to the 75% point of this book, I wanted to punch the air and scream FUCK YEAH, and that remains true. This is not the wholehearted endorsement that might appear at first glance, however, because to get to that FUCK YEAH I had to wade, struggle, fight and plough through the first 75% of the book.
Let me be clear: The first 3/4s of this book are shite. Turgid, confusing crap. The blurb talks about a mystery, and I'm sure Muir thought that she was writing one - the problem is that it isn't and she just can't. The "mystery" is that noone at Tor Books shouted stop.
There is nothing, nothing at all, presented in that first part of the book which pays off in any way in the last. Its like two entirely different books. There are no clues scattered in the text, there is no great message, its all just a confusing mess that doesn't have any bearing on the rest of the book or the greater narrative. And that continues for page after page, passage after passage, chapter after chapter, of nonsense.
The last 25% of the book? That's awesome. Everything that was great about Gideon the Ninth is there, again, awesome fun giddy excitement. Some of the loose ends from Gideon are explored and closed, some other stuff is left open for the (apparent) third book.
I mean, gods, I know middle books are hard, I know second album syndrome exists, and after her barnstorming debut Muir had a lot of expectations to meet.
That she chose to meet them with this, where about half the book is wretched padding, is just disappointing on so many different levels. I can't help but feel that is the best way to regard this - a longish novella beefed up to a novel with plex and ash.
I'll read the last, that was almost a given because I loved the first so much, but I won't be rushing into it like I did with this. I'm gutted.
20%
2020-09-06 14:32
25%
2020-09-07 19:40
55%
2020-09-10 20:15
90%
2020-09-12 18:02