I never had any trouble with reading books. Until now. Gideon the ninth is hard. I get like 75% of each sentence i think. I'm gonna continue reading it but this is gonna be the first book where I'm not gonna bother to fully understand it. I will only get a passable understanding of this.

I don't even understand why Ortis' mother left on the ship Gideon was planning to go and why they didn't wait for Gideon to get in. I also don't understand anything in that King's letter that Harrow read on that prayer hall.

(Edit to add: just finished the last 10% and my opinions remain unchanged. Still super confused.)

Keeping this respectful and talking about my own opinions because I have no fantasy-reading people in real life familiar with it to talk this through with. Not trying to start a flame war.

I’m about 90% of the way through Harrow and I feel like the internet collectively lied to me. I am NOT enjoying this book. Obviously an unpopular opinion because on Goodreads, book two is rated even higher than book one. But how?

Even people who gave it five stars say that the first 70% makes no sense and is only worth 1-star, but that the payoff in the last quarter makes up for it.

I’m so confused. What am I missing here? The book is purposely confusing. I could have understood a few chapters or a quarter of a shorter book, but like 400pages of it? It’s non-sensical. I have no idea what is happening and by the time “payoff” last quarter, I kind of no longer cared. People in reviews describe the author taking this approach as being “brave”. But is it? If even people who love it say that the first 70% is only worth one star, is that bravery…?

I felt that even the fact that half the book is written in second person was a warning sign, but the internet kept telling me to persevere.

And what’s worse, I think the author knows it. One recurring idea is that one of the imaginary characters has written a “12 book celebration of verbosity” and Harrow hates how it drags on and never ends. Is that a subtle nod to the actual book itself?

I’ll finish the last 10% of this book, but mainly out a desire to be done with it. People who have read book three, Is the series worth continuing?

The only redeeming aspect for me is the audiobook narrator Moira Quirk who bloody NAILS it.

(Edited for clarity)

I'm aware that is a well-received book, here and in general, but I am about 50 pages in and I'm stumbling despite it having a premise that should draw me in.

My major problems right now are (a) the humor, which is a bit infantile and feels (dare I say) out of a cringey anime at times and (b) the language, which feels intentionally pretentious, e.g. this line "Gideon wasn't fooled: this look usually betokened Harrow's brain percolating outrageous nastiness."

I think I could live with either (a) or (b) but not with both, at least not for too much longer. My biggest issue really is (b) as it makes it hard to actually follow what Muir is trying to say and it seems like she does this thing a lot.

My question: Does it change? Does it develop a rhythm that makes it a little less grating? Not trying to put anyone's tastes down, just looking for some inputs.

Edit: So many responses, thank you all! This seems like a super divisive book as well which, to be honest, has piqued my curiosity. I'm going to give it another 50-100 pages to see if the plot/world building comes in more but appreciate all the POVs

Edit edit: I finished it! It was good despite itself. Interesting world, interesting plot, bad writing. Too many characters, some serious technical writing issues that introduce ambiguity when not necessary. I hate to say it, but if this didn't have a lesbian necromancer tagline to get it through agents, I'm not sure it would've been published today.

I listened to it on audible, and the ending goes hard. I saw it coming from a ways out, but I was worried that the author wouldn't have the will to give us the appropriately hard ending that I felt like the tone/plot of the book demanded. Very solid read for me. There were some huge personal wins, I'm a huge sucker for the 40K esque idea of a semi regressed human civilization in thrall to an ubermensch, hopefully that doesn't say anything about me. The character of Gideon was honestly pretty incredible, and is an excellent case study of how to write characters that aren't smart, something a lot of authors are bad at in my experience. Gideon was often rather frustrating for me as a reader, something that often helped me empathize with Harrow, which helps the conclusion of the book land correctly.

There are a few things that feel like first author weirdness, most notably that I felt very ungrounded in where the characters were in the setting. I felt a bit floaty spacial-ly, it's hard to describe exactly. The second is that the plot was a little difficult to follow for a while, particularly in audible where Gideon's nicknames can only be verbally capitalized.

Once again, I have to say I am very impressed with the overall arch of the story, and I am very curious about how the author will move the story forward from here, mildly concerned even. The reason a lot of authors won't go through with a radical ending like the conclusion of Gideon the Ninth is to avoid dealing with the fallout, and whether the author can handle it or not will make or break it.

