#I read gideon the ninth a while back and *finally* getting into harrow

[marscats37]

idk if this is an unpopular opinion or anything but i hate that gideon the ninth (or the locked tomb series in general) is marketed as "lesbian necromancers in space" literally on the cover because it made it seem like I should read it just because it's gay (which is a marketing strategy that unfortunately has not worked on me in a while) and because of that I kind of put off the series for a while ?

But I read it (and currently on the second installment) and I really really like it, the world building is incredibly cool and I dig the characters (especially ianthe lol...) and I'm not good at literacy comprehension so I don't really want to go too much in depth but I really like it so far and I can't wait to read more

[thatneoncrisis]

i wrote a big long essay talking about tlt and how it engages with describing the skintones of brown characters its under a read more bc it is so long.

I already left a long comment about this on someone else post but I wish I could study tazmuirs odd little habit of dancing around the fact that Gideon and Harrow are women of color when she describes them, and how this kind of extends to other brown characters

We get a million descriptions for how sickly pale ianthe Silas and cytherea are, what a lovely golden tan corona has, the odd tannish yellow hue of colum, all imagined by her, in her own words, to be white. Then when it comes to Marta and Judith they're called dark like Once in the text. I don't think it's even mentioned for Jeannemary and magnus in the entirety of gtn though I will gladly stand corrected if I missed something. It's such a non factor for them, which normally I would overlook if it wasn't for the aforementioned specificity of how white characters are described on Top of one of the major themes of the book being how John, a Maori man, resurrected a largely Polynesian population and then proceed to rule them using the exact same methods that actively colonized new zealand. Like I just think it's really interesting that in many ways, the story is about two young Maori women completely stripped of cultural heritage, they can't even speak te reo maori they cannot even conceptualize the scale of that kind of loss. Theyve been to earth once and during her brief time there Gideon literally died on it's soil it feels so poignant

Back to them specifically being Not Pale, this is not me saying they would be "less" maori if they were light-skinned that's total bullshit and the entire paradigm exists as a product of European bullshit. My fascination is more with the fact that tamsyn has clearly thought of them as midtoned to dark skinned. I'm going to be really generous and disregard the Tommy Arnold covers- he is a talented artist but he's not the author and Taz stated in an interview that she didn't envision Gideon with an undercut either so he clearly has little liberties he can take and I'm fine with that get your coin dude. For these two I'm going to have to focus on Nona the Ninth, bc for the entirety of gtn, harrow is described as grey, and while I understand that's bc she's constantly under a mountain of white and black facepaint, we basically never get an objective description for either of them. Gideon stand out features are her build, hair and eyes, like a lot of characters, but it could have been pretty easy to throw in a line about how she seems less desaturated than what one might expect from a ninth cavalier, like a rich warm brown, possibly hinting to other characters that she isn't a ninth native

Htn also gives very little to work with, again harrows primary colors are the blacks whites and greys of facepaint and her hair and the reds of constantly sweating blood. The character who's darker skintone is Most remarked upon (also one of the few ever constantly headcanoned) as black, is g1deon. I've actually spoken to a few people about this and there seems to be some actual Mandela effect shit going on where people remember Taz saying he's black despite me never once finding evidence for this. However, this is not a case where I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, because g1deon being the one black guy in this entire cast, the one who's dark skintone is commented on the most, being the guy who barely speaks, tries killing harrow with a spear 14 times and then dies offscreen. Not good. Bad, actually

Finally onto ntn, in the beginning chapters Nona remarks her (harrows) skintone is the color of an egg carton. I assume she means the light tan, desaturated brown of the cardboard used in certain cartons, which is fitting for harrow, girls lived in an ice cave for 17 years. This is basically the only word we get on it. I believe a few times the text will say something about pyrrha's (g1deon's) brown Everything; brown skin, russet brown hair, rich brown eyes. that character gets to be viewed and constantly affirmed as a brown character in teh way gideon and harrow arent, it kind of others pyrrha. to contrast camillas hands are called tanned way at the beginning while recording nona's dream, then at the way end it says, "Her face still looked grey beneath its nice normal olive," olive being used to describe her once before in gtn as far as i can see. pyrrha's (g1deon's) skintone is one of her most notable features, its brought up to a noticeable agree the text wants you to keep it in your mind when you think of the saint of duty; "Most of Pyrrha was the colours of the building site: deep dried-out browns, dusty hunks of clay, rusted metal." "Pyrrha wouldn’t burn any colour other than her deep cool brown." "Nona took the water from Pyrrha’s brown, work-chapped hand and even sipped it" "Pyrrha had carried Camilla to bed in her big brown arms like Cam weighed nothing" "Pyrrha said, “Thanks, Nums,” and drained the whole thing. Nona,fascinated, watched the brown column of her throat move as she swallowed." its just notable to me when alternatively with nona you'll get a line like "Camilla didn’t say anything to that either, only rubbed her wrists where the tape had been. Nona’s skin was already back to its nice normal colour." like just the vagueness in nice normal color, we get one line about what shes supposed to look like in the beginning and thats it

towards the end during the broadcast, nona gets her first clear look at kiriona, described as: "warm-coloured skin that should have been a similar brown hue to Nona’s, except that there was something wrong with it." break out the champagne its official

Obviously, dying takes some color from you. If anything, gideons desaturation should make them More comparable given the egg carton comment and harrows general state of constant anemia. Has Nona gotten darker during her time on new rho? Was Gideon lighter than the cover led us to believe? We don't know. We well never know, which is odd, bc these books fucking love purple prose about people's appearances. We have like seven different synonyms for the shade of ianthes hair. New words for black have to be invented in order to convey harrows eyes which are Black, not the dark muddy brown of someone like ortus. It's less that I'm bothered by the text not hyperfocusing on their skin and more it picking and choosing when it will laser focus on a detail like that, and how often it's skipped over to the point that I like, constantly see people draw harrow as incredibly pale, which is very different from being light-skinned

Finally, I know people can dismiss this as like an audience interpretation thing. I know I actively draw harrow darker than Gideon which I know isn't canon. But this is less about Fandom response to the text and more the text itself and how it's like. Afraid to say brown. near the end of ntn i found One instance of it referring to gideons "slim brown hand" on nonas cheek and that is direct as it gets. even her other like, strongly non european traits are sort of danced around. her nose is "a nose that was the complete opposite of Nona’s nose, one that put her in mind of those big poison desert cats Born in the Morning was crazy about." a very fanciful description, you have to infer that nona means that its probably flat and wide, also giving us the information that harrows is most likely narrow and straight, possibly downturned. im not opposed to this, especially given the character talking about her is nona, but then you get the following paragraph:

"Her skin was very much dead-person skin, ashen and tinted the wrong colour around the nostrils and the mouth. But even if she hadn’t been dead, Nona was critical. Her eyelashes were very dark, but short and curly, whereas Nona thought all eyelashes should be long and straight (her own eyelashes were long and straight). The corpse had too much mouth and a dimple (nobody in her home had a dimple). You could not, at least, see the veins in her eyelids, which were heavy and cold and deep-set. But Nona thought it was going to be a shame to go from being so lovely as she was to being so—redheaded."

its a very frank description. dimple, curly lashes, red head, dead skin, probably a wide mouth. her nose is contrasted against nonas nose, which is also never directly described, and then compared to a fantasy animal we have never heard of until right now

kicks rocks. there isnt a point to this. the series is almost over, there is zero reason to like, knock on taz's door and ask why she did this or that. it doesnt stop me from loving the series, and the insinuation that noticing this means i must dislike the series is frankly insane (real thing that happened). if someone got the impression that harrow was white given how shes described i wouldnt blame them honestly, its most apparent she isnt in the third book (with the cover art being incredibly ambiguous) and a single blog post from taz mentioning shes maori, immediately followed by an "oh i dont care how you see the characters" addendum, which i think is like. an odd thing to tack on bc them descended from kiwis is like, very integral to the story, and gideon being the daughter of the maori man who took everything from her she didnt even know she could have and the (presumably, given her name and a very brief description) maori woman fighting to get that world back its like. damn. it feels a little important. that the audience knows theyre maori. like a little. it feels intertwined with the whole thing about john using european standards of imperialism and general aesthetics to hurt his own kid. actually.

