Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this one holds a lot of promise. The wordbuilding, alone, is enough to leave me giddy. It's not super deep, mind you, other than the interesting features of the Houses and the fact that this seems like some sort of epic fantasy by way of hard SF so far in the future that there's no real difference, but it's these very elements that capture my imagination the most.

Gideon, herself, is often kinda annoying. Her Necromancer tormenter/friend is even more annoying.

Mind you, their kind of annoying is very much in line with a lot of modern YA but I may be getting tired of the over-the-top torture sessions. And when I mean torture, I mean sheer brutality and nastiness in spirit. These two only start really getting along after they realize the REST of the houses are worse in the bats**t insanity.

Is it a feature of being necromancers? Maybe? Maybe not? Either way, it's tolerable and sometimes even edifying when they sort that crap out.

The one thing I have absolutely no complaint about is the bones. No bones to pick with the bones. Or the battles. The puzzles. The reveals. I loved all of them. I'm a big fan of all the necromancy in general and the fact that they have it all with spaceships too is a real treat.

I'm definitely continuing with this. A little good interpersonal resolution has gone a long way for me. :)


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