#(i’m not calling gideon the first ortus)

[fingertipsmp3]

Lmao why is my chapter summaries of HtN document over 3000 words long already and I’m not even two thirds of the way into HtN

[eemolu]

sorry but i’m busy thinking about how the first thing ortus asked harrow in the river was “how did gideon die?” i’m thinking about how there were three children who grew up at drearburh and ortus was one of them. i’m thinking that he was a poet and he wrote often on the depth of love and he probably based it on the two of them, and how could he be seeing one without the other? he called her “young gideon.” imagine how he must think of harrow!!! “he petted her hair like a brother” anyways i’m not okay

[katakaluptastrophy]

What do Captain Deuteros, the Princesses of Ida, the Baron of Tisis, the Lady of Koniortos Court, the Duchess of Rhodes, the Master Templar, and the Reverend Daughter all have in common? They almost certainly own slaves.

Ok, not "slaves". As I'm sure Housers would be the first to tell you, they do not have slaves. Gideon herself explicitly establishes this in chapter one:

I’m indentured, not a slave.

But functionally, what does that mean?

We don't get a definition of what Gideon means by a slave, or how this word is used in House (do the Houses also have slaves? Are slaves something other, uncivilised people have in the benighted darkness beyond the light of Dominicus and the empire?). Gideon is an unfree person who is subject to violence and exploited for the financial gain of her masters, but it means something to her that she is not, in some economic or legal sense, a slave. So what is an indentured servant?

Gideon's status is referred to using several other terms over the course of GTN, primarily by Silas Octakiseron. While Silas is not an unbiased commentator, it's interesting that his objection to Gideon is not just because she's Ninth, but because she has usurped her social position:

“Thrall,” said Silas. “Serf. Servant... Villein,” continued the necromancer of the house of the Eighth, warming to his thesaurus. Colum was staring at Gideon, almost cross-eyed with disbelief. “Foundling. I am not insulting you, I am naming you for what you are. The replacement for Ortus Nigenad, himself a poor representative of a foetid House of betrayers and mystics.”

We don't know the exact connotations of these words in House. But a "serf" historically was a sort of feudal peasant tied to the land of a manor. Unlike a slave, a serf usually couldn't be bought or sold as an individual, but could be transferred wholesale with the land. Generically speaking, serfdom involves a tie to the land, an obligation to generate income/goods for the feudal lord of the land through labour and/or rents, and a lack of freedom of movement. It could be from birth or a voluntary indenture.

The contextual information that we get about Gideon's status backs up this very feudal image:

Gideon is, as Crux repeatedly reminds her, in some way the property of the Ninth. She wears a security cuff, and her attempt to run away is described as theft and misuse of House goods. In a typically House way, it is not just that she owes them her labour - she owes them her body once she dies. (What's interesting is that this part isn't specifically tied to her status as an indentured servant, but it fundamentally colours how it is understood in world.)

"You talk so loudly for chattle, Nav... You chatter so much for a debt. I hate you, and yet you are my wares and inventory."

Crux is Harrow's seneschal. And it would seem that at least on the Ninth, this role is very much the same as its medieval feudal equivalent: the official in charge of the management of the estate's goods and labourers.

Gideon is a legitimate subject of violence in House law: Harrow talks about how it would be "master's sin" if she "employed unwarranted violence" against her. Which means that some degree of violent punishment of indentured servants is legally permissable.

She is meant to be a financially useful asset: regulations exist governing indentured people joining the military, where they can generate revenue for their House. However, Harrow warns Gideon that "the Cohort won’t enlist an unreleased serf" - because the movement of a serf is at the discretion of her Lady, not something over which she has free choice.

The description of how Gideon came to be of the Ninth is particularly interesting in shedding some light on the institution of indenture in the Houses:

The Ninth had historically filled its halls with penitents from other houses, mystics and pilgrims who found the call of this dreary order more attractive than their own birthrights. In the antiquated rules of those supplicants who moved between the eight great households, she was taken as a very small bondswoman, not of the Ninth but beholden to it: What greater debt could be accrued than that of being brought up?

Medieval serfs too had no freedom of movement; they required a license from their lord to spend extended time away from the manor.

It's easy to forget, when the Houses themselves likely range in scale from the size of Los Angeles to Aotearoa New Zealand, that legally they seem to understand themselves to constitute feudal households. Those born in each House are part of - or in some cases it would seem, property of - the House. We see discussion in the Sermon on Necromancers and Cavaliers of the heirs of cavalier lines being traded between Houses for political capital. Necromancers, meanwhile, are apparently such a political or reproductive asset that they are usually not allowed to marry outside their House. Obviously, these are examples of people at the top of House society, whose movement brings with it political power, or financial assets, or reproductive capacity. Where does that leave a more ordinary person who lacks those desirable assets? It would seem that they can be their own asset, granted access to another House on a debtor's bond - it's not clear in the House context whether this is typically an exchange of people already debt bonded to their House, free people entering into such bondage to secure a right of passage to another House, a combination, or something else entirely.

But it speaks to a much more ancient understanding of how people are tied to lands and lords, alongside the Houses' very different attitude to the value of human lives:

“You’re no slave, but you’ll serve the House of the Ninth until the day you die and then thereafter"

One could infer, since we've encountered nobles and serfs, that the Houses have something akin to a three-tier system like many historical European feudal systems, with nobles, freedmen, and serfs.

The medieval European feudal system was primarily a function of the management of land - serfs and freedmen's statuses were a result of their relationship to obligations to the land - requirements of work, or rents to their lord, who ultimately controlled and profited from that land. This is where the tricky difference between serfdom and slavery tends to arise.

But the Houses are not a European medieval feudal kingdom. They are not, presumably, a primarily agrarian economy. So what use might such bondspeople be? What does that society look like, outside of its highest nobles investigating each others' murders and its strangely incestuous demigods?

There must be some agriculture and industry. Given the trying conditions of living in inhospitable space environments, that there might be some class of labourers fundamentally tied to their Houses, perhaps initially stemming from the order or situation of their ancestors' resurrection, isn't impossible to imagine (after all, ruling families and cavalier lines also trace their status from the Resurrection). From the information about the rules governing movement between Houses, perhaps there are also people living in dire conditions on remote moons willing to sell their freedom for a chance at slightly better conditions, or a new start in a different House. Most Houses do not have the necromantic capacity to create skeleton constructs on a scale to manage most of their labour - in The Mysterious Study of Dr Sex, it's clear that the Sixth has a finite supply of skeleton constructs that they would require Ninth input to overhaul. We have to assume most labour on most Houses in human, and some portion of it at least in some way unfree.