[asthedeathoflight]

It's very funny when people reading Gideon the ninth for the first time comment in confusion about how little people talk about "Dulcinea" but like. Actually we DONT talk about Cytherea enough.

Cytherea - who was dying for 10,000 years! Cytherea the miracle worker who was brought before God and he LIED to her and he told her and her friends they were doing the right thing and he WATCHED as they killed each other and he is DOING IT ALL OVER AGAIN. Cytherea who is trying to get God's attention but who is also trying in her own monstrous way to be kind. They all have to die because /the only other option is to become what she is./ Of course Jeannemary and Isaac have to die. Isaac has to die because she can't let him kill Jeannemary. Jeannemary has to die because she watched Isaac die and Cytherea knows there's no coming back from that. Dulcinea HAS to die because the only other option is to suffocate slowly in her own cancer for 10,000 years and Cytherea /can't let her do that./ The fifth and the fourth and the sixth and the ninth - they ALL have to die because if she could go back that's what she would have wanted. They don't know it yet, but in 10,000 years, they'd want it too. She didn't take her chance to die when she had it. They don't know how lucky they are.

And Cytherea who put on airs of being petty and selfish meanwhile she gave herself away until there was nothing left. Cytherea who hated God because he took everything she had without blinking twice. Cytherea who said over and over "me, I will" and whose sisters and brothers died around her and who wouldn't let them forget about Loveday - who loved Loveday when they all hated her.

Cytherea who held Gideon in her arms while she was dying during the siphoning trial and told her "remember this feeling. Remember how much it hurts. And if anyone ever asks this of you, you have to remember and say no." Gideon, who reminded Cytherea so much of Loveday. Cytherea, who /asked that of Loveday./ And Gideon, who went out and /did it anyway./

Cytherea, at the end of everything, who NEEDS to kill Gideon and Harrow because they love each other and she can't let them get it wrong like she and Loveday did, who sees the skull they're hiding in open and sees Gideon's body and sees Harrow pick up that sword and has lost despite everything, and who finally gives up and lets them kill her.

[ourg0dsal]

Gideon Nav CANNOT Die. Hold on- I know... but give me one second and I'll explain.

So, as I said before Gideon Nav cannot die, or at least her body can't. Cause clearly (spoiler warning) Gideon Nav died at the end of Gideon the Ninth. There is no avoiding that.

But! If you have read all the books GtN, HtN, and NtN including all of the accompanying short stories (tho I will admit I have not read The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex yet) then there is a better understanding of the timeline of the whole story outside of just what the three main books give you. Specifically and especially with Gideon's body. But also there are many times In Gideons life were she has faced near death events or events that she should not have survived from and still was breathing on the other side.

To go in chronological order of these events, when she was first born she was found in a container held by the air depraved suit of her mother. And while ofc In the book it does state that her mother had redirected her air supply to Gideon, but it is simply being stated to cover all my bases.

Then the 200 sons and daughters massacre when Gideon was 1 (or 2 im not sure) when she inhaled poisonous air without dying. Which led ofc to the Reverend Mother and Father fearing the ground she walked. And this is a big one because, it literally creates waves in the plot. It's a defining point of Harrow and Gideons relationship. That Gideon did not die when she was supposed to.

Later in the story Gideon talks with Pal when she believes Harrow to be a murderer and openly admits to him that "she nearly killed me a half dozen times growing up" which obviously in context was to emphasize on the brutal relationship between her and Harrow. But this could also be other times where miraculously Gideon survived death when she shouldn't have. Because as we know from the first confrontation between Harrow and Gideon. Harrow doesnt hold back for her.

Finally of all the events where Gideon escapes death, this one actually happens within the main story of Gideon the Ninth. When Harrow siphons from Gideon to retrieve one of the challenge keys. And at the end when Gideon passes out, it is narrated ""ha-ha," said Gideon, "first time you didn't call me Griddle," AND DIED." Now, this could obviously just be the snarkiness of Gideon narrating. Or something incredibly clever left behind by Tamsyn Muir for a book series that is so clearly meant to be reread. But ofc to do my rounds the next line after does state "well, passed out. But it felt a hell of a lot like dying." But then immediately after "wake up had an air of ressurection." Which honestly feels like Tamysn Muir teasing the readers at this point. The question then becomes rather, which one was the tease and which one was foreshadowing/ evidence.

Now the point of listing all of these events is that in all of these cases the chances of death are so incredibly high that for most its a miracle she's alive. Ofc most notably for the siphoning trial and the poision gas, but none the less there is proof within the written story and and out that Gideon has looked death in face and moved on with maybe a headache. And it wasn't just in her child hood this is something she can just do. Some recreated in the written story! Because as Pal said. Even with the siphoning challenge done perfectly the chances of leaving Cam with severe brain damage was far to high. And Gideon didn't even suffer that.

Sadly, despite all these Gideon gets to the final battle and fights Cytherea and does die. At the hands of a particularly pointy fence. Or was it truly the fence that did her in? Rather than the lyctorship ritual that was started seconds afterwards.

My full theory, isnt just that Gideon Nav can't die. It's that Gideon Nav wouldn't have been able to die... If Harrow hadn't sucked her soul out. There are at the very least 8 seperate events that Gideon should have died, two of which were nearly gauranteed, but she was ended by a piece of metal. Yes, a very well placed piece a metal, but the point still up to that point she had faced worse a came out unscathed.

If Harrow had not completed the lyctor ritual, Gideon would not have died. Wether or not through resurrection or simply walking it off. Gideon's body has some sort of necromantic attributes to it that keep her alive. We see this in the Untitled Entry short story with Judith Deuteros that describes Gideons body, as it does not rot, cannot be injured, cannot be fed to animals forced or otherwise. And that is all before Jod ever gets a look at the body, because otherwise he would have known Gideon was his daughter before the later events of Harrow the Ninth.

And ofc during the first challenge when Harrow uses Gideon as her eyes to be able to see the construct in the other room and Gideon is able to see the thanergetic signatures that Harrow remarks should be impossible. (I assume because the process is Harrow extracting information (Gideons eyesight) from Gideon and so Gideon should not also be receiving information (the ability to see the signatures)) unless Gideon had some form of necromantic abilities, which she was tested for as a kid and apparently did not have. Alongside not having the correct attitude to be a nun of the ninth. And so we can round it out to be her body being naturally necromantic leaving Gideon without the ability to use it. (Which Is a jump from the actual point we are attempting to use, but for now this stops us from assuming Gideon as any sort of necromantic ability which is a theory all on its own. One that I personally have no evidence for or against)

Now, that I have hopefully made both my Ap Lit and Lang teachers proud with my 3 am essay, I must give you the real tragedy of Gideon the Ninth. Had Gideon not died, had Harrow been unable to complete the lyctor ritual for emotional reasons or otherwise, had Harrow not become a lyctor and killed cytherea. Gideon would have had to watch Harrow and Cam be killed, possibly even Corona, Judith and Ianthe. And then to be used for Cythereas own motives. Tamysn Muir beautifully set up the story so that the best possible outcome could have happened. Had Gideon not died. Everyone else would have. And "Camilla the sixth was no idiot" cam knew and accepted this whereas Harrow never would have. And so the unkillable Gideon had to die, and forcing Harrows hand was the only way to do it.

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Characters

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The legend herself. I still love her so much.

I also have some questions, and some answers. This is gonna be a long one.

How did she open the tomb?

