#i cant find the good in john gaius

[jbm04]

Do you think John Gaius had a saint name picked out for Anastasia before he murdered her cavalier?

[cypress-punk]

Finished Harrow the Ninth today and I have some thoughts I would like to express in a public place. Spoilers for the Locked Tomb series ahead.

First of all, let me just say, that I really enjoyed the book. Tamsyn Muir knows what she's doing with this whole scifi lesbian necromancer thing thats happening. Can't wait to see what happens in Nona the Ninth.

I really enjoyed the obvious poke at fanfiction AUs late in the novel when Harrow's weird "forget Gideon exists" thing finally starts coming apart. Its cute and funny and the barista AU joke is good shit. In general I think the humor of this series elevates it, its willing to poke fun at itself and be sincere all at once, none of that cynical tone this sort of self referential humor can instill and not a trace of that awful contempt for the reader that stories with this sort of sense of humor have a habit of falling into. Harrow the Ninth makes you roll your eyes or give a light chuckle at a joke that is soundly out of place, it does not laugh at you for showing interest in it. That's good. More writers who think they're clever, funny, or capable of writing meta shit into their stories should take notes because the last thing I want my lesbian space necromancer romance/angst story to do is condescend to me.

My favorite part of the story by far was God. I knew, from the moment that bastard walked onto the page, that he was full of shit. I knew his weird semi-distant dad joke facade and the fact he not only founded an empire but made himself God of said empire meant that meant that he was simply not to be trusted. You do not name yourself capital G, singular God unless you are an arrogant, self serving, little shit. And wouldn't you know it? John Gaius was a lying little shit who mislead all the Lyctors to prevent them from being his equals, forcing them to kill people they loved to get a fraction of his power and landing them in a miserable situation where they had to fight and die against monsters HE MADE even though he knew those same monsters couldn't actually fucking harm him. And while I lack the information to prove it, I think there is a very, very heavy implication that the apocalypse John "God" Gaius reversed with the Resurrection was his own doing. So the megalomaniac probably killed the world just for his own ego. The bastard. I hope he gets his ass kicked completely concave.

Gideon the Ninth was a murder mystery

Harrow the Ninth was an angst fic

I cant wait to find out what genre Nona the Ninth will be.