But the Houses are a spacefaring society with a large, centralised military and an economically complex empire. It does not function entirely like a medieval kingdom, however much it may sometimes look like one. Much of its imperial structure seems to be on a much more 19th or 20th century model.

And the Cohort is one area where we can see some non-medieval, but awful implications to the Houses' practice of serfdom. Consider the commission that Harrow offers Gideon:

It purchased Gideon Nav’s commission to second lieutenant, not privy to resale, but relinquishing capital if she honourably retired. It would grant her full officer training. The usual huge percentage of prizes and territory would be tithed to her House if they were won, but her inflated Ninth serfdom would be paid for in five years on good conditions, rather than thirty.

Gideon is not being promised as canon fodder - this is a promise of officer training. And yet, Gideon is a serf - and that officer training would be an investment in financial returns from her involvement in the bloody machinery of empire.

How many people in the Cohort are not free? Are serfs released from their usual obligations in the House to which they are debt bonded to instead generate income for their House on the battlefield or die trying? What proportion of the Cohort are functionality enslaved children, sold a dream of glory by smutty comics and released by their Houses because their eventual deaths will be more profitable to their Houses than their labouring lives?

And fundamentally, if the Houses are in some way substantially reproducing aspects of medieval feudalism, there's only one person who can be responsible for that...

[lemon-natalia]

Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 25

hah, she’s telling the Emperor Ortus the First kissed Cytherea as part of a gossip tea sesh, this is hilarious. also what with this and the Silas & Gideon meeting last book, dramatic tea parties are becoming a staple

‘Harrow do something normal’ omfg, GOD thinks Harrow is being too weird. he really just told her to get a life

and Harrow does what many a person does in an existential crisis - learn how to cook!

girl hasn’t slept for six days? idc if she’s a Lyctor, she’s gonna pass out soon

the whole the Emperor serving the food at the table - what with this and calling his Lyctors his children, there’s a weird emphasis on almost forcing domesticity

Harrow added all the veggies Ortus the First doesn’t like, she’s so petty lol

WHAT THE FUCK. she put HER OWN bone marrow in the soup to murder him from the inside out???? ok i absolutely double down on never wanting to eat anything any of these people make. i see this is the book to traumatise me with cannibalism, i’m not eating soup ever again

‘his eyes were the eyes of death’ also holy shit this guy in general is very powerful, and it think this is the first chapter to really get it across. also wdym its been a thousand years since you ate human being, dude - again suggests that he did also take part in a similar process as the Lyctors to become what he is now?

also, you’re not okay with them trying to kill each other in front of you, but anywhere else is fine? what kind of a rule is that?

Harrow when this sleep deprived is, uh, unhinged to say the least.

also Mercy gradually decreasing the ages that she’s calling Harrow is hilarious, at a certain point she’s just going to be calling her a toddler

fuck me this chapter was something else to read, i think its probably the first chapter to properly shock me like Gideon the Ninth did

[halfbloodfullbitch]

whats TLT

So I’m so glad you asked! Basically there is our solar system, but each planet is called a house. The first house (earth) is God’s house, but all the other ones have people. Necromancy is a thing. God has immortal saints called lyctors. The first house summons each house to the first house to complete to become lyctors.

On the ninth house, Gideon Nav lives as an indentured servant, and fucking hates the reverend daughter, Harrow. But each house has to have a necromancer and cav, and when they get the letter from the first, Ortus, the cavalier of the ninth fucks off and does, so Harrow makes Gideon pretend to be her cav. They go to the first, Harrow is trying to figure out how to become a lyctor. Then someone starts killing people off. This is the worst summary ever.

TLDR: it’s a murder mystery with necromancy and toxic lesbians. Also Catholicism and meme references :)

[artbyblastweave]

Gideon the Ninth Liveread, Chapter 8

We get our first interior description of Canaan house, and it’s a house house; decorations, (in particular occluded paintings!) and other creature comforts long since fallen to ruin.  Space opera and gothic horror rolled up in one. I’m now very very sure of my kneejerk reaction that First and Ninth houses are being positioned as foils; both houses depopulated, kept isolated from outside intervention by fiat. The Ninth drilling into a massive pit, the First ascending in a big fuck-off tower to the heavens. The main difference being that the Ninth are zealous to the point of collapse, which you could frame as a sort of death of personality, but Gideon frames the religious zealotry of the First House priests as placid, robotic, almost indistinguishable from the servitors in their demeanor, and revulsion of all things Ninth aside, she seems to subtly view this as worse. Only Teacher looks alive; for better or worse, that absolutely isn’t an error you could make about the still-living population of Ninth House. 

During the prayer sequence, Ianthe and the Seventh Cav (whose name my computer keeps trying to autocorrect to Petroleum) are notably called out as not reciting the prayer. This is a point in Ianthe’s favor for me. Petroleum, though, is in a different boat; this chapter keeps calling attention to the fact that he does nothing unprompted; not sitting, not slapping Dulcinea’s back, not praying. I’m beginning to think that he’s some kind of necromantic construct, or else has been significantly augmented. I’m also starting to suspect that Dulcinea’s big entrance may have been staged, because he did move to attack Gideon unprompted before Dulcinea “stopped” him.

“I pray the rock is never rolled away.” Parallels to the resurrection of that one guy that one time. The one the Italians nailed up, you know, him. They’ve got an antijesus in that tomb, I reckon.

Interesting that in the ring distribution scene, they skip from the second and third houses all the way up to the seventh, and then the narration jumps the eighth right to Gideon; this is either Gideon's narration, focusing on who Gideon finds interesting (Second House has the cohorts!) or else the narrator giving me a little hint about who's gonna survive the obvious incipient cast herd thinning. Given the Ortus thing, I'm betting on the former; someone Gideon didn't care enough about to mention in the first wave of name drops is going to become extremely important later, to the extent that anyone in a group of seventeen can’t be important.

SO the wording of Teacher’s spiel is interesting because it’s the first indication we get of what The Emperor is like as a guy. (And he IS Just Some Guy; I know that much, that’s what drew me to the books, the hilarity of God being Just Some Guy.) The other Lyctors are the ones who want new Lyctors, if we're to believe Teacher; the current proceedings are the result of them finally getting through to him after a very long time.  I've picked up enough about the Emperor from tumblr that this could either be a true reflection of his petty grief impeding things, or a cover story to make him look sympathetic; but either way, Teacher is telling everyone in the room that The Emperor fucked up. He isn’t using those words, but that’s the shape of the facts as described. The wording leans heavily on God As Kind Of Like Us to make the error sympathetic; but my first reaction is, Christ, You mean your God is mopey to the point of impediment?!