I puzzled over this for most of the book. Always assumed that John was lying when he said it was impossible - but then again, Gideon was around, so did she get Gideon's blood somehow? Or was it something else?

The proof was right here - right after John was revealed to be Gideon's dad:

It was worse when I was a kid. I remember the time you caught me telling her, I love you, and I can’t even remember what you said, but I remember that I had you on your back—I put you straight on the fucking ground. I was always so much bigger and so much stronger. I got on top of you and choked you till your eyes bugged out. I told you that my mother had probably loved me a lot more than yours loved you. You clawed my face so bad that my blood ran down your hands; my face was under your fucking fingernails. When I let you go you couldn’t even stand, you just crawled away and threw up. Were you ten, Harrow? Was I eleven? Was that the day you decided you wanted to die?

Harrow was ten; she had Gideon's face under her fingernails. Harrow opened the blood ward when she tried to kill herself. This makes a lot of sense. Mystery solved.

Is Harrow actually insane? Is the Body more than a hallucination?

Simply put: No, and yes. The Body is the manifestation of Alecto herself. She hitched a ride with Harrow's body when Harrow opened the tomb. She's been "haunted" by Alecto, the same way she was haunted by Wake for most of HtN.

I realised that this must be the case when I read this, after Harrow tries to kiss Alecto's ghost on the mouth.

As though you had crossed no boundary, and above the soundless rough shouting in your ears, the Body said: “I have to go away for a while,” and you regretted everything. “I have done wrong,” you said. There was the tiniest suggestion of a furrow in that cool unbreathing brow, and she said, “How?”

Alecto isn't upset that Harrow kissed her. She simply has to go away for a while. I thought about this. I read it as upset in my first read, but now it doesn't feel that way at all. "As though you had crossed no boundary", questioning why Harrow would think she'd done wrong. Alecto isn't upset at the kiss. She just has to go do Important Alecto Business.

Harrow interacts with Alecto throughout HtN. The Body is always there, until it isn't. Picking up on what we learned about Revenants from Wake, Harrow is haunted by Alecto in the same way. Dulcie, in the bubble, confirmed that she could sense someone other than Wake. Alecto came forward to Gideon when Harrow's sternum was shattered, her tomb was empty in Harrow's final vision.

Alecto isn't a revenant. She may not even be a ghost. Some essence of her, however, managed to cling to Harrow and infiltrate her mind. Alecto's powers must be strong - did she have enough of a connection with Harrow to adhere to her body? Wake needed Harrow to die to come forward - Alecto may have no such limitations. She's there, in Harrow's peripheral vision, most of the time. I don't think she had the limitation of needing that connection. Anyone or anything would do, hence the locked in an ice cave behind a million wards. Not exactly a revenant, as Alecto's body is almost certainly still alive, but an ability to cast her spirit and let it cling on to something, anything that moved in there.

Is Harrow actually insane? Well, on one hand, yes. She's Harrow, after all. She's had to live with what she thought were hallucinations all her life. She's been hearing things like the Secundarius bell and doors closing/banging as well, which might also be Alecto's input - some sound comes in even through the ice?

Alternatively, well, Harrow has 200 souls inside her, from the kids that were killed. (How did the Ninth, a house of mostly decrepit elders, get 200 children anyway?) Those kids will have left some kind of mark on her soul, and they all would have heard the bell and doors during their short lives. Maybe it's just a reflection of this.

This means that the hallucinations we've seen Harrow have, are all likely caused by souls hitching a ride with Harrow. Wake, Alecto, the unnamed 200.

Doesn't mean Harrow hasn't been hearing things and seeing things that were ostensibly not there, though. All throughout her entire life! That kinda stuff would drive anyone a bit mad.

Mind you, Cytherea under her bed was absolutely real. Ianthe took advantage of Harrow's vulnerability in that moment.

I'm still convinced that Ianthe is with Eden in some way. Eden came to Canaan House first, retrieved Camilla, Coronabeth and Judith, along with part of Palamedes's skull. Cytherea somehow managed to call BoE to the scene before she died. Harrow wiped some memories - maybe she strategically also wiped this memory? I really wanna know what happened at this point in the story.

Okay well I think it's time to talk about what and who we know.

>> Next: Ianthe, Coronabeth and the Blood of Eden

[grigori77]

Once again, to celebrate this awesome day, I thought I'd give another shout-out to some more of those wonderful ladies that I alove and admire, both those who hve inspired me for a while now, and those that I just recently discovered ...

IMAN VELLANI. Oh my sweet girl! :3 Exploding onto the scene thanks to the recent acclaimed hit/fan favourite that was the Disney/Marvel Ms. Marvel streaming show, the most adorable geek girl in ALL THE WORLD really got a major, much deserved profile boost (regardless of the problems) thanks to her co-starring return to the role of super-popular young Marvel superhero Kamala Khan in The Marvels. She's a genuine absolute SWEETHEART and she deserves all the success that's surely coming to her.

GIDEON NAV & HARROWHARK NONAGESIMUS. Yup, I have FINALLY gotten round to reading Tamsyn Muir's ridiculously popular sci-fi fntasy novel series The Locked Tomb! It's still early days, I'm only on Gideon the Ninth, but I am ALREADY falling head over heels in love with the story's central duo, the reluctant warrior Gideon, a snarky oversized golden retriever of a woman, and her "hated" charge, Harrow, the scheming, overly-ambitious scion to an ancient clan of intergalactic necromancers, who's a metaphorical vicious little soaked ferret. I love them, they're so adorably dysfunctional ...

AWKWAFINA. For me, one of the funniest people around, this musician, comedian and actress deserves every ounce of success she's earned for herself. I mostly know her for her acting, having been a fan ever since she was in Ocean's 8, since showing up in a raft of great roles in the likes of Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings, Raya & the Last Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians and Swan Song, although she's REALLY hitting her stride now, showing up in REALLY BIG stuff like Renfield, Quiz L\ady and, now, the incoming (and long-awaited) Kung Fu Panda 4.

TATIANA SUAREZ. Perhaps the most incredible sportswoman I have come across in a good long while, this one is a TRUE INSPIRATION REVELATION. A strong up-and-coming contender for UFC World Champion, she's been through SO MUCH in her life to get where she is now, having had her teenage dreams of being an Olympic Gold Medal wrestler dashed after an accident during training led to the discovery of a burgeoning case of thyroid cancer. Fighting off the condition, she then fought her way back after embracing judo and then mixed martial arts, before AGAIN suffering a debilitating neck injury which NEARLY ended her sporting career again, forcing her to take another long-term hiatus to get back into fighting shape ... just as COVID hit. Now she's back again, fighting fit and better than ever, hungry for that next chance and looking like she's definitely gonna get it this time ...

SINEAD O'CONNOR. The last 13 months have been really tough, we've had to say goodbye to some truly wonderful people, but one in particular REALLY HURT. The music industry lost a true GEM with the passing of this genuine GODDESS, the Irish singer-songwriter best known for her INSANELY popular cover of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U, although those in the know recognise that she was ONE HELL of a force nature in her own right, courting controversy throughout her career for her outspoken religious and political views. She NEVER backed down on what she believed, and earned my undying respect and admiration for it.

FLORENCE PUGH. A completely amazing young actress who's had a trily ASTOUNDING rise to fame in recent years, I've be a fan of Flo's ever since she broke out in a MASSIVE WAY in the twisted psychological drama Lady Macbeth. She's blown us all away since, lighting up the screen in the likes of midsommar, Don't Worry Darling, Oppenheimer and, now, Dune, Part Two, but now, for me she will ALWAYS be Yelena Belova, the true successor to the MCU's Black Widow mantle.

MIZU. One of my favourite female characters of the past year (although I'm sure she would balk at actually bringing up her gender), the titular lead protagonist of Netflix' wild runaway success new animated series Blue Eye Samurai is a genuinely fascinating and intoxivating character, who prompts profound debate about gender roles and personal identity while kicking arse in SPECTACULAR FASHION indeed in feudal Japan.