Anyway, I'd love to discuss this book further, hit me up with your thoughts, critiques, counter-critiques, whatever.

I'm going to continue reading the series so I think I liked it.

Pros:

• I liked Gideon as a character. It took me a while to understand what Muir was trying to do and I think she accomplishes the "puerile meathead with a heart of gold" main character pretty well.

• Harrow is also adequately written. Her childhood relationship with Gideon could have used more background but I was able to manage with whatever Muir gave me.

• The humor worked for me. Most of the puns landed and Gideon's colloquial tone clashes nicely with the more formal dialogue of her peers. How she adopted such a colloquial tone while being imprisoned in the catacombs of a tomb planet is beyond me. I was able to look past this though.

• I didn't follow all the details of the keys and the challenges but I got the sense that this is what Muir was going for. Overall, I could keep track of Gideon's sense of enemy/ally/neutral at any point in the "fog of war" and I'm content with that.

• I was surprised at how strongly the ending resonated with me. I wasn't expecting it since I thought there wasn't enough time invested in the Gideon-Harrow relationship but it turned out to be enough.

• Moira Quirk is incredible in the audiobook. Each voice feels distinct and her renditions of Harrow and Dulcinea in particular are stellar. The way she pronounces "Griddle" is imho perfect.

Cons:

• The vocabulary is overly dense and archaic. Muir also has a peculiar obfuscating way of describing settings and action scenes. This was the biggest con for me.

• Each character is referred to by five different names, sometimes in the same scene and it's pretty disorienting. I had to keep the dramatis personae open in a separate tab to keep track of everyone.

• The types of necromancy are introduced and discussed at length in conversations without much context. This is a stylistic choice I don't particularly like (similar to Ninefox Gambit which I DNF'd)

• The world-building is minimal and takes a backseat to the plot. Since it's the first book of the series, this is probably forgivable.

Overall, I can see why this book is so polarizing. On paper, the cons list above would have kept me from even picking up this book but somehow the pros make up for it handsomely.

Muir is a fascinating author and I'm looking forward to Harrow the Ninth.

What the fuck?? Like HUHH? Do I read the rest? What? Girl.

Kia ora tātou and thanks for having me, Reddit! My short-form horror, fantasy and sci-fi work has appeared in venues like Clarkesworld, F＆SF, Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine and a number of Year's Best anthologies. I've been nominated for the Nebula, the World Fantasy Award and the Eugie Award, and I've been nominated for the Shirley Jackson award twice. I've just debuted with the first book in my science-fantasy trilogy, GIDEON THE NINTH, courtesy , who also provided my rad sunglasses. Everyone agrees that Charles Stross put it best when he described it as Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! although I also really liked it when he just said Skeletons!.

I'm a teacher and a Kiwi, though I currently live and work in Oxford in the United Kingdom. When I'm not writing I'm watching old King Hu films or playing video games. I've currently clocked 688 hours into Rimworld but please don't tell any of my editors. I like to take long walks to see two chickens who live near my house. I tweet and also Tumblr (tumbl?) at .

Ask me anything!

Proof:

EDIT #1: I will be answering questions from 6PM BST, because at that point I will have been given a slice of pizza, which will fortify me with wisdoms

EDIT #2: And I'm here, though fortified with wisdoms is another thing

EDIT #3: I ate a whole pizza. I'll be here until 9PM BST. Thank you so much for all the incredible questions and I will try to get to as many of them as humanly pssible.

EDIT #4: I am five minutes over time and some of my pizza got cold because I was typing too much, which you will all understand is an international tragedy. I'm really sorry because the questions I didn't get to are all good, and I'm hoping I can answer them in due time -- but I think I'll have to close here, and thank everyone for being EXTREMELY nice to me. Cheers, guys!

⚔️ by Tamsyn Muir 💀

I want to be fair to this book — the first half of it or so was very intriguing. I enjoyed the world building and the introduction of necromancy and Gideon is a great protagonist to follow. She’s snarky and spunky but isn’t entirely closed off to learning more about the world her. Her changing perspective throughout the story was one of the highlights for me!