Okay, so this is a boarding school plot. I stand by my earlier assessment that the basic shape of this narrative is violently, virulently transmissible in all directions, to any kind of AU you want. Dollars to donuts there will be a prom later.

So Lyctorhood is a trial-and-error sort of thing. Teacher is such a funny little guy. He’s interesting to me because he’s clearly leaning on the Wonka/Yoda/trickster-mentor archetype, but he’s doing so from an obvious position of massive institutional power (one shaped like the Catholic Chuch, no less!) Wonka can get away his bit because despite running the factory he’s convincingly painted by the narrative as a misunderstood maverick holding the line against the real institutional forces, and even then he’s often dragged as being a capitalist serial killer. Yoda can get away with it because Yoda is at rock-bottom, is kind of a dick, and already demonstrated enough of a fall from institutional power that you get the sense he’s mixing it up a bit, trying something new to see if that works better. But this guy is literally just a catholic priest! He can’t convincingly do this bit when we already have such a mass of knowledge about what the system that he’s mouth piecing for is like!

I'm getting extremely dehumanizing vibes from the "Bed-at-the-foot-of-the-bed" bit in the Ninth’s Quarters. Gideon is framed like a dog, or beast of burden. As is Protesilaus. "I know what befalls cavaliers," indeed.

And in the final scene of the chapter, Gideon overhears the skeletons pushing all the dropships off the landing platforms, and then she goes to sleep. Is this protocol that she was briefed on? Is this something more sinister? That seems like a deliberately overdramatic way of slamming the door shut behind everyone. What do shuttles cost?

Last note- I really, really like the description of drinking hot tea. That is in fact how it feels. Cauterized taste buds indeed. Lotsa verisimilitude on this one.

[paradoxcase]

@turtletotem:

Re: believing in Wake’s revenant despite believing their reanimated comrades are 100% dead—I’m sure they know necros can do stuff with ghosts, but they are hardly going to bother doing that with enemy soldiers. Nor can they actually resurrect the dead in any true “bring the person back to life” way, so if they see a dead comrade walking around, it is absolutely not the dead comrade’s soul piloting it.

@eye-lantern:

About the comrades revived things and Wake: the booklet seems to be aimed at normal personel, before engagement. So the main issue to cover would be a newbie jumping in the arms of a friend they thought lost and getting ripped apart. Someone cleared to land on the First and know about their Lyctor ally is not operating based on the booklet anymore and applies very different procedures.

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

@eye-lantern I think a part of this, too, is simply trying to ensure that regular troops understand the threat of the Cohort, even if it means exaggerating what the zombies can do.

Well, I don't think necromancers really have anything to do with revenants coming back and doing their thing, that just seems to be something that any dead ghost can do if it's mad enough about dying, they don't necessarily have to be called back like Dr. Sex was, and I'm sure that probably legitimately happened at some point during this 10,000-year war. But I can see that there would probably be enough other cases where it was just a necromancer piloting a corpse that they would take this party line, but higher level people might know more about how it actually works

@turtletotem:

Re: the death sense, we know that they absolutely would sense the thanergy burst from the next room. As far as tracking the bullet back to the sniper, it might take specialized training, but i think it’s totally possible. There would be a thanergetic link between the dead soldier and the weapon that killed him. They talk about those links being the kind of things revenants can cling to. And this is death on the battlefield right next to the necro; none the murders at Canaan were witnessed.

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

One way to think about the 'death sense' over a long distance is that it is likely that cohort necromancers, as part of their officer training, likely get some sort of training in developing that as a skill.

Thanergy links are mentioned as something that revenants can travel along, but I don't think we've ever seen mention of a living necromancer making use of them, not even Lyctors (although, there weren't any unexplained deaths in Harrow the Ninth, so maybe there just wasn't a reason to do that). Magnus and Abigail must have died when Harrow and Gideon were in the Second Laboratory, so it kind of was just in the other room, but I guess maybe you could say that Harrow didn't notice because she was occupied, or because of the fact that the First is like a thanergy pit that probably obscures lesser thanergy bursts? And if this is actually just a special skill that Cohort necromancers are trained in, then why wasn't Judith able to do it to find out who killed Magnus and Abigail? She's a Cohort necromancer, isn't she?

@eye-lantern:

About the ninths necros being goths, I believe they have not been on the battlefield for a while. But also I don't think that the cavaliers would be any less goth

True, on both points. Although, based on Ortus being described as looking like a prototypical Ninth cavalier and then mostly serving the purpose of carrying around bones, it might be easy to tell them apart, but yeah, I gather the Ninth House hasn't really sent anyone to the Cohort in a while

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

Judith was essentially on the verge of death and bleeding out, and little threat. They may also have decided that she would potential be a useful hostage, as a cohort officer and the daughter of one of the highest ranking military officers in the Houses. Plus, being the heir to the 2nd. Also, of course, interrogation. They DO have anti-necro strategies they can use with prisoners.

She wasn't a threat when they found her at Canaan House, for sure, but they obviously fixed her up a bit since then. Since they don't realize that necromancy relies on access to a planet and isn't even super effective on thalergenic planets without a lot of death happening, it sounds like most of them would have expected that she could start doing horrific things to them as soon as she healed up. And it doesn't sound like they have any basic human empathy for necromancers regardless of their ability to hurt them

[prodigaldaughteralice]

Ahhhhhhh I’ve only been following you for a little bit but I’m so happy you’ve started harrow! That book is a trip and a half, especially on the first read.

Aaaa hi!! I see you pop up in my notes now and then and your handle always makes me smile bc then I just have Fleetwood Mac playing in my brain for the next ten minutes <3

And oh man I’m loving it and it’s fucking me up real bad hahaha. Soup. Soup, and that distraction plan, and memory issues, and aaaaaa. I just had a realization today that I’m going to put here for posterity beyond just ranting on discord (don’t tell me if I’m right or anything)

1) in the first book we heard that Gideon got her name bc it’s the only thing her mother’s spirit would say, so I’ve kind of been assuming it was her father’s name. 2) at one point Mercy said “Ortus who?” after Harrow called the Saint of Duty by name, suggesting that that’s not his name and Harrow has been hallucinating that it is 3) when he was delirious after being stabbed through the chest he said “why’d you bring the ba—“ (BABY) 4) HARROW DID A FIND-AND-REPLACE ON HER OWN BRAIN TO TURN “GIDEON” INTO “ORTUS” 5) THE SAINT OF DUTY IS GIDEON’S DAD

[nightblood]

19 chapters into Harrow the Ninth and I have at least some idea of what’s going on in one plotline.