TEYONAH PARRIS. Definitely one of THE MOST AMAZING African American actresses coming up right now, this young lady is definitely earning her breakout star status. Having come up through sterling turns in the likes of Dear White People, Chi-Raq, If Beale Street Could Talk and Candyman, before finally making good on all that promise with high profile lead turns in THey Cloned Tyrone and her ongoing role as MCU superhero MOnica Rambeau/Photon in Wandavision and The Marvels.

BILLIE EILISH. What do I REALLY need to say about one of the most popular and astoundingly unique musical artists of the moment? Ever since her breakthrough at just THIRTEEN YEARS OLD with her wildly successful first single, Ocean Eyes, which became a massive runaway smash on Youtube, this incredibly talented young singer songwriter has consistently impressed with ever release, entirely deserving her immense success with an amazing debut EP and two subsequently BRILLIANT albums. She keeps going from strength to strength, and at just 22 years old is only just BEGINNING what's sure to be a MONSTER of a career ...

KITTY O'NEIL. A true legend in cinema, even though most of us have NEVER actually seen her face, this little lady was one of the GREATEST stuntwomen and racers of all time, and a MASSIVE inspiration throughout her life as well. Despite going deaf due to illness during childhood, Kitty still went on to become a record-breaking racing driver and professional stunt performer, probably best known for having doubled Linda Cart in Wonder Woman and Lyndsey Wagner in The Bionic Woman. It's a genuine mystery why Hollywood hasn't made a biopic about her yet ...

HOLGA KILGORE. Probably my ABSOLUTE favourite fictional female protagonist of 2023, the badass barbarian lady from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a pure, unapologetic JOY, thanks in no small part to a wonderfully game turn from Michelle Rodriguez. Holga's just an absolute sweetheart, fully capable of decimating a whole room full of big, dangerous men with her bare hands without ever losing her gentle kindness, simple, honest innocence and unswerving loyalty. TRULY the MVP warrior tank any adventuring party wants in their corner ...

SIOUXSIE SIOUX. Truly one of alternative rock's true, all time GOATs, the lead singer of one of goth's greatest and most important bands, Siouxsie & the Banshees, is a singular master of haunting, ethereal vocals and a genuine style ICON who lent her look and manner to a whole GENERATION of scary young women ...

SABINE WREN & SHIN HATI. While my favourite Star Wars offering of 2023, the opening season of the Ahsoka series, was, all round, just SO GREAT for me, there was one particular element that just stuck with me above ANYTHING ELSE - the season-long rivalry between Ahsoka's troubled Mndalorian apprentice Sabine and Dark Jedi student Shin. They raged, continuously tried to kill each other and endlessly traded smouldering looks of hate that bordered on OBSESSION ... all while genuinely SIMMERING with barely restrained sexual tension. They made the whole fandom FERAL, myself includced. #wolfwren indeed ...

BRODY DALLE. And last, but BY NO MEANS LEAST, a little more personal self-indulgience ith one of my greatest rock-fan super crushes, namely the awesome Aussie lead singer/guitarist of supercool punk bands the Distillers and Spinnerette. Still rocking her iconic status to this day, she remains a genuine inspiration ...

[paradoxcase]

Gideon the Ninth audiobook, rest of Part 1

One thing you can say for audiobooks, they go faster, especially since I'm not essentially reading everything twice now. But I don't feel like I would retain it in the same way I do when I read visually, if this were the first time through

I am getting used to the pronunciation of "Nonagesimus", as expected

More voices:

Teacher is not at all what I expected, I expected more disconcerting jollity and less creaky old person voice. The nonbinary priest I expected to be more creaky, but their voice is not creaky at all

Cytherea's voice is basically exactly what I imagined, though

Also, Teacher's pronunciation of "Naberius" doesn't match the pronunciation guide here, or the pronunciation in the Dramatis Personae, which is odd

More stuff I noticed:

Aiglamene said, when looking for a sword: "I'm looking for a blade in the style of [Ortus's] great-grandmother's." Is this the great-grandmother who owned Nonius's sword that Ortus was talking about with Abigail in Harrow the Ninth?

Gideon asks "How are you going to get Ortus back, anyway?" and Harrow has a moment where she reacts to that - originally I though this was just reluctance to break it to Gideon that she was replacing him, but I now I think it's that they have gotten the news that the shuttle exploded

Gideon makes a joke that by being Harrow's cavalier she would be responsible for aiding "Harrowhark Nonagesimus's fascist rise to power." But what historical reference does she actually have for fascist rises to power? Nobody remembers WWII anymore. Arguably the only fascist rise to power they have a reference for is John's if you want to label him that way, and certainly none of them objected to that (or, I think, even have much information about it). I don't think this universe has the historical and political depth for a character to be making a joke like this

Aiglamene tells Harrow that if she doesn't free Gideon after attaining Lyctorhood, she would consider it a betrayal, because she's trying to secure freedom for Gideon in order to get her to go along with the plan to go to Canaan House with Harrow. I think this goes a long way to explain why Aiglamene is very angry at Harrow at the end of Nona when she finds out that Gideon died

Harrow says "we're not becoming an appendix of the Third or Fifth House" when talking about why it's important to not reveal the state of the Ninth to anyone. I missed this the first time through, but it's making more sense to me now why Harrow didn't want outside help

Harrow says "I'll mix bonemeal in with your breakfast and punch my way through your gut" which I have seen other people comment on, although I can't remember if I ever said anything about it myself. But my thought is that the reason Harrow was able to conceive of and execute the soup assassination while incredibly sleep deprived was that she had already worked out and finalized the whole plan back on the Ninth when she was coming up with ways to torment Gideon. It was probably just lucky that that plan also turned out to be effective against a Lyctor

I know the sunglasses are mostly a meme, but I'm wondering now why there were sunglasses on Pluto for Gideon to find. That seems like the last place in the universe for there to be sunglasses

The description of Teacher's belt doesn't really resemble the friendship bracelets, I don't think, although it is described as being rainbow colored

The narration says "her legs ran as swiftly as her awful judgement" when Gideon is running to rescue Cytherea, which seems a bit like foreshadowing, since I think on the first readthrough the reader doesn't have a reason to find fault with her judgement here

[carica-ficus]

"Nona the Ninth"

08/07/2024

Reading progress: 116/477 (24%) Read through since last update: 116

And I'm off with Nona! My boyfriend got me the book about a month ago, but I haven't had the time (nor the mental capacity) to pick it up back then. But it's summer and I just finished my last exam, so I decided it was finally the right time to continue the series. I know this book is only an intro to Alecto and offers something a little different than Harrow and Gideon, but I'm welcoming this change with open arms and am very excited to see what Muir's got in store for me.

Ok, enough yapping. Time for the commentary:

Starting off: background for John. Interesting, but I hate that it's so short and vague (in the best way, of course. I'm excited for it to be revealed later on.)

I'm concentrating SO HARD on connecting the pieces from Pyrrha talking to Cam (Palamedes). It's been a while since I've read Harrow, so I'm struggling to connect the dots. Although, I realize much of this is also just new info, so I don't particularly mind. I'm just making sure I don't skip over something important (i.e. I'm doing very active reading).

Yeah, I wouldn't wanna eat those nasty looking eggs either, Nona.

I like how Muir gave Nona a down-turned smile. That's such a cute addition to her design. (If I understood that part about that description correctly.)

Not gonna lie, the part where Nona's difficulty with controlling her body was mentioned was so heavy...

