Ever since first reading Gideon the Ninth back in 2019 I’ve been hooked on Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb stories, so I was thrilled to be able to review the third novel in the series – Nona the Ninth – for the fine folks over at Grimdark Magazine. That review is now live, and you can find it here; do check it out! Rather than post the same review here on Track of Words, I’ll use this space to add a few more thoughts about Nona in general, and my experience of reading it (including the preparations I made in advance). So, if you just want to get straight to the review then by all means head over to the GdM site and check that out! If not, read on…and I’ll link out to the review again at the end.
The Locked Tomb really isn’t a series where you can pick up any book and be confident that it’ll make sense; instead, it’s a series which builds book by book and deliberately plays with the reader’s expectations and understanding of what’s gone before. I learned that lesson reading Harrow the Ninth, which was one of the strangest reading experiences I’ve ever had, so I approached reading Nona by assuming something similar might happen. With that in mind I decided to revisit Gideon and Harrow before starting on Nona, to make sure I was as clear on what had previously happened as possible, and I would absolutely recommend you do the same! I decided to revisit them as audiobooks, which was a great decision as the audio editions are fantastic.
Having done that, I dove straight into Nona…and then, once I finished it, I went straight back to the beginning and read it again! Just to be clear, I loved it the first time around, but it’s one of those books which really rewards a second reading where all the ingenious little details show up differently in context of knowing how the story ends. Now, I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but let’s just say that Nona is, once again, a total curveball. That’s pretty much a Muir trademark now, right? It has a very different voice to its predecessors, largely because Nona herself is nothing like either Gideon or Harrow, and it also does quite a lot of things differently in its exploration of this setting and just the style of story it develops into. It’s weird, and does a lot of unexpected things, but it’s also just a really clever, interesting story with another fantastic character at its heart.
As I say in my review, I don’t think Nona is necessarily going to change anyone’s mind on the series. A bit like how Harrow did, it very much expects – and rewards – patience from the reader, and plays with the question of whether or not you as a reader know more of what’s going on than Nona as the protagonist. It doesn’t have quite the same sense of utter confusion that Harrow does (let’s face it, Harrow is an utterly bonkers book), but nevertheless ambiguity is definitely the watchword. If you loved Gideon and Harrow though – which you probably did, if you’re still reading this – and if you’re desperate to not just find out what happens next but to dive deeper than ever before into the world of The Locked Tomb, then I can wholeheartedly recommend Nona the Ninth! Just…prepare yourself to be even more desperate to find out what happens in the next and final book – Alecto the Ninth – than ever before.
Still want to know more? Here’s the link to my review over on the Grimdark Magazine site.
See also: my reviews of Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and the short stories The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex and As Yet Unsent.
I’d like to say a huge thanks to Tamsyn Muir and Tordotcom Publishing for sending me an advance copy of Nona the Ninth, in exchange for my honest opinions on it!
Nona the Ninth is published by Tordotcom in September 2022, and you can pre-order your copy using the links below*:
*If you buy anything using one of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.
If you enjoyed this review and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.