Where it started to fall flat for me was in the second act, and most of the third. There was firstly this very awkward meandering period where it felt like the plot and character development stalled for a hot minute. Then, I quickly realized that there were so many different plot points starting with very little being told to the audience — something that I’m normally down for, but with an entirely new world and magic system to learn about, a dozen or so new characters each with their own unique system to follow, conspiracies and secrets that aren’t revealed until way too late imo, and plots starting and stopping and jerking left and right at every turn, I actually found this book very hard to follow. Unfortunately a lot of the growing relationship moments or emotional moments shared between Harrow and Gideon felt rushed to me too, to the point where I felt like their claims of undying admiration for one another felt unjustified. Like, we start out with them hating each other, and then there’s these few moments of genuine connection which I liked, only for Harrow to shut Gideon out again essentially until the end. Kinda stops the progression in its tracks, yk?

While the ending was intriguing and I liked the final battle. and I think I could continue the series if I found Harrow the Ninth for cheap or free on Spotify audio or something, I’m not super compelled to read on. It’s sad — I really wanted to enjoy this book but I couldn’t find it in me. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ I think they either needed to make this book double the length (or at least 100-200 pages longer) to really flesh out these ideas, or keep it the same length and strip these ideas down to one or two main focusses.

A lot of people enjoyed the heck out of this book 😭 I’m wondering if I missed something… let me know your thoughts!

(PS: if you liked this book, you’d probably LOVE Brandon Sanderson, such as his Mistborn trilogy. It has the same scale of world building and magic system with way more detail and time given to flesh out the world and characters. They’re about double the length if not more, but still!) EDIT: since this seems to be getting a lot of attention, I’ll say when I wrote this I meant it’s more for people that felt like the worldbuilding and characterization in Gideon was lacking, as I did. Sanderson offers a great amount of worldbuilding that’s about the same trajectory as Locked Tomb (at least what I could get from this book) with way more depth.

how do y'all cope ? 😭 everyone talks about Gideon so much I didn't think she'd just die in the first book in the series. Well, I finished the book last night and had to wallow in my sorrow before deciding to read Harrow the Ninth. not sure how harrow herself is getting through this, guess I'll find out 😔 I fear it just won't be as fun without Gideon around

I really don't feel inclined to continue.

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING!!!

Gideon "dying" felt like wasted potential, I don't like harrow's character and how inconsistent she is. I honestly don't care about her after that whole thing. I came for Gideon, stayed for Gideon, and am left with nothing.

Someone please give me a reason to continue, even if it's spoilers I don't care.

TL;DR: "It's like, how much more goth could this be? And the answer is none. None more goth." Oh. Highly recommended.

HAIL! Hail the Emperor Undying, the God of the Resurrection, the Kindly Prince, King Everlasting, Lord of the Sharpest Edge, the First Reborn and the Necrolord Prime! Hail to his Lyctors, his fingers and fists, his immortal sainted chosen! Hail to his Nine Houses, which hang about the star Dominicus, and his Cohorts and Legions as they spread across the galaxy!

In the ten-thousandath year of the reign of the Emperor Undying, Gideon Nav was packing her sword, her shades, and her dirty magazines to make good her eighty-seventh escape attempt from the Ninth House.

So, here's the god's honest truth; I read Gideon the Ninth significantly on a "Well, everyone else is talking about it, it must be good", and was... vexed and confused for like, the first half of the novel. The second half was good, but I was still left with a lot of confusion and vexation with the conclusion. I was carried along in significant part by Gideon being an excellent snarker. She's a Brujah in a world of Ventrue and Tremere. (In terms of attitude. In terms of magical bullshit, everyone is some flavor of Giovanni)

I'm normally a pretty fast reader, but it took a solid month to march through. Even after it began to pick up, I really only started to fly towards the very end.

After finishing, I put Gideon down, and was like "Well, that was interesting", and moved on.

Important thing to note: Devotees from the Ninth House dress all in black, and use makeup to paint freaking Dios De Los Muertas skulls on their faces. You hang out with them for long enough to just start thinking that "Oh, this must be what the future is like", but no! Fucking NO ONE ELSE does this, and most folks look at Gideon and Harrow's getup with some serious 'Are you for real' energy.