Harrowhawk has not only forgotten Gideon existed and thinks Ortus was her cavalier, but has mentally blocked out even the name Gideon. I’m pretty sure Ortus the First isn’t actually called Ortus, but Gideon, which is also why John is so weird about mentioning the name.

I’m also pretty sure this is the Gideon our Gideon’s mom mentioned when she was called back. Mercy mentions something “Otus” did 19 years ago that got him in trouble, she asked Harrowhawk how old she is and seemed relieved when Harrowhawk lied.

 I feel like there was another mention of 18 or 19 years ago, but I’m blanking.

I have no idea how the sword connects to all this, but I’m sure it does somehow.

[silver-grasp]

Speaking of the other thing that haunts me, it’s probably less important, but: did Augustine or Mercymorn or both know that G1deon was having some kind of affair with Wake? The conversation on the subject, imo, implies not:

Gideon, were you aware that, when you let Commander Wake get as far as she did—to the House of the Ninth, to one of our own Houses, our own people—that she was pregnant?”

A pause. “I was aware,” said Gideon Classic.

“Why the hell did you not tell me?”

“Because I thought it was—mine.”

There was a rising call of dismay from that whole room—a sort of strangled yeeeuuurgh from Mercymorn, an exhausted—was it a laugh?—from Augustine. He was laughing—in this eerie, humourless way, this huge, tired, exhausted laugh, until he had to press his face into his hand. Even then, he didn’t quite stop.

It is... admittedly ambiguous, but their reactions (especially rising call of dismay) imply that it’s new information. Maybe not! I don’t know! So here’s why I thought they (and God, actually!) must have known:

We nearly lost you to her a few times, didn’t we, Ortus? Should we drink to Commander Wake?”

The glasses rattled as the Saint of Duty stood, and said the most words you had ever heard him say. “Probably not. Excuse me. I’m tired.”

They watched him go in pursed-up silence. Teacher rose from the table, silently, as though thinking of going after him. When the door shut behind the escaping Lyctor, Mercymorn hissed, “Augustine, you ass,” and he protested calmly: “He’s fine.”

“You call that fine—”

“—sudden access of sympathy a little uncharacteristic when—”

“—not difficult to imagine that maybe—”

Okay. Let’s review. Mercymorn is expressing concern for someone’s emotional state. Mercymorn is expressing concern for someone’s emotional state. Mercymorn is expressing concern for someone’s emotional state. We all see, I am sure, how this is unusual behavior from her, yes? It pinged me as deeply weird as soon as I read it - not so much that Augustine knew this topic of conversation would drive G1deon out of the room, but that everyone else seems worried about him. Why? They’ve been killing people and having people try to kill them for a myriad. If they just thought he was touchy about nearly not having beaten her, I cannot imagine that Mercy, of all people, would be worried about him after someone brings it up. This also isn’t something Mercy alone knows, she clearly thinks Augustine should know why she thinks this is an unreasonably low blow. (And, like, from these people? It takes a lot to cross the “unacceptable” line with these horrible old assholes).

So I read that, thought about it, and before I began the next chapter concluded from this exchange that G1deon had been romantically involved with Wake and was probably our Gideon’s father.

Which leaves me lying awake at night wondering how, in Jod’s name, could Augustine and Mercy and Jod have all not known, when they were the ones to tell me in the first place?

[dulcieseptimus]

okay, harrow the ninth thoughts incoming. 

i’ve said it 10,000 different ways already to any one who will listen but. I love harrow SO MUCH. i love gideon, too (and didn’t realize how much i missed her until she finally popped back up nine months late with starbucks to yell at me for not lifting weights), but harrow has wormed her way into a special place in my heart like no character has before. I won’t bore any one with stories about my bouts with teenage psychosis but watching harrow, alone, struggling with her hallucinations and suicide ideation and GRIEF that she doesn’t even understand where it comes from...the parts of this book that made me cry the hardest were for her. I love her like the daughter I’ll never have. she is poor little meow meow defined. I really enjoyed the dungeon trawler puzzles of gtn, but harrow the ninth finally gave me what I wanted from this series!! the in depth magical theory! THE DREAM HOPPING!!! religious references! moral quandaries! dyke drama! I loved the perspective changes and a look into all these alternate realities, and that we finally got a better look at some of the other schools of necromancy also I LOVE that this book gave us the opportunity to really get to know some of the b cast. it really highlighted the tragedy of the first book. like, abigail pent...what a waste!!!!!!!! I have lots of ortus thoughts but I think that’ll get its own post i also have LOTS of dulcie and cytherea thoughts, again (another post is being drafted as we speak), and i was so pleasantly surprised we finally got to meet the real dulcinea. she is so much more delightful and weird and spiteful and yet her and cytherea are so much alike and they’ll never know it!!! god i love her. manic pixie nightmare girl. this time i was more along for the ride than trying to figure out what the hell was going on behind the scenes, but i am proud of myself for figuring out pretty early one what was going on with cytherea and gideon-original-flavor. although by the time we got to THAT reveal i had totally forgotten about it because so much shit had happened!!! i also figured that the body was A.L. pretty early on because, well, who else could hold that much power over a necromancer than their cavalier? still lots of mystery there especially now that harrow has ? taken her place ? not to mention all the comments from mercy and augustine calling her a monster and terrifying speaking of them--loved the lyctors, loved how perfectly awful they were. as before, my only complaint is I really, really, really, really hate all the meme references. sorry. i think they were fine in places but especially during the last half the book it just completely brought me out of serious scenes. it really does come across less as a natural part of character speech and more like the book is scared of being ‘too serious.’ like there are other genuinely comedic scenes (john trying to give harrow the Talk, for one) that you don’t have to add an internet meme reference to get a laugh out of the audience. that being said. wow. what a fun, exciting, soul rending piece of sci-fi literature that at its heart is really about death and grief and the indomitable tenacity of the human spirit.

I still don’t know how I feel about the ending but I’m withholding judgment until I can read Nona (which yes, is already preordered lol). now I still have to read through the BOE brief and Judith’s letters, and then the short story about Pal and Camilla’s teenage hijinks. I’m debating whether or not to read the sneak peak for Nona but I think I’d rather wait until I can read it all at once.