Yeah, no. Everything linked to Nona's disability is incredibly raw. It's filled with sadness, but also compassion and love. She allows herself to be proud of her progress, no matter how small it is, and I love that Muir decided to give her the space to do that. ❤️

One day when I re-read the series (because I will), I'm going to pay special attention to the character's relationship to sex. Or maybe I'm gonna read up on someone else's analysis. Because I find it really interesting how Muir approaches this subject, especially considering many of her characters are on the verge of adulthood and are suddenly entering a world filled with things they know nothing about (or very little). They've all been forced to grow up so fast, but had no time to actually develop into functional, grown adults. Idk, I just find all of this very interesting.

Nona not feeling any hunger? Also resistant to drinking bleach? Ok, so she is definitely immortal and I'm excited to find out why. (I.e. the whole truth about her identity.)

John, I'd laugh at your Coke Zero joke. Then make fun of you for drinking such a shitty drink.

Incorrupti? There's no full stop at the end of the paragraph, so it's obviously cut off. Strange...

I like how the parts are numbered. it's a count-down. And I love how Muir uses this trope. Just when you forget about it, you get reminded and then you think to yourself: shit.

I love the way Nona gets dressed. It's described so well. I have a clear image of her trying to both free herself from her pjs and put herself into her dayclothes. It's such a funny scene.

A CHEESEBURGER WITH TINY LEGS! CUTE!

HHHHH CAMILLA AND PALAMEDES MY BELOVED!!! They're so fucking cute.

Also, yeah Pyrrha's right about the letters. Knowing Palamedes is actually not opposed to writing pornography... 👁️👁️

Damn, Honesty's got balls. That was such a wild mission.

Of course the Convoy is transporting something, but what are those creatures (people)? Hm hm hm. They're cooking up something.

NOODLE IS WEARING BOOTSIES!!!!!!!!!

HE SOUNDED LIKE ONE AND A HALF HORSES!!!!!!!

I LOVE John's titles!!!!!!!!!!

BRUH

BRUH

What is chapter #9?????

I literally inhaled it.

Bruh...

Cam and Palamedes though 😭😭❤️❤️❤️😭❤️😭❤️😭❤️😭❤️❤️❤️😭😭

How am I already at 1/4 of the book? It's been 3 days!! Guess it goes to show I wasn't in a reading slump, but was just reading boring books.

[dreamofhircine]

okay so here is the 2023 books year-in-review, this is going to be v. long because I ended up reading & re-reading a lot of my backlog after rebuilding the bookshelves in our house. This is going to be roughly sorted, and I'll try and say a little bit about each thing.

Hazel Jane Plante

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) - I adored this! It's a slimmer book, closer to a novella, but it was maybe my favorite piece this whole year. The central premise of this is that in a haze of grief after the death of her bestie a woman gets way too into their shared fandom and writes a combination of TV show fandom zine, obituary & love letter. The two-part narrative structure is something that Plante would go on to play w/ more in

Any Other City - also a great book! This is written as the memoir of a trans punk rock star split between her journal style letters in the 90s as she navigated an art scene as a woman who doesn't realize it yet, and then picks up again in the 2020s after her own celebrity was cemented.

Casey Plett

Little Fish - Really rad slice of life about a mennonite trans woman in Canada who has a lot of feelings about that. This feels more than anything like a strong expansion upon several of Plett's short stories in A Dream of a Woman.

A Dream of a Woman - I got lost in so many of the stories in this anthology, Plett writes the lives of these women so vividly it feels like you know them. You probably *do* know them.

A Safe Girl to Love - Plett's first anthology, recently re-published. I was not *as big* a fan of this one, but it still holds up very well and is a good example of her style generally.

The Locked Tomb - I am gonna talk about all three of these in one go, actually. These were really sweet, really nice, I really like the approach to necromancy as just sort of another kind of science or physical force, worked through a process very close to magic. I've been seeing art of these characters around for a long time now and it is nice to finally put a personality to the faces. The pool scene in GtNth especially really hit.

Gideon the Ninth

Harrow the Ninth

Nona the Ninth

Peter Watts - This is also gonna get a block review because so many of the things here are interconnected to one another. Starfish to Behemoth are all in The Rifters Trilogy, and Blindsight & Echopraxia are a pair. Watts has a really great way of tearing down the human brain and playing with all the ways that trauma can influence it, how adaptational quirks can be weaponized. Starfish is probably the single best way to get into his work, but if 'vampires in space' sounds more your speed then Blindsight has it covered.

Starfish

Maelstrom

Behemoth

Blindsight

Echopraxia

qntm

There Is No Antimemetics Division - This is a republish of qntm's large body of work on the SCP wiki, sharing the same name. This is really solid, and the use of narrative negative space is interesting.

Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories - A slim collection of short stories and an overall much better showing from qntm, no longer tied up w/ SCP stuff. The things that delve into the implication of human mind based AI constructs especially is really strongly written and will leave you thinking for a while after.

The Division - Broken Dawn is the older entry and did not really capture my attention very strongly, it felt phoned in more than anything else. Recruited & Compromised by contrast could stand on their own w/o The Division branding though both are very well integrated into the game, w/ events going back and forth between the two now that the game is getting more narrative content to it.

The Division: Broken Dawn

The Division: Recruited

The Division: Compromised

D&D - You can probably guess why I jumped into these and what game got me to do it. Drizzt is something I avoided for a very long time because of the associations in the fandom and that was probably not unwarranted tbh. I probably won't continue w/ the series after Exile. It is competently written but these things are creaking w/ their own age and just don't have enough going on to stand on their own unfortunately.

Drizzt: Homeland

Drizzt: Exile

The Devil You Know - Another entry in the Brimstone Angels series, which is my favorite of any of the longer running D&D series. Centered around the misadventures of a Tiefling Warlock and how she gets pulled into the big-dick-swinging matches between various devils trying to make their weird little power plays.

40K

Horusian Wars: Incarnation - This was stellar. Great look at the Inquisition and how insular and back-stabby it can be, I hope more comes from this.

Kasrkin - A mostly by the numbers book that was written entirely to promote the 'kasrkin vs necrons' Kill Team box that came out a bit back. Competent but doesn't have anything new or interesting to say.

Pariah - Eh. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. Abnett has long been one of my favorite authors in general, not even just in 40k specifically, but I don't think it is controversial to say he has fallen off lately. Compared to his earlier stuff w/ the Inquisitors, hell even compared to stuff like that Horusian Wars book and Pariah just doesn't do enough and the whole Bequin sequence right now feels like it is mostly being done to shift things around in the meta-narrative rather than be good books that stand on their own feet.

The Armour of Contempt - I re-read this one recently and it was just as good as when I first picked it up in high school. Abnett is at some of his best here.

General Fiction (Unsorted)

The Archive Undying: The Downworld Sequence Book 1 - Homosexual activities in a sci-fi fantasy world once dominated by city-scale god-king AIs that went critically rampant a long time ago. This is a really great start to what I hope will be an excellent series.

The Darkness That Comes Before - Re-read after initially reading this when it was new and I was like a pre-teen. Definitely not a book a pre-teen should read and maybe some of that explains why I am like this now. Let's not look at that *too* closely, yeah? This still stands on its own after all these years, though I hear the series in general kind of flagged after a while. If you're into nihilist fantasy check it out.

Burning Chrome - Re-read and enjoyed yet again. Classic Gibson, lays the frame upon which the rest of his body of work would be built.

Pattern Recognition - Re-read this and it still holds up. Gibson is at his height here, calling shots that would start to land almost *immediately* after he published it. Reading this may re-orient your fashion sense entirely so be forewarned and have a bit of space in your wardrobe first I guess.

All You Need Is Kill - Another re-read! I got back into this after realizing that a lot of that traumatized mech pilot pornography I was writing drew so much inspiration for this. I still love the story, I still love the framing, I still love the short and brutal way it is written and the translation is very solid.

Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse - Yet another re-read. I originally read this in high school and I owe a great amount of creative debt to some of these stories, hugely influential works and I recommend picking this up.

This Shape We’re in - A tiny little novella by the author of Motherless Brooklyn (which is currently sitting in my 'to do' pile). There is no adequate way to describe this that wouldn't sound like a joke, it is Lethem's most unusual and maybe his best for that.