None. None more goth. (They also specialize in animating skeletons to do all their labor, but it's the face paint that really puts them over the top)

Some months later, you picked up Harrow the Ninth. Harrow, in the first book, is Gideon's closest friend and absolute worst enemy in the world (excepting possibly herself). A frail, genius necromancer, she becomes the viewpoint character of the story- which you think should help things make more sense, but no! A great deal of the confusion in the first book comes from being thrown headfirst into a world of Magical Bullshit in the head of someone neither knows nor cares about any of it, and so you think that being in the head of someone hip deep in the Magical Bullshit would help. But no! Instead, you discover entirely new DEPTHS of magical bullshit, the likes of which could hardly have been imagined before! Also, and this is important, Harrow the Ninth is written almost entirely in second person. So, at first, you probably assume this is just some kind of weird narrative conceit, or something Muir did after losing a bet, or while drunk, or having lost a bet while drunk. Until the moment you realize that no, it's all an ELABORATE PLOY! And that only distracts you from the OTHER ELABORATE PLOY!

Harrow the Ninth took maybe two weeks to read; most of that was just kind of finding the grove, cause once it takes off, you can't put it down. And it finds that grove faster and with greater confidence.

I had fortunately picked up Nona the Ninth earlier, so I didn't have to wait between finishing Harrow and starting Nona.

The literal only complaint I have about Nona the Ninth is that I was extremely confused as to how we got from the end of Harrow to the beginning of Nona, and that doesn't become... like, super clear through the rest of the book.

On the other hand, it's also the first time we kind of see the Nine Houses from the common man's view. And a great deal of things that had been only suggested before starting being stated outright, or at least waggling their eyebrows and pointing empathically.

Additionally, Nona is maybe the hardest character to write; a perfectly innocent cinnamon roll who charms both everyone around her and the reader. Because of her, I flew through the book in like, two, three days.

It's hard to say more about Nona the Ninth without getting into spoiler territory for the rest of the series tho, so I won't.

Wait, I will say one other thing. Muir makes a "Then Perish" meme reference.

There is a mistake, I think, that many authors can stumble into. A mistake of world building for the sake of world building. They look at Tolkien embroidering every stream and leaf and think "Yeah. I can do that." First, no you can't. Second, you probably shouldn't even if you think you can. Because a great deal of that embroidery is fat that a better editor would flence from the bones before boiling them, animating them, and leaving the bleached skeleton to work in the fields. But sometimes, you only think it's fat. Sometimes, it's marrow; which kind of looks like fat to the untrained eye, but which is rich, and dense, and produces the blood that pumps in ten thousand miles of veins and capillaries and which, under the appropriate circumstance, will sometimes explode.

Gideon the Ninth, at first, seems like a fatty book.

Until it explodes.

Alecto the Ninth can't come out soon enough. Until then, I'm planning at least one full re-read, to see if Gideon is better when it makes any kind of sense from the get-go.

(If there isn't a reference to threatening a mushroom for the secret name of god, because decay exists as an extant form of life, I will be very sad)

i literally dont know how to function, how to move on, how to be a human after this. i finished it like five hours ago and yet, it feels like nothing, like mere seconds because this book has left me stunned. it was beautiful and meaningful and god damn harrowhark and gideon literally mean the world to me. im insane this book is so good im fucking losing my shit.

Saw this in my subscriptions and thought i had to share

For a few years now novels have been a slog for me. I felt I'd read most stuff already or was bored by how little things deviated from expectations. Some felt oddly lifeless or just bland or badly executed. I felt like I was reading them out of an obligation to the purchase I'd made or because they were a gift. I think over the past two or three years I've read maybe 10 or 15 books, most of which were non-fiction. Or re-reads or Graphic Novels. As a kid and a young adult I devoured books by the dozen. I think I left close to 500 books at my parents place when I moved to uni.
I started with Gideon on Friday evening and just devoured it over the course of three free evenings on the couch, will pick up the next two later today. And I am just excited to read and see where this goes and enjoy the story. I am looking forward to cuddling up on the couch and reading and I am sad when I have to stop because I need sleep but I am also excited to get to read more the next day. It hasn't happened to me for years now. Which is, honestly, just a beautiful feeling to have again. Just wanted to share.

and by Tamsyn Muir for our Features a Necromancer theme!

If anyone is interested in being the discussion leader I am taking volunteers.

by Tamsyn Muir

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

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. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

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.