[zenosanalytic]

Harrow the Ninth: Blood and Guts; With Feeling!!!

While I’m sure the physical trauma, gore, intentional autophagia, unintentional cannibalism, and necrophilia in the book will be what turns mainstream heads, what really grabbed me about Harrow the Ninth was its unabashed and sincere humanity.

Every character in Harrow the Ninth gets to be a full human being. The best example to my mind is Crux: a gruesome cadaver 2 parts loyalty, 3 parts shouting, and 5 parts sheer bloody-minded cussedness; who blew up a long-grieving, broken family(and their completely innocent pilot) for the “crime” of leaving the place that murdered their husband and father and broke them; who insulted, beat, and tortured Gideon her WHOLE DAMN LIFE. And, also, the major, if not only, source of kindness and sympathy in Harrow’s own.

CRUX!!! Kind uncle Crux sneaking her sweets once a year and whenever she gets sick? Reliable retainer Crux always honest with her about her hallucinations and never judging or dismissing her for them; doing EVERY BIT of what little he can to help and protect her? Soft-voiced and kind Crux being the only member of the household who DOESNT abandon her in the Nova AU? THIS IS HOW HARROW SEES CRUX! The guy who casually kicked and spit on Gideon, who treated her as less than trash and never showed her even the shadow of an ounce of kindness is, in Harrow’s mind, the kindest person in her life. That is Fucking Wild.

Everyone is allowed to be 3D in this book, even when Harrow and Gideon disdain them. Ortus -a too-big blubbering joke in Gideon the Ninth, and Gideon and Harrow’s minds both- doesn’t JUST get to be brave, to be selfless, to confront and face up to and SURMOUNT his mistakes and flaws and then ride off glorious and stupid into Valhalla, he gets something so much more important; to speak for himself. To be Known. Understood. Through Harrow’s petty sniping we get to see the love and care he has for his shitty poetry; through her defensively projected self-loathing his regret, his sympathy, the breadth of his Heart, the loyalty to Harrow which lets him be insulted and also the stubborn pride which insists those insults not go unanswered. I’m tearing up just writing this! We get to see, in his meeting Protesilaus, him struggle with the very image of EVERYTHING he wants to be but isn’t, AND we get to see him resolve that displaced self-hatred to BOTH men -who he is, and who he isn’t- and befriend them both, and realize that the physical distance between them is superficial before the siblinghood of souls, and even more: that the conceptual distance between his ideal and his reality doesn’t have to prevent him from being good. He’s still a side character but he gets an arc, development, a story, and resolution, and HE gets to give its summation. And he’s allowed to be Heroic in his own way! HIS words summon his Hero from The River to speak HIS meter while fighting to save them all powered by THEIR shared belief in HIS Art, and then a heaven of his own defining. What other book does that for a JOKE character?!

And again: this is everybody. Yes of course the souls Harrow unknowingly called up, all those too-soon dead from Gideon the Ninth; We get to see Abigail and Magnus’s love for one another -and the dreadful teens, and their universal big-heartedness- up close, and the refutation of(or perhaps counterpoint to) Ianthe’s selfish conception of love gets to come from Magnus’s lips(oh: and Abigail SAVES THE FLIPPIN DAY! Harrow gets to know her and, through this, we get to know the true tragic waste of her death at the same time that we get to watch her MAKE her own meaning from beyond the grave); we get to see Protesilaus’s bravery and grace and kindness; Dulcinea’s indefatigability and cleverness and morbidity; Marta’s selflessness and unshakeable faith in Judith; we get to see ALL OF THEM run literally soul-risking cosmic dangers to shepherd one grieving, suffering, traumatized young woman -their jailer!- not only THROUGH that grief, but also through spiritual invasion by the product of their society’s sins: Of COURSE that was Noble as Fuck and I was Sobbing.

but EVERYBODY! John, for all his exTREMELY fucked up morality and inability to understand her, GENUINELY cares for Harrow, GENUINELY tries to see the best in everyone(even if, I suspect, that’s for mostly selfish reasons), and we get to see the sincerity of that; his care, and the self-recrimination his missteps bring despite that unyielding, bullheaded, self-warping insistence to continue on one Faustian course after another. The Lyctors in all their twisted, ancient cruelty: we get to see their surviving virtues beside their ENORMOUS, demented, murderous flaws -Augustine’s cleverness, wit and charm; Mercymorn’s outrage at endangering the young; Gideon’s faithful dutifulness; the endless love and sorrow all of them have for their Cavaliers- in the context of the fear and strain and loneliness the Emperor has forced them to endure for ten thousand years. We get to see the true grief and betrayal, fresh and bloody even now, they feel at John’s lies and manipulations, the relief they feel at thinking it all finally over, and even some small glimpses of the love they’ve managed to carve out for themselves in all of that: Gideon’s necrophilic makeout with Cytherea’s corpse takes on a whole different meaning when you learn that the first soul he’s truly loved since Pyrra is driving it around. And this too is significant; for all the discomfort it brings Harrow, and the general gross-out factor, and despite their villainy, the Kindly Prince and his Lyctors, the “Adults in the Room”, are allowed to have desires; allowed to be full and sexual people.

And the same sentiment extends to how Ianthe is written. As much as she is Harrow’s tormentor(and she is); as much as she is a ghastly, gaslighting manipulator(and she absolutely is); we also clearly see that she is Harrow’s fellow prisoner and victim on that station. Her terror is real; her suffering is allowed to be real. As much as they would Harrow, the Lyctors would as soon kill Ianthe as help her, and the Emperor not only allows that mindset but orders it thinking it helpful; just so long as his deniability remains plausible throughout. She gets to be Harrow’s safest harbor in a sea of troubles while ALSO being the person fucking with her perceptions to build in her feelings of helplessness and dependency for the SOLE PURPOSE of getting in her pants. Yet Gideon herself names her joy at seeing Harrow alive Genuine; her love for Harrow, Genuine; as twisted and awful-made by the cruel ideals instilled by her life of entitlement and emotional abuse they are, those feelings are still allowed to be real and heart-felt. Her attraction to Harrow, expressed cruelly and selfishly as it is, isn’t dismissed; Muir treats it always seriously, as she does Harrow’s own desires, and repressed confusion over them, for Ianthe. Everybody in this book gets to be REAL.