Poetry

In the Shape of a Human Body I Am Visiting the Earth - Mostly translated poetry, this was solidly collected and a great example of Global(tm) Poetry.

One Hundred Apocalypses and other Apocalypses - More microfic really but I liked this. The different ways the world can end, be it physically from bombs or emotionally in a bad text message.

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - Simply beautiful collection of work by torrin a. greathouse, I *adored* this.

Non-Fiction

Underlands: A Deep Time Journey - This was beautiful, simply put. A deep dive (hehe) into places beneath the earth and the people that spend more time beneath the surface than above it. I especially loved the travelogue in the cordoned off sections of the Paris catacombs, you can really feel the claustrophobia and danger of it all.

Bitch: The Female of the Species - I picked this up solely because it had a picture of a hyena on the cover. I do not regret that, it was great and that is something I seldom stay about pop-academic gender books.

Emergence: Labeled Autistic - Temple Grandin's first autobiography. This has been heavily dated in how she talks about being autistic and she has changed her views on this several times, to the point where depending on the version you pick up there may be several introductions from the author in a sequence reflecting on this. It is rare to see autobiographies from notable autistic women, it is rare for there to *be* notable autistic women, so I am really happy that I read this.

Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us - Mostly a photo book that I picked up while on a trip to MFABoston w/ my girlfriend. This is a great little table book if nothing else.

Infrastructural Brutalism: Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure - A somewhat dry but well researched dive into massive infrastructure projects and the death cult attitude that empowers them.

Queering Mennonite Literature - A university press publication, you know the drill w/ these. Good base to start from if you want to get more into the intersection of queer & menno literature, which is why I picked it up after reading a lot of Casey Plett's books.

David Graeber

Bullshit Jobs - Maybe the best that Graeber has been, and also an example of him leaning really hard into the pop-science aspect of his public persona. If you've got an office job that feels completely fake please read this.

The Dawn of Everything - Graeber's last work before his death and... Well I think it is really good, well written, broadly researched, but much like Debt you're going to either agree w/ his premise or not. There are some rather radical takes here. I highly recommend it though.

Debt: The First 5000 Years - There has been a lot of back and forth on this and there will never be a solid answer. I think the arguments made here are fairly strong, pretty convincing, but if you're involved in this academically in any way you're liable to have a lot of strong opinions one way or another as you read it.

LitMags

Clarkesworld: Every sci-fi enjoying homosexual has a Clarkesworld subscription these days so I don't have a lot unique to say about this. Great year for work, I love the regular infusion of translated works as usual, and I hope that the recent business hits they've taken don't impact it too hard. Definitely re-subbing.

Alaska Quarterly Review: There were some good entries to this but for the most part it kind of felt like an 'eating your vegetables' situation. I probably won't renew for the next year, but I don't *regret* picking it up this year either.

McSweeney’s: Solid as ever, though I found the 'halloween' issue they did to be kind of boring overall. Everything else was primarily hits, and I'll be carrying this forward next year.

[marinersubmariner]

I finally read The Locked Tomb series and I’m very excited about it!!!!!

A funny part of this is that when Gideon the Ninth was first getting popular and I was seeing the bone people everywhere I went and read a summary because I wanted to know what the deal was, thinking I would never read it (because tumblr popularity is usually more annoying than it is enticing) and therefore didn’t care about being spoiled. I’m so dumb I’ll do that for things I think I won’t bother with and then when I do eventually decide to consume them I’m like “WELL FORTUNATELY I forgot the spoilers.” Except... while all the details were fuzzy and decontextualized I did very much remember that Gideon dies (and I specifically remember because I found it unusual that the bodyguard-type character was the protagonist instead of the super special magic descendant [ALSO funny in hindsight]). It sorta didn’t matter though because I kept thinking “maybe I’m wrong! or there’s more to it than that! it’s not gonna be what I think!”

And I mean, the resolution of the first book kind of was and kind of wasn’t what I thought it would be. I kept expecting the result to be that Harrow becomes the best Lyctor ever because she accidentally has the best cavalier ever, and for her and Gideon to be able to continue to communicate internally. But I also DIDN’T WANT THAT because when you ship two characters you want them to remain as separate entities with their own minds and bodies! They can’t smooch if they’re in the same body!!!!!! (I have already thought about this a lot because of Reylo. this is like my specialty now. asshole soul-merging space wizards. what the fuck)

So Gideon disappearing made me SUUUUUUPER upset and I worried that she was GONE gone because I’VE BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE. Despite my dim awareness of her continuing popularity I didn’t know if she was actually only in the one book! But then right off the bat in the second book it’s like WINK WINK WHY IS GIDEON NOT BEING MENTIONED AT ALL WINK WINK and I was so relieved and excited, not least because it feels eerily tailor-made for me.

Yeah, of course this circles back to my permanent Star Wars brain damage, but listen, The Rise of Skywalker made me extremely sensitive about favorite characters dying and disappearing and never being mentioned again (nobly sacrificing themselves, even! with accompanying soul transference shenanigans!!!!). So I was immediately hyperaware of the ways in which Gideon was very obviously and purposefully redacted from Harrow the Ninth, and I LOVED IT because I have basically spent the years since TROS trying to reimagine Ben’s death as some weird mystical puzzle and his erasure as something deliberately strange and wrong, since it is such a dissonant false happy ending it feels more akin to a type of horror. So to do it here intentionally, early enough in the series when you know it’s actually going to go somewhere into bizarre space magic, that exact thing I have been wanting and thinking about!!!!!! IT’S VERY EXCITING and now I’m like, damn, why didn’t I read this before?!? This is exactly what I needed!!!!

A story that treats absorbing the person you love to use their life essence as a battery (!!) as not actually an ideal scenario! And being so unable to accept that as a terrible and unfair price to pay that you break all the magic rules!!!! (...and lobotomize yourself, lol.) MUTUALISM OVER PARASITISM YYYEEEAAAHHHHH! How did Star Wars, a story constantly emphasizing “balance in the Force,” get this wrong???? We’ll never know.

As a bonus I’ve now imagined Ben telling Rey “see you on the flip side, sugarlips” in his last moment before he disappears, so that’s fun too.

I was taken aback by the sudden switch to second person narration in Harrow the Ninth, but I didn’t really think too hard about the reason for it because it still sounded like Harrow’s voice. So the reveal when she first says “me” BLEW MY MIND, and of course the full switch when Harrow is out of commission and it’s truly GIDEON AGAIN! was so thrilling. There are so many good uses of ~mysteriousness~ that are vague enough for you to notice and be like ��hm that’s weird” without truly understanding what’s going on so you can backtrack later and be like “omg THAT’S what was going on!!” But to have the NARRATION ITSELF be where a secret is hiding... it was so surprising and so great! I love when I still have the capacity to be totally caught off-guard, especially by things hidden in plain sight.

I mean, just Gideon starting to seep in before the full switch (coffee shop AU oh my god, the sunglasses on the skull chapter marker aaaahhhhhh) was unbelievably exciting because I spent the whole time up to that point being like “WHEN’S GIDEON GONNA SHOW UP, WHERE’S GIDEON, WHEN’S IT GONNA BE ‘GIDEON’ AND NOT ‘ORTUS’!!!!”

I did a lot of theorizing as I read because of all the piecemeal bits of information scattered throughout, and one of my more baseless speculations was when the monster in the Locked Tomb was revealed to be a girl, I thought maybe she was God’s daughter (because between Gideon and Harrow and the lineage aspect of all the Houses there was so much parental/familial baggage, and what better mortal enemy for God than his own daughter!) LITTLE DID I KNOW WHO GOD’S DAUGHTER REALLY WAS, LOL. But I fell for the red herring (red HAIRing ahahaha idk if that’s an intentional joke but given Tamsyn Muir’s brand of humor it sure feels like one) and thought Gideon Prime was Gideon’s father. So did Pyrrha! Ha

At the beginning of book 2 when the Ortus name swap became apparent I also had to immediately work out Ortus Nigenad as an anagram (because Gideon is clearly in there) but then was like “okay... Gideon Saturn????? hmm... I’ve learned nothing.” PUZZLES. It’s fun!