Bingo Squares

• Book Club

• Number in the Title

• Features a Necromancer

• Exploration

• Made You Laugh

• Possible BDO

I will link to each of these discussions on Reddit on the and in the monthly book club hub thread (see the Megathread for a link) so if you read the book later in the month, or you miss the day we post the topics, you can find them easily (and each post will also link to the others for the month).

If you are not a member of our , you can join. Added advantage of joining? You can connect with more members and check out what they are reading! (Stop by the Introduce yourself post to see who is who.)

So, who's planning on joining in?

Have any questions about it? Ask here!

Have you read it already and want to convince others to read it? Leave a comment to help sway those undecideds! Also, leave a comment to help me with Bingo squares, please.

Happy Reading!

Midway Discussion - October 13th - As of right now I am planning this to cover through the end of Act II, Chapter 20. This is 50 % which makes me happy, but if that is a terrible place please let me know. Also, I will update if there is a volunteer leader.

Final Discussion - October 27th

Nominations for November will be the week of October 19th.

EDIT: PSA - For those of you using the audiobook it has been suggested that the names list from the Kindle sample might be useful.

Edit: Dates for midway and final changed

I just finished reading Gideon the Ninth, and overall, it was a great experience. The beginning was a bit slow for me, and I almost dropped it, but once the action picked up, I couldn't put it down.

However, there's one scene that left me a bit confused. In the pool scene, where Harrow finally confesses to Gideon about how her parents died and the mystery of the 200 children, Gideon tells Harrow that she's sorry. While I sort of understood the moment, I didn't quite grasp why Gideon forgave her so readily, given their tumultuous history.

It's like discovering that your lifelong bully has a tragic backstory. Sure, you might feel empathy, but that doesn't automatically resolve everything and make you pledge loyalty to them. The shift in their relationship felt sudden and unearned.

From that point, I also suspected that Gideon wasn't going to survive the book. Still a great book but that part felt very off to me and maybe I'm missing something crucial.

Already! I’m rereading it already!

I can’t bloody believe this, I almost never reread books. The number of books I have reread as an adult is probably less than 20. And yet, I just finished Nona last week and I’ve….immediately gone back to reread it?!?

And I am on the FIRST CHAPTER and things are already continuing to fall into place, it’s wild.

I guess I was just shocked at the impact these books have had on me, and how I keep coming back to riddles and niggling things, and felt that others may have had the same experience!

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: Chapters 1 through 7 Discussion

Greetings necromancers, bone witches and other spooky scary skeletons! Welcome to the first discussion for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. We will be discussing Chapters 1 through 7. I am also providing summaries for the chapters just to give a brief overview of what happened in this first section of chapters. As always, make sure we only discuss what is relevant to the chapters we read this week. If you have read ahead or want to discuss something that is ahead of where we read this week, feel free to post in the marginalia. We want to keep the discussions related to the chapters of this week’s reading and keep spoilers to an absolute minimum. Feel free to answer any or all of the discussion questions. Excited to discuss these first chapters with you all!

Chapter Summaries:

Chapter 1

In the opening chapter, we are introduced to Gideon Nav, an eighteen year old ward of the Ninth House who wishes to escape after numerous previous attempts failed. She wishes to enlist in the Cohort, the military of this novel. She arranges a shuttle to pick her up and we open on her waiting nervously. A bell rings which Gideon knows is a summons for muster. As she continues to wait for her shuttle, two members of the Ninth House attempt to convince her to come back to the Ninth House: Marshall Crux and Captain Aiglamane. We learn that Gideon does not think much of the Lady of the Ninth House, Harrowhawk.

We also learn that the Ninth House is set on a planet extremely distant from the sun. The residents of the Ninth House live within a fissure on the planet, while on the planet’s surface a prison exists as a “bubble installation set halfway up into the atmosphere.” Ninth House also has an issue with new children in the House, with the exception of Gideon and a boy. Gideon was adopted into the House and made a ward.

Chapter 2

We are introduced to Harrowhawk, the Lady of Ninth House. She wants to stop Gideon from going to the military and doesn’t think much of her. She has nicknamed Gideon “Griddle”. After verbally sparring with the Lady of Ninth House, Gideon agrees to a fair fight with Harrowhawk. If Gideon wins, she may leave immediately with a commission to join the Cohort. If Harrowhawk wins, Gideon may leave with the commission after attending the muster. Harrow removes all of her bonewear before the fight, which fuel her necromancy. However, it is revealed that Harrow has buried bones all over the landing zone in preparation for Gideon’s escape Harrow uses her hidden bones to raise the dead and defeat Gideon. She has Gideon taken down to the sanctuary for muster, Gideon passing out on the way down.