Fuck even Alecto. Over and over again we get to hear the Lyctors call her a Freak, a Monster, Subhuman(and given her eyes, those white-on-black oddities, it’s very likely she ISNT human; either a Planet-Soul herself or something even stranger); we get to hear from John’s own lips -the person SHE guarded; HER Necromancer in a pairing we have seen presented as the epitome of intimacy through two books- how he betrayed and “killed” her to calm their fears of her; and yet all the while there she is with Harrow, comforting, advising, never shaming or judging, being the only real friend Harrow’s allowed herself to be aware of.

Harrow the Ninth may very well be “Genre” Fiction, but its emotional universal is not only meticulously naturalistic, it is radiantly understanding and humane.

[dude1818]

Current theories for Harrow the Ninth:

The Saint of Duty’s real name is Gideon, but Harrow find-and-replaced all instances of Gideon to Ortus in her brain so hard that she can’t even process the word.

Other brain manipulation she’s done to herself has turned her into a sleeper agent for BOE. The rest of the survivors from Canaan House are in on it, but Harrow is going to be the one who takes down the Emperor. I still have no idea why.

Gideon is the narrator in the retconned flashback scenes.

Onto the liveblog!

Chapters 39-52

Oh Ianthe. Truly "I can make her worse"

Harrow Nova? Now what the heck is going on. Ooh, new reality where Harrow was the cavalier and Gideon gets to be the necromancer??

Your what, Ortus? Harrow's sister???

"“This isn’t how it happens,” said Abigail." False realities crumbling from the inside is one of my favorite tropes.

Oh my god, the coffee shop AU I've heard so much about. (I had no spoilers about what that actually meant)

Ah, that explains why the characters in the flashbacks are the ones who didn't survive Canaan House. Knew I was onto something there

God I missed Gideon as POV character. Harrow has been interesting for a book, but I could read a dozen more with Gideon narrating

"What if one had altered one’s temporal bone to affect the tympanic lobe to overwrite a specific word with something different?" Called it exactly

Did Harrow never know where Gideon's name came from? We knew in the first book that it was spoken by the ghost of her mother; it was never a Ninth House name. Now we know she was speaking the name of her killer, not her child, but it was always a foreign name

I'm still baffled about what's piloting Cytherea's body

"She found that it was vaguely interesting to see a marriage play out in front of her." Oh, and why is that, Harrow?

Not sure if I posted this before, but I suspected that the Sleeper might be related to Gideon or her mother. The red hair basically confirms that, although it it's Gideon's soul trying to survive, I don't know why Harrow wouldn't recognize it at this point. Plus, what would that do to the Gideon possessing her body?

Guess it could be the Body. Did she have red hair? I don't remember

"Legends, soldiers, poets, Magnus." Oh Magnus, just happy to be included

The Lyctors hated Alecto and the monster she became. But then in the next breath, they hate the Emperor for denying them the chance to do the same thing to their own cavaliers?

John appears dead. I understand why Mercy did it. But that a second genocide of the human race. The Lyctors have lived so long they don't care about anything anymore

That's not how black holes work

Yeah, figured he'd go all Dr Manhattan

It seemed like there was an alien presence in Gideon Prime's mind. That explained the blackouts and why he didn't always know what he was doing. Didn't expect it to be Pyrrha, or for her to resurface in the end. At least we don't need to deal with two characters with the same name anymore

Two of of three for my opening theories, not bad.

[ledbiantastic]

Okay, it's time for my Harrow The Ninth read through post. Spoilers, obviously. Thanks to @shakespearerants, @irascibubble, and @mayasaura for encouraging me to keep going. Enjoy!

I am on page 33 of Harrow the Ninth and I am making a prediction. I initially thought the Body referred to the dead girl in the locked tomb, but now I think it's Gideon. We'll see if I'm right.

Page 44 says it is the dead girl in the tomb, but I'm not convinced it isn't also Gideon

Gideon must be important to have to be erased from Harrow's mind like that, right?

Did Ortus the First kill/try to kill Gideon's mom? The timeline adds up, they said he messed something up nineteen years ago, Gideon was 18 in the last book and time has passed

In the weird retconned memories, after every death, or during, someone says "is this how it happens" which makes me think it's, like, Harrow's brain asking that

Who are those notes from and to? What's up with that?

I love seeing Harrow spend time with Magnus and Abigail. I liked them

If Harrow is haunted, but this is not the real version of the past, is her mind creating the ghost? Is it Gideon? I don't think Gideon would write notes like that though...

Page 291 is Ortus talking to her like she's Gideon's mother? IS HE ASKING WHY SHE BROUGHT ALONG THE BABY?

Is Ortus' cavalier more active or something? Like he doesn't remember because she takes control?

Page 315 "he had seen me" who is he and who is me? Who is narrating this to Harrowhark? Is. It. Gideon? (Later I decide it's Palamedes seeing the Sleeper, who is also narrating and is possibly Gideon. We'll see if that's right.)

Is the poster on page 318 Gideon? Is It? IS IT? But Gideon's hair didn't go down to her shoulders. Is it her mom?

Are Camilla and Coronabeth on the side of the rebellion? BOE? Is old Harrow? I KNEW IT! But I'm sad they're on different sides.

Is Ianthe the spy? Is that how she knew Coronabeth was alive?

Does the Sleeper represent the part of Harrow and/or her brain that erased her memories and it's cleaning up the debris in her psyche? OR IS IT GIDEON? AKA the DORMANT part of Harrow-as-Lyctor? When the Sleeper is unmasked, will we see Harrow or Gideon?

Did Gideon's mother start the rebellion or something? Is that why they had a poster of her? Was she Eden?

So, Canaan house was on earth then?

Did Harrow (old Harrow) tamper with her own temporal lobe? Did Mercymorn? Ianthe?

Whose idea was it for Ortus to kill her then? John? Augustine? Mercymorn? Someone else?

Did Harrow break into the locked tomb? I want to believe she did, because I support her. But if not, who is the Body?

Shit, I can't remember what color Gideon's eyes were. Page 363 when Harrow's eyes are two different colors, black and gold

Ianthe wants to marry Harrow? Weird. I don't ship it. But I'm kind of stuck on Gideon and if I wasn't, maybe.

See a man about a queen? What does it mean? What is Ianthe doing? Also love that she cursed Harrow's hair to grow extra, just to be petty.

I'm so confused by chapter 40. What the hell is going on? Why is Harrow trying to be a cavalier? The fuck? Role swapped false memory? What is even happening?

Is Harrowhark's brain just, like, randomly spit-balling while she's dying or something? Love that Abigail and Magnus seem to be aware that it's not real.