I really enjoyed having to adjust to an entirely new status quo with each book, and each POV putting extreme limitations on what information the reader is privy to, and then everything getting progressively crazier with how much consciousness/body-swapping is going on. But I do think that book 3, with Nona’s POV being so separate from Harrow and Gideon’s story, felt sort of incomplete. I mean, they all end on pretty abrupt cliffhangers, but even before that, other than the birth of Paul (!!!!) and opening the tomb and John’s backstory, the convergence of characters and events wasn’t quite as satisfying or enlightening as the first two books. But maybe that’s symptomatic of it being an additional intermediate book. I just really missed the connecting dots of how Gideon got back to her body (I thought that was gonna be a whole thing! But she’s just… walking and talking like normal! Albeit mean and sad and dead.) and what she’s been up to this whole time. FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS?!?!

The Sleeping Beauty kiss did have me going nuts even though a) she wasn’t even really asleep! and b) it wasn’t really Harrow kissing her! BUT STILL. And it made me very happy that after all her aloofness, as soon as Alecto wakes up and pledges herself to Harrow, Gideon is out there calling Alecto a big slut. :’)

CAMILLA AND SEX PAL ;______;

I loved Nona and I hope that some part of her manages to reappear in some form—her delighted stupidity and the comfort of the Cam/Pal/Pyrrha family unit was all so endearing. I can’t believe I was sobbing about a “Mustache Rides” t-shirt.

Pool scene from book 1 now living in my head forever. ;___; Even though Nona turned out to be Alecto, I still think that somehow because of sense memory or whatever there was some Harrow there too (she dreamed of Gideon! she was still gay! she hated eating! THE BODY REMEMBERS), but regardless, before knowing who was in there, Nona in the ocean and being soothed by salt water made me very emo.

One of the only other things I knew about this series from scrolling past fanart about it was that there’s a lady with a skeleton arm, but only registering that it was a blonde lady I didn’t know specifically who it was until Ianthe got her arm chopped off in the climax of the first book. But the thing about that fanart is that it has always annoyed me because I find the disproportionality of a meatless arm to be extremely offputting (it’s too skinny and fragile-looking and impractical!!!! arms don’t work that way!!!!). Now that I have context I do like Ianthe (she sucks!), but I probably am still not going to like the visuals of that skeleton arm. It irritates the part of my brain that has practiced figure drawing.

When I started this, since everything said “The Locked Tomb trilogy” and there were three books, I mistakenly thought the series was already complete. But I share digital books with my mom because she is an EXTREMELY prolific reader and she beat me to finishing these by a good month or so, so while I was in the middle of book 2 she finished book 3 and informed me that there’s a fourth book coming and I was like “WHAAATT. I thought it was a trilogy!!!” So I’m excited that there’s still more to look forward to, but I’m VERY bummed that now I have to wait. At least I know from years of ignoring it that there’s a lot of fanart to look at.

As much as I’ve been thinking about Sailor Moon stuff with all the solar system magical girls, what I’m really feeling like is that now would be a good time to finally watch Utena, because I never actually saw beyond the first few episodes (!!!!! I KNOW. I’m ashamed. But I started it in the VHS days, okay, it was harder back then, and once the internet made it easier I just never got around to it). Sword lesbians... it’s time

[cynda-queer]

“People You’d Like to Know Better” Tag Game

Tagged by @full---ofstarlight, I fucking love these games sooooooo

—

Three Ships:

- DabiHawks

- Hero and villain? Check. Two sides of the same coin? Check. Enemies-to-lovers? Check. Back to enemies again? Check. I am actively rotating them in my head like all day. I want to explain my obsession with them, but the only way I feel I can get it across is grabbing someone in the face and screaming. But legit, it’s the “I love you, but not enough to change” “I love you, but not like this” “You’re the first thing that was mine” and looking at someone and seeing them for who they are beyond the outside and loving what you see, but your ideas/desires/destiny is too great to ignore. This a ship where all ends are satisfying—in canon, they’ll never get a happy ending because their story is literally the love wasn’t enough, but sometimes I just like to imagine what could be if things were a little different. Dabi and Hawks both need someone to look at them and *actually* see them, to think that they’re worth something as themselves and not what they can do and, I think for a little while, they both get that from one another, but like every other person in their life, they picked something else rather than the other and that hurts so nice. I also just think they should fuck nasty.

- ZuzuRaha

- The person who tagged me is stronger than I am for not putting an OC-ship in their response. Zu’zu is my slutty catboy bard and G’raha Tia is his nerdy over 100-year old boyfriend from FFXIV. It’s about falling in love with your heroes and then falling in love with a person. It’s about “I want to go with you through thick and thin” and “my place is by your side” and “there’s no where else I’d rather be than with you” and “take me with you” and “love me for the quiet moments too”. The moment is Shadowbringers where the cowl comes off and you can call him by his name and he *cries* is literally everything to me. The idea of waking Raha up in the Source and then he just never wants to spend a moment away from you? Beautiful. Zu’zu found someone he connects with and rather than pushing it away in the face of “saving someone” from heartache like he did the first time, he loves and loves and loves Raha wholeheartedly because the future isn’t promised, but I want to spend right now with you. I’m excited to see how Dawntrail goes and spend more time with Zu’zu’s dweeb of a boyfriend.

- GriddleHark

- Literally, again, enemies-to-lovers is everything to me. No one understands me like you do and there is no one else who matters and no me without you. Literally read the first chapter of Gideon the Ninth and was just obsessed. I am gnawing on Gideon like a good bone and I’m spinning Harrow in a salad spinner. Two kids having to be bigger than they are and they fool everyone, even themselves, but not the other. Harrow the Ninth being from Gideon’s POV and just how she sees Harrow and how she knows her and how she *adores* her in her own way just makes me fucking feral. And how Harrow recognizes Gideon even when she’s not herself and how there’s a part of her down in her bones that knows Gideon, *loves* Gideon is just making me shake. I want them back together in the same room and want to watch them scrap like a pair of feral chickens and maybe, if Tamsyn is kind to me, I can finally get them to kiss* in the worst way possible.

- *(While both of them are in their body and aware of what the fuck is going on)

Last Film:

- Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

- It’s a fun movie, we needed to put something on and it’s on the plex and so we put it on. Only watched it for the first time like a year or two again and I enjoyed it. I saw the Universal Halloween Horror Nights Show (mind you, the last show they did) before I saw the actual movie.

Currently Watching

- Fall of the House of Usher

- Weird feelings about this show. It’s certainly something and it’s certainly making me feel things. I’m morbidly curious about this show and I want to finish it before Netflix gets rid of it like they did Midnight Mass (which was such a good show). Fun to see Mark Hamil.

Currently Reading

- The Bayou

- I started this book, like, months ago, I think before I started school this semester and I still haven’t gotten more than a few pages into it. Been really into American Southern Gothic and roommate recommended this to me. One day I’ll finish it, maybe after finals.

