/lit/ - Literature

Gideon The Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

BACKGROUND
I first read Muir, whose first published work was in 2011, in 2015 with her novelette The Deepwater Bride, which was published in the The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It was a nice enough romance. When I saw that she had published her debut novel, I knew that I'd read it sooner or later. This current monthly reading brought it to the top and so I read it. Oftentimes I have been disappointed by the longer works of authors from whom I've previously only read short works. I don't know if it's simply a matter of different standards or that I'm more accepting of short works because they end so quickly. Thankfully that wasn't the case this time. Although I had many quibbles with the book, they were insignificant to my overall enjoyment.

GENRE
It wouldn't be wrong to describe it as a fantasy horror murder mystery with a science fiction background and just a bit of flirting and romance.

CONTENT/THEMES
The characters, sixteen primarily, are mostly teens and a bit older.
There is a religious undercurrent throughout the book of the nominally Christian variety, though it's unclear how much of a role it actually plays. The Emperor, who makes an exceedingly brief appearance, is both the political and religious leader. It's a bit odd really when considering the implications.
The viewpoint character, Gideon, is most definitely a lesbian and expresses her limerence freely, internally anyway, for the most part. I think someone reading specifically for that will be disappointed overall.
There are a considerable number of suicidal actions that occur and similar sorts of actions, which may be a concern for some. I didn't see it as anything out of the ordinary for the amount of pathos that was present, but I may be overly used to it.

STRUCTURE
Act One, the first 18% or so, was relatively slow going for me and not particularly that enjoyable, if it had continued like this for the entire time, I probably would have only rated it as decent, 3 stars. The action doesn't really start to pick up until the end of Act Two, 40% of the way in, which understandably may be too much for many people, but it was quite worthwhile overall for me. By the end of Act Three and the beginning of Act Four at 63%, the pace takes on a sense of urgency. In the last 10% or so the story reaches its crescendo and it is indeed quite the rapid escalation in every way. Act Five, which starts at 96%, is the resolution and lasts mere pages before fading into the Epilogue.

NOTE
In her acknowledgement she notes that "I now possess a kitchen apron embroidered with the worst deleted meme from the manuscript." Considering how much is included, I wonder what it was. She also mentions how she was writing Animorphs fanfiction at eleven years old as well as posting stories from various fandoms on fanfiction.net and elsewhere. Everyone has to start somewhere. Many seem to be dismissive and contemptuous of such activities though.

>>16157388
Harrow the Ninth, The Locked Tomb, #2 - Tamsyn Muir (2020)
This is a work of metafanfiction, which is to say that a significant portion of the novel is fanfiction of itself. This was a problem for me because I have minimal interest in fanfiction. The majority of the novel is told through a second person perspective. It has at least as many memes and pop culture references as the first book. Unfortunately, I felt a lot of them detracted from the experience for me. I dislike it when a book does the same thing to the reader as the characters are going through so that the reader supposedly relates to the characters more. My expectations were too high going into this. I was very confused what to think about it all the way through the end and then even for a while afterwards. I briefly considered rating this as two stars, mostly out of disappointment of how my speculations while reading were a wasted endeavor. The ending wasn't much of a pay-off for me, so I didn't have that as a consolation either. Novelty for the sake of novelty isn't something I usually am able to appreciate. My personal opinion is that Muir was only somewhat less self-destructive* than Harrow with the structuring of this novel. The dialogue seems to be major draw for many, but it wasn't for me. I'll certainly be reading the third, but my expectations have now been appropriately chastened. After finishing this, I found myself reconsidering much in general and not only about this series. That being said, I knew from the start of the first book that I was well outside the target demographic, but it seems I forgot that between books.
Rating: 3/5

*As according to consensus reality this isn't the case based on how much others have enjoyed it and thought it was a wonderful idea.

>>21049217
Nona The Ninth, Locked Tomb #3 - Tamsyn Muir (2022)

I'd describe this book as unnecessary, at least in terms of how the overall plot structure of a series ought to be. If the previous book was metafiction about fandom, then this is a book written as fanservice for her fandom. As Muir herself has noted, this was an unexpected book, which I assume was allowed because it's potentially highly salable and would be well enough received by its core audience. This is a transitional book that's made of filler which shows a failure of editorial guidance due to profits and author indulgence.

When I wrote that this book is for her fandom, what I meant is that is focuses primarily on the interests of her fans, including herself as a fan of her own work, rather than the interests of the series. The entirety of the book, aside from the interludes, is from a new point of a view, Nona. I didn't care for Nona or her gang at all, but it does seem like the sort of character interactions that would be particularly favored by her typical fan. Although there are less memes this time, I'd say there's considerably more focus on comedy than the previous two books. The chaste lesbianism of almost all the female characters is really played up as well. As I saw one article say, the book very much embraces its own campiness, and unfortunately camp is not one of my preferred styles. The first book had other stuff that allowed me to put that aside, but this one doesn't, and it almost felt like it was much more prevalent.

As for what the book is about, the first half is Nona going through life as a newly born adult with the mentality of a child. There's a lot going on the background, but she's mostly oblivious to it compared to what truly matters, childhood antics with the other school children. Considering that they're living in a city under siege with doom and paranoia everywhere, they aren't really engaging in the typical childhood pastimes. The latter half is more action oriented and similar to the two previous books, though the plot doesn't have much progression until near the end.

I'll be reading the fourth and final book in the series, but mostly only to finish the series. It feels like to me that Muir wasn't sure how to continue from the first book other than that she didn't want to have anything be the same again. If that trend continues with the fourth book I have to wonder how it will be structured and what sort of narrative gimmick will be employed. I think one of the major problems for me is that I can't find the meaning, or maybe I just can't value what it has been presented. There's also a lot I simply don't understand well enough to my satisfaction and I don't know whether that's my fault or not. It may be the case that the understanding is unnecessary because the characters are what matter most by far. Unfortunately each book thus far has traveled further and further away from what I enjoyed about the first book.

Rating: 2.5/5