OH OH OH THAT WAS GIDEON! SERVING THE COFFEE AND MAKING HARROW BLUSH IN THE THIRD(?) FALSE MEMORY OR DREAM OR WHATEVER! I love that Abigail is NOT having this, like, no I'm not gonna watch your romance novel version unfold.

I think I've noticed that the ones who have speaking roles the weird memories are the ones who died in the last book.

Are they all taking active part in these false scenarios? All the dead from Canaan house?

Oh my god oh my god here it is she remembers and she's so sad!

So she erased Gideon to save her soul. Nope nope nope nope nope I can't. I can't deal with these feelings. Y.Y

Who the fuck is the angry spirit?!?!

Who fucking stabbed her?

IS GIDEON DRIVING HARROW'S FUCKING BODY AROUND DURING A FIGHT? HELL YES! AND THAT MEANS I WAS RIGHT THAT SHE'S NARRATING!

OH AND I PREDICT THE GHOST IS CYTHERIA!

I'm still thinking about what Harrow did. It's so sweet and so sad and she's so lonely and she didn't even know how lonely she was.

Also I'm already excited to reread this series.

Oh yeah, this is GIDEON in here, swearing up a storm and trying to use a sword.

Okay, first I'm getting emotional just from heading Gideon's voice, then I'm emotional about what it was like for her to be in Harrow's body/mind, then I'm emotional about all the things she wanted to say but didn't have time, AND THEN I'M EMOTIONAL when Gideon says why she thinks Harrow did it and I'm like baby nooooooo it was because she loved you, not because she didn't want to rely on you! Honey, baby, no!

"Harrowhark, I gave you my whole life and you didn't even want it." HARROWHARK, I GAVE YOU MY WHOLE LIFE AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT IT. 💔💔💔😟😟😟😭😭😭 Excuse me while my heart breaks.

Oh, also a bigger issue in this book is the whole concept of the afterlife? And it's messed up because of the emperor? I don't know why I wasn't prepared for that but I wasn't.

Ortus holding Harrow and pointing out that she and Gideon were neglected children is making my therapist soul ascend.

I'm such an idiot. His name wasn't Ortus, it was Gideon. He did kill Gideon's mother, that's why she shouted his name. Or they were in love? One or the other... Or both?

Harrow did a find and replace in her brain and it had unexpected consequences.

I've been leaning more and more towards the Sleeper and ghost being Cytheria.

Oh my sweet sword lesbian himbo, how I've missed you. "The sword I had to hold overhead in one hand as I used the other to keep everything inside you; stuff was coming out, Harrow, I don't know precisely what stuff because I'm not a goddamn necromancer."

Gideon is OCCUPYING HARROW'S BODY during a deadly invasion and is like, 'I'm gonna shut my eyes to reach under the shirt and get rid of encumbrances. I tried not to touch you, so don't get mad.' I feel like Harrow would be the first one to say 'do whatever you have to do to stay alive, you imbecile!'

So Mercymorn stabbed Harrow... So the heralds would eat her as a way to buy time? Was that the plan? Gideon calling her "my necromancer" made my heart do a thing.

I want to understand what she's saying about Gideon's mother. Was Gideon a science experiment? Like Kipo?

Where. THE FUCK did Cytheria get the gun?

Dulcie is *horny for revenge* Abigail is a BAMF and my new (and final?) prediction is that the Sleeper is Gideon's mom.

Gideon and Ianthe is a fun dynamic. I love how protective Gideon is, that she's mad at Ianthe for hurting Harrow's heart.

Gideon must have her mother's eyes to be freaking all the lyctors the fuck out.

"I wanted you to use me... I wanted you to live and not die... Harrow. I already gave my flesh to you, and I already gave you my end. I gave you my sword. I gave you myself. I did it while knowing I'd do it all again, without hesitation, because all I ever wanted you to do was eat me." Why am I crying? 😭😭😭😭😭 Why is this the most romantic thing when it's also full of insults and curses and is followed by a your mom joke? What a Gideon thing to do, be so romantic and gross and sassy all at once. I love her, I want to be her. Gideon forever.

Love that Ianthe also thinks Harrow got rid of Gideon because she didn't want her. /s I'm starting to worry that it's silly for me to hold onto the 'because she can't live without Gideon' explanation.'

"But Nonagesimus, you hating me always meant more than anyone else in this hot and stupid universe loving me. At least I'd had your full attention." That's why indifference is the opposite of love, hate is still passionate attention. But this also makes me feel so bad for Gideon because she deserves to be loved, dammit!

Okay, "gall on gall" is pretty hilarious. Good job Ianthe.

Love that the ghost of Matthias Nonius speaks in meter because he's been so deified by the Ninth house, and he's confused by it. It's like people in a musical being aware they're in a musical, like, why am I singing?

Ortus' poem was important after all!

Is it the sword? Does Harrow have to destroy Gideon's sword? Because that would break my heart a little.

"It bewildered her, back at Canaan House, how the whole of her always seemed to come back to Gideon. For one brief and beautiful space of time, she has welcomed it: that microcosm of eternity between forgiveness and the slow uncomprehending agony of the fall. Gideon rolling up her shirt sleeves. Gideon dappled in shadow, breaking promises. One idiot with a sword and an asymmetrical smile had proved to be Harrow's end." I just... This is so beautifully written. And describing Gideon as one idiot with a sword is so perfect and right and I just... 🖤🖤🖤😭😭😭

No no no I hate this either/or bullshit! I know I'm a sappy optimist, but I want both of them to survive, damnit! I want Harrow to be able to go back to her body without losing Gideon's soul. I want Gideon to keep existing.

What does Dulcinea know?!?!

Commander? That's Gideon's mom, right? Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity

What does that all mean? Are those Eminem lyrics? What other language is in there?

WHAT'S ALL COME OUT?

I knew she was in the sword.

Oh my god, if you need John to get in the tomb, and she was trying to get in the tomb and had something, a tool... Samples... She was armed with the baby... Is Gideon's father John? Is Gideon the fucking child of God?

She named the baby Bomb... This whole series could have been Bomb the Ninth... Bomb Nav...

Yep yep called it, child of God. The first time they put that plan in action was to get sperm to make Gideon. The second time was so Harrow could kill the first Gideon.

A dad joke?! A DAD JOKE?!

Gideon and Harrow were so cruel to each other as kids. It just makes me so sad.

Was Harrow able to get into the tomb because she made Gideon bleed?

