It’s with great pleasure that I can tell you I’ve had my first review published by the excellent Grimdark Magazine, for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. If you haven’t come across Grimdark Magazine before, and in case the name hasn’t given the game away, it’s a website and (quarterly) digital magazine specialising in science fiction and fantasy of the darkest dark. You should check it out, it’s awesome! Go on – here’s the link. I’ve reviewed a story from the magazine before, but I’m delighted to be now writing reviews for the site, although don’t worry – it’s in addition to Track of Words, not instead!
If you want to go straight to the review you can do so here – that’ll take you to the GdM site where you can read my thoughts on this particular book and check out all the other cool stuff on there as well. I don’t want this post to just be a glorified link, however, so I thought I’d talk a little more about why I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth so much; after all, I did include it in my Monthly Highlights for October, and I’ve been singing its praises to everyone who’ll listen to me! As always, your mileage may vary but I loved it.
Someone asked me on Twitter the other day what the book was about, and the elevator pitch I used was this: “Lesbian necromancers in space. Bone magic, duelling cavaliers, creepy old houses, the quest for immortality and a murder mystery.” Sounds cool, right? First things first, however, take a look at the ABSOLUTELY BADASS cover art from Tommy Arnold. Seriously – click the picture below to see the high-res version, and soak it in. I’ll wait…
Sure, I know we’re not supposed to judge books by covers and all that…but actually this one gives you a lot of useful information that reflects the tone and feel of the book and Gideon, its protagonist. For a start, how cool does she look there? The none-more-black tattered robes vibe, the sweet sword and knife…glove…thing combo, her fiery hair contrasting with the creepy corpse paint, the funky aviators…hang on, wait a sec. Aviators? Sunglasses? But this is a fantasy novel, isn’t it? Just look at the sword and all the crumbling skeletons in the background.
Well…how about the stars in the far background, representing the cold, dark expanse of space? This is, in fact, a sort of science fantasy story which happily pinches from both sci-fi and fantasy to become something all of its own. And oh yeah, also check out the streamers of blood swirling off from Gideon’s arms and legs – that’s pretty grim. So we’ve got style and swagger; an intriguing blend of genres; necromancy and bone magic and swords and sunglasses…and all of a sudden you’re starting to see what this book is like – a bit bonkers, but bloomin’ awesome! Gideon isn’t reflective of all the characters – there are eight Houses, each with its own identity and representatives, but I don’t want to spoil the fun of discovering those for yourself.
Gideon looking awesome is all well and good, but thankfully there’s plenty of substance to go with all that style. I found it took a little while to properly get my head around what was going on at first, as there’s no spoon-feeding of information regarding characters or world building, and besides Gideon and her frenemy Harrow there are a LOT of characters. The story needs those characters, however, and the world building is better for not being spoon-fed to the reader. By the time I felt like I had a really good grasp of the characters and the dynamics between the different Houses, the narrative had me hooked and I didn’t want to put the book down for even a moment!
The weirdly compelling blend of magic and ancient technology, the strained relationships between the two main characters and indeed the different Houses, the creepy locations and sense of ancient history behind the world being portrayed…it’s all fascinating stuff, and I can’t wait to find out more in future stories. Marry that to a character with a WONDERFUL voice and plot which goes places I didn’t expect, developing into a tense whodunnit-style story set in a sinister house haunted by some kind of lethal necromantic monster-spirit…and you’ve got the recipe for a fantastic book. If you haven’t already checked out my review, I’ll leave you now to click this link and have a read of my more formalised, objective thoughts on the novel.
I’d love to hear what you think if you’ve already read Gideon the Ninth, or if you read this article and/or my review and are tempted to pick it up. Drop me a line in the comments below, or find me on Twitter to let me know!