Currently Consuming

- Pom Pomegranate Tea Lemonade

- My fucking crack shit I love this juice so much I buy, like, four bottles of it whenever I see it in the grocery store and they’ve stopped carrying it at all of the ones I shop at and so I’m not hording it like a dragon

Currently Craving

- My new community college to get back to me so I can get this nonsense figured out and maybe get into the mortuary program on time

- Also pumpkin pie (but that’ll be fixed tomorrow >:3)

Tagging: @fluffy-fern @lenkagamine133 @amilliontinysqueaks @evelynnsometimes @keclan and viewers like you :)

[keplercryptids]

okay i put a hold on a physical copy of jonathan strange and mr norrell from the library. i was a fool to attempt to read a 1,000-page book on an ereader lol, much less one with footnotes. no, i need to hold a book that chonky in my hands, thank you. while i was at it, i also put a hold on a physical copy of silver under nightfall by rin chupeco, because it's also over 500 pages. i need more polyamorous vampires in my life. anyway. i won't be starting either of those until i can pick 'em up from the library.

i am getting back into my reread of gideon the ninth in the meantime so that i can also reread harrow the ninth and then finally eventually read nona the ninth! jfc ive been taking my time with it though.

[scorbleeo]

Book Review: Gideon the Ninth

The Locked Tomb (Book 1) by Tamsyn Muir

Source: Google Images

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth, first in The Locked Tomb Trilogy, unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

ISBN: 9781250313188 (2019) | Source: Goodreads

Just So Much of Everything

Gideon the Ninth is a very confusing read so if you are considering this book, please note that Muir included a glossary at the back. I did not know of the glossary's existence until I finished it so it took me a while before I even realised what was thanergy or thalergy. Even then, I still did not quite understand it until I read the glossary so maybe do get yourself acquainted with the glossary before starting on The Locked Tomb trilogy.

When I said Gideon the Ninth is so much of everything, I meant it. Let's begin with Muir's writing style because it is literally the entire book. Muir has a habit of over describing everything and anything which works well when mystery or action are in the play, but when it's just a mundane scene that does not really play into anything, Muir's writing style starts feeling like a drag to read. The good news is there are plenty of mystery or action scenes, the bad news though, the first quarter of Gideon the Ninth doesn't actually need that much descriptive writing. Unless you get past the first quarter, you might not be able to get through the entire book.

Moving on, this is not epic fantasy or hard science fiction but the terminologies used in Gideon the Ninth may beg to differ. This bit plays into the confusion part of my reading experience. As there is not one character in this book that does not know the world of Gideon the Ninth like the back of their hand, so there is no scene where one character asks or answers a question just for the sake of feeding the reader information or explanation. So, our characters just throw their terminologies around in the most casual conversation. This may become a problem if one does not like being in a constant state of confusion for half the book (perhaps a third if the glossary helped).

Briefly mentioned earlier, Gideon the Ninth is an action-packed novel. Personally, I love reading my action scenes. The action comes in almost every other chapter so I can guarantee despite how interesting the story is, this book is not for everyone interested in the premise of The Locked Tomb trilogy.

Last but not least, the amount of deaths truly shocked me. I think it was during the altercation between the Second and Teacher that I finally came to a realisation that there is a lot of deaths in this first book. I honestly have never read a book with this amount of significant deaths before and I'm not hating it even though some deaths pained me.

Gideon the Ninth is not anything I expected it to be, and I seriously got nothing about what the story would be like from the synopsis. Although I enjoyed what I read, I do believe it's just a good beginning to the series, that's all.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

P.S.: Don't we love the banter between Gideon and Harrowhark?

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Unintended side benefit of putting off watching something for a while, when you finally get around to it they might more to watch that it was the first time you checked it. I will finally be going back to a wedcomic turned wednovel I like that I put off for months and have a lot of pages to read! Which is great because I love this story and characters.

I put off Gideon the Ninth for six months because I just wasn't connecting to it, then came back and burned through it and Harrow. Some things just need their own time.

[popblank]

Year-end roundup of books I read in 2023:

In order by date read:

Lost Canyon by Nina Revoyr: The first book I completed in the year, which didn't happen until August. It is the fourth book I have read from this author and it was a comfortable way to try to get myself back into a reading habit. The story was a combination of her normal "characters living their lives in LA" (or in this case, LA and the Sierra Nevada) combined with a "bad things happening in the wilderness" story that I might find e.g. in a Nevada Barr mystery.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li: A story of two girls, their friendship, and telling stories. I vaguely remember enjoying the book but very little else about it.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: This had been on my to-read list for a few years now and I finally got around to it. It took a while—nearly 100 pages—to really get going, but I was pretty well hooked once Gideon started interacting with more characters within the haunted mansion puzzle box setting. The treatment of necromancy and its role in the book universe is quite fun, as is the irreverent voice. Didn't realize how big this series was on Tumblr (despite first seeing it here) but I have little inclination to seek out the fandom.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Read this while waiting for a library hold on Mexican Gothic. Can't recall much about the plot other than "vampires in Mexico City" but the alternate-universe setting was fun. Would read other stories in the same setting.

Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill: I believe I came across this author while reading articles about conspiracy theorists and trying to keep my blood pressure from rising. Not sure that understanding the background more makes me feel any better as we go into an election year.

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor: Checked this one out because it won a Lambda Literary Award in mystery genre. Another book featuring two girls and their friendship plus the small-town community around them. Again I enjoyed it, but I think both this book and The Book of Goose didn't end up making as much of an impression on me due to the flashier things I read around them.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Felt like reading something in the horror vein and this fit. Liked how historical colonialism was incorporated into the story. First saw this referenced in a Twitter post by midnight_pals:

(I also did not realize that this was apparently somewhat popular on BookTok, which is a whole other thing I'm not interested in getting into.)

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – The most Tumblr-y book I have ever read. (I had to stop for a moment to recover after certain meme references.) Enjoyed the fractured perspective and constantly trying to figure out what was going on.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – One of those series where I might like the sequels more than the original. Was a bit skeptical going in but found that seeing things through Nona's eyes was pretty refreshing after the previous book (particularly her view of the characters she lives with), and liked getting more background on the universe. Definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

[just-a-bookish-reader]

Back to School Readathon 2023

Starting a few days after the fall semester starts for my university, Liv is helping to host another readathon, except that this one is not 24 hours, its almost a week long! With both reading prompts and photo prompts, each based on particularly school themed events and classes, there is about to be so much going on from August 25-August 31!

Unlike the graphic novels and manga readathon, I do not plan to try to read more than the books I'm selecting for each reading prompt this time, unless I read way faster than I'm expecting! As far as the photo prompts, based on the spirit week we all know and love, we don't actually have to dress up or even have our faces in any of the photos! As mentioned in Liv's announcement video, you can simply use props to do flat lays with books, and I'll be mentioning one that I'm already planning out (and will likely take the picture super ahead of time!).

Gwen has put out some awesome movie suggestions for the "study hall" prompt as well, specifying that the prompt is just that the movie needs to take place in a school, not necessarily a dark academia or anything like that (literally you can watch High School Musical even!) and if you are a patron of Gwen, she'll be hosting a live viewing of Heathers!

While there are enough prompts for a full school day, there is no particular order required or even recommended to my knowledge of how to follow each prompt. It certainly is not expected for you to knock out more than one prompt in one day unless your second prompt is the "study hall" aka movie prompt!

Here are some examples that I had to sift through of my own books to narrow down to my final selections!

English

Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress

My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrews

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum

Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Bunny by Mona Awad

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro

Math

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake

The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze

The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson

Seven Faceless Saints by M. K. Lobb

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

Master of One by Olivie Blake

One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake

The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur

Physical Education

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

We Are the Song by Catherine Bakewell

Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Lunch

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Science

Red Dust, White Snow by Pan Huiting

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

Dragonfall by L. R. Lam

The Sun and The Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

How High We go in The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

Book of Night by Holly Black

Study Hall

Grease

Love, Simon

Easy A

Edge of Seventeen

Legally Blonde

The Breakfast Club

High School Musical

Superbad

Booksmart

Dead Poet Society

Heathers

Social Studies

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

How High We Go in The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Final Results:

English:

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

Math:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

PE:

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (activity is music)

Lunch:

Poison by Bridget Zinn

Science:

How High We Go in The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Social Studies:

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Art:

Nimona

Study Hall:

Easy A