So is Alecto John's cavalier? Annabel and Alecto... Are the same person? I'm so confused. She's the body in the locked tomb? But how is that related to her eyes being in his genes?

Wait, the eyes switched? I continue to be confused. Did he do the lyctor thing but also put a part of both him and his cavalier into the cavalier's body? But she was never human? What's going on? Why do they think she never had genes?

Oh cool, Mercy killed God and now everyone's gonna die... ... ... Ooooor not.

I love that beating up Harrow is Gideon's job AND saving Harrow is Gideon's job. Very cute.

Sooooo Gideon the OG and Pyrrha both fucked Gideon's mom... With the same body...

Gideon, such a romantic, wishing she had Harrow's name on her lips as she died. "I mean, yeah, I was thinking about you too; if I could've turned that off I would've turned it off years ago" HAHAHAHAHA You can't stop thinking about Harrow even if you want to! God, what a sweet himbo.

"Yes, well, jail for mother" says Gideon... Is she referencing Miette? Jail for mother for one thousand years!

Okay, so we have definitely confirmed that the Body is Alecto/Annabel/God's cavalier.

What did Dulcinea tell her? That Gideon is moving her body around? Doesn't she know that? Shouldn't that not be a surprise?

Okay, so, wait, what happened to Harrowhark?

ARRRRRGH I'm not smart enough for this book! Or I'm not visual enough! I know I should recognize the description of bobbed hair and "lambent" eyes but I have no idea who it is and also WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO GIDEON AND HARROWHARK?! UGH NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK AND I'M GONNA BE SO IMPATIENT AND CONFUSED!

Well that was fun to reread. Impressed I got some things right, but mostly I was very wrong.

[lemon-natalia]

Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 44

oh no oh no its the first person narrator again, i feel like this is either Gideon or someone very bad and i am terrified, what the fuck

GIDEON NAV THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS BACK!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

it is very important to me that you know half my annotations for this chapter were just ‘gideon!’ in all caps

oh she’s vowing to make whoever stabbed Harrow pay, i love this girl so much. speaking of, who the fuck did try to kill Harrow? ‘Ortus’ the First again? (i’m not gonna call this guy Gideon until i have explicit confirmation thats his name just in case lol)

oh okay!!!! the description of the Heralds as basically a bee made of meat and blood sounded a little strange initally but this is the stuff of actual nightmare fuel!!! 🙃

‘i don’t care how much of a hot badass I’m meant to be’ GIDEON ❤️

yeah that sword isn’t in great condition. but that’s not about to stop Gideon, who is totally awesome and just tears that thing to pieces, fuck yeah 

‘Harrowhark i gave you my whole life and you didn’t even want it’ calling Harrow by her full name!!! and nooo Gideon, Harrow just didn’t want you to sacrifice yourself!! these girls CANNOT communicate wow

‘which looks dumb as hell by the way, like Silas Octakiseron got into the glitter drawer’ GIDEON ❤️

GIDEON JUST CALLED HARROW ‘HONEY’ and immediately leapt into battle! fuck yeah!!

i am finding it hard to express in words just how happy i am right now. like i absolutely adore Harrow, but its Gideon again!! i missed her and her funky narration style so much. 

i desperately want Gideon-as-Harrow to meet the other Lyctors, especially Ianthe, and the Emperor just to see their reactions to the Everything that is her. i think Mercy might spontaneously combust at Gideon’s sheer presence in the same room as her tbh

[blackestnight]

a few weeks ago, after seven days spent mired in physical and emotional hell (but getting paid for it), i decided to Treat Yo Self by spending money on books that i had been meaning to read but had not gotten around to. reviews:

the valley and the flood: stellar. poignant. beautiful. perfectly toes the line of my tolerance for horror, which is historically Not Great, in order to bring me unfathomable eldritch terrors that i both want to run screaming from and invite over for a potluck. someone please give the flood a hug. can i give the flood a hug? would it kill me to give the flood a hug? i’d try it anyway. also i adore cassie and she and rose should go on to have a beautiful friends-to-lovers slowburn and there’s a fic brewing somewhere in the back of my mind about the third most accurate prophet in lotus valley and the girl who is the harbinger of apocalypse by living history walking into a bar, but i need a good punchline.

call down the hawk: technically i (re-)read the raven cycle first, because i’d only read trk once and needed a refresher, so that wrecked me all over again, and then cdth just fucked me up. i’m spiritually putting a “PROUD HARVARD MOM” bumper sticker on my car in honor of my son, adam parrish, and i am also extremely proud of him for following the age-old tradition of just not having time for straight friends in college. i also adore jordan and hennessey, my terrible daughters, thank you maggie for both of them. i adore hennessey’s dynamic with ronan. i’m incredibly jealous of both hennessey’s and ronan’s swords, even if it’s probably a bad decision to let ronan near a sword. ronan and adam slow-dancing in the kitchen made my eyes mist over because they both deserve the best things in life. i have not yet gotten my hands on mister impossible, which is a tragedy, but in the meantime i’m going to be stewing in my feelings because this book somehow made me like declan lynch, of all people, who i have regarded with complete disdain for an entire four-novel series. what the fuck. (tragic lack of gansey, blue, henry, and opal, but i will forgive this on the grounds that we know for a fact gansey spent at least part of the book chained to a redwood tree and opal is living her best, most feral satyr child life.)

the locked tomb books: i stayed up until 1 am to finish bingeing harrow last night/this morning and what the fuck. oh my god. i’m ruined. how did nobody make me read these books before now?? i am UNDONE. please put “one flesh, one end” on my gravestone. i am still reeling from emotional hangover. i don’t think i’ve ever read a series where i was so completely invested in every character, even the minor characters who got written out a handful of chapters in, even the antagonists despite historically not being a villain appreciator. i made the mistake after finishing gideon of saying that ortus was probably the single exception to this because he just literally was not in the book except to have all the resolve and personality of wet cardboard, and then harrow served me my own words on a silver platter so i could choke on them. i love all of them so much. also, camilla hect? ma’am? ma’am. even aside from the incredible cast and the jaw-dropping narration (”let me live long enough to die at your feet,” “she was the first resurrection. she was my adam,” “i gave you my whole life and you never wanted it,” ffffffffuck) the plot is just so fucking good?? it keeps taking hairpin turns but they’re so masterfully laid out that i’m not even mad??? also, the absolute audacity of including a roleswap au, and a regency arranged marriage au, and a coffee shop au, in your own novel? miss muir you absolute legend.