Tag Archives: LGBT

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – via Grimdark Magazine

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.

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QUICK REVIEW: As Yet Unsent – Tamsyn Muir

A small but intriguing part of the Locked Tomb Series, Tamsyn Muir’s short story As Yet Unsent is available to read for free on the Tor.com website. [SPOILER WARNING: read Harrow the Ninth before reading this review or the short story in question] Fitting in roughly between Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth, it’s written from the perspective of Second House necromancer Judith Deuteros and takes the form of excerpts from a report she wrote while in captivity at the hands of Blood of Eden. As she slowly, begrudgingly recovers from the injuries she sustained at Canaan House, Captain Deuteros documents her observations of her captors, what they seem to want from her and what this means for her continued existence, as well as the changing behaviour and attitude of the other Canaan House survivors – Camilla Hect and Coronabeth Tridentarius.

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A Marvellous Light – Freya Marske

Freya Marske’s debut novel, and the first volume in her Last Binding trilogy, A Marvellous Light is a queer historical fantasy that’s warm, magical and an absolute delight from start to finish. Set in Edwardian London, it’s the tale of two very different men thrown together by circumstance and forced to put aside their differences. On his first day in an obscure civil service role, Robin Blyth gets quite the surprise when he learns about the existence of magic and meets Edwin Courcey, his counterpart in the country’s magical administration. Edwin has little patience for bringing Robin up to speed, but when the matter of Robin’s predecessor having inexplicably disappeared develops from an inconvenience into a dangerous problem, the two of them begin to develop a fragile friendship as they investigate a mystery that could affect every magician in the country.

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Harrow the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

Carrying on where the fabulous Gideon the Ninth left off, Tamsyn Muir’s second novel Harrow the Ninth continues to explore the setting and mythos of the Locked Tomb series while taking the narrative in an unexpected direction. Having attained Lyctorhood, Harrow finds life as one of the Emperor’s Saints to be not what she expected. There’s something strange going on with both her memories and her powers, someone appears to be trying to kill her, and of all people the entirely untrustworthy Ianthe is proving (much to Harrow’s disgust) to be the closest thing she has to an ally amongst the deeply dysfunctional family of the Emperor and his Lyctors. To make matters worse, an impending apocalypse is looming over them all in the shape of a deadly Resurrection Beast.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex – Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir’s short story The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, part of the Locked Tomb series, is a prequel of sorts to the fantastic Gideon the Ninth, featuring the thirteen year-old incarnations of the Sixth’s House’s Camilla Hect and Palamides Sextus. When the study of a long-dead Library tutor (the brilliantly-named Doctor Donald Sex) is finally reopened, 460 years after his death, Camilla and Palamides are among the lucky few to examine the dusty, intriguing old office. What they find within reveals an unexpected locked-room mystery, and while their elders proceed to trawl through academic bureaucracy the two youngsters set about unravelling the puzzle themselves.

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Docile – KM Szpara

In Docile, K.M. Szpara imagines a not-too-distant America in which income inequality is so rampant that while trillionaires live lifestyles of luxury, many less fortunate souls are forced to pay off crushing debt by selling themselves to rich patrons as Dociles, to do with as they please. While most Dociles take the drug Dociline to dull their minds for the duration of their service, when Elisha Wilder signs his life away to one of the most powerful men in Baltimore he chooses to decline the drug. While Elisha is determined to retain his sense of self, his patron Alex – the CEO of the very company which manufactures Dociline – sets out to make Elisha into the perfect Docile even so.

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QUICK REVIEW: Thin Red Jellies – Lina Rather

A slow-burning tale of subtle body horror by way of near-future technology and near-death experience, Lina Rather’s short story Thin Red Jellies examines the stress placed upon two people who find themselves cohabiting in a single body. When Jess ‘dies’ in a car accident, Amy agrees to have her girlfriend’s mind implanted in her own brain, sharing her body until they can arrange for a replacement for Jess. The realities of healthcare insurance and corporate greed, however, mean that Jess’ stay in Amy’s body is extended while they scrimp and save, testing their still-new relationship in new and unexpected ways.

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Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – via Grimdark Magazine

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!

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Sisters of the Vast Black – Lina Rather

Lina Rather’s debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black is a beautiful little story of faith, love and hope in the midst of endless, cold space, featuring secret-keeping nuns, living spaceships and a sinister government trying to reclaim power. The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita travel the edge of space in their sentient ship Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, offering medical aid and religious comfort to scattered colonists far from the main systems. After answering the call of a brand new colony, the sisters find their peaceful lives threatened by the shadow of a war long thought over.

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