Chapter 3

Gideon wakes up in the sanctuary during the prayer. We meet a cast of new characters: Ortus, the House cavalier, his mother, the great aunts, and Harrow’s parents, the Lord and Lady of the Ninth House. We learn from Gideon that Harrow’s parents have been dead for years and are being necromantically puppeted by Harrow. Gideon found out and Crux and Aiglamene know the truth. Harrow announces that she has received a summons from the Emperor of the Nine Houses, requesting that Harrow and Ortus be sent to study how to become Lyctors of the Emperor. Ortus’ mother protests at this announcement and is verbally assaulted by Crux. After the muster, when Gideon seeks to leave to keep their bargain, Harrow reveals that Ortus and his mother have stolen her shuttle that was waiting in order to flee to the Eighth House.

Chapter 4

Gideon is depressed after her escape plan failed. Harrow summons Gideon from her self-imposed isolation to join her in the catacombs. It is not a request. Aiglamene and Harrow reveal that Ortus is not joining Harrow to fulfill the Emperor’s request. They propose that Gideon take his place and train to be a cavalier, a process which usually takes years. Despite Gideon’s reservations, she’s eventually worn down enough to agree.

Chapter 5

The Emperor sends another letters, saying that the Lyctor Trials will occur at the First House, a place no one lives according to Gideon, not even the Emperor. Gideon is struggling to appear as a cavalier enough to fool the other Houses. Harrow has concerns that Gideon will be unable to keep the proper image when they meet other Houses during the Trials.

Chapter 6

Gideon has been training over three months. Training in the rapier by Aiglamene as well as other skills needed for Gideon to appear as a cavalier. Gideon eavesdrops on Harrow and Aiglamene refer to the trials as a competition. We also learn that the Third House is rich in resources and the Second House is very involved with the military. The day arrives for Gideon and Harrow to leave to the First House. Gideon realizes she may never return to the Ninth House after this trip and feels a bit remorseful of being so quick to leave what has been her home her whole life. Harrow also is seen by Gideon genuinely crying about leaving the Ninth House. The chapter ends with the pair entering the shuttle to leave.

Chapter 7

During the journey, there’s some amazing descriptions of space from Gideon’s point of view, amazed by the beauty of the world. Harrow is less excited and more reserved during their journey, ignoring Gideon’ jokes and verbal sparring. Eventually, the shuttle lands and Gideon and Harrow disembark. We are introduced to the representatives of the other Houses, heirs and cavaliers both, from Gideon’s point of view. We also meet Teacher and find out that the Seventh and Third Houses are late for some reason. They do arrive with Third House having two heirs present and the heir of Seventh House, Lady Septimus, having a debilitating illness causing a fainting spell on the dock. Gideon tries to help and is immediately accosted by Seventh House’s cavalier. He doesn’t seem very healthy either but still seems very strong. Septimus does most of the talking with Harrow instructing Gideon to leave them quickly.

How could Harrow or Gideon not say they love either one at the end when Gideon sacrificed herself for harrow to become a lictor?! I always liked harrow the best because she's so cute and powerful and wanted them to be a couple the whole time but knowing them fusing together would have been just as fine if there was more said at the end. I mean just hearing harrow scream to Gideon that there's no meaning in the universe without her made my heart break! I think harrow did love Gideon for a long time and just was to headstrong to ever admit it. And Gideon loved harrow or atleast needed harrow for everything because she trusted harrow more than anyone wether she thought she did or not. Do you guys think they were in love ever in the book? I don't have the others in the series yet nor do I know anything about them.

I just have to laugh at my mix-up. I kept seeing Gideon/Harrow the Ninth mentioned on here and the books sound so good. Such good news too, because I already own Ninth House! My brain for some reason just assumed anything fantasy related with "Ninth" in the title was connected.

They are not.

I was so confused. I didn't look it up though because I thought I maybe just needed to get further into the story. Anyway, I was a third of the way through the book before I realized Ninth House is definitely a different series.

Probably no one (other than past me) needs this PSA, but you can laugh along with me. Have you had any confusing/funny book mix-ups?