#nona the ninth i need you right now

[ifyourereadingthisblinktwice]

return of the king messes me up every time i watch it. like. you can’t go home, home will never be the same because you have changed. you will never return from this journey. physically you may go back, but mentally a part of you is left behind. something is missing. you become changed by the grief and it never really leaves you. there was something i told my mom a while back. i told her i hadn’t felt truly happy or excited for anything in a long time. she told me that was part of being an adult. even if she didn’t mean it this way, i think i understand.

[ghostcreaturetypething]

I have such an unimaginable amount of love for her I actually don't know if I can handle it

If you were going to make a character that was the soul of planet earth in a human body you might think to make her motherly. Wise. Forgiving. Mother Earth cares for us, she provides, right? But Tamsyn Muir wrote Nona the Ninth and said YES planet earth is loving but also she is SO SO ANGRY and HURTING. And actually she cannot care for others right now she needs to be cared FOR.

Also she wants to eat pencils and she thinks flowers are sexy.

[theriverbeyond]

how do we know in the books that john is indigenous? can you say more about how his indigeneity is important to his story?

hello! so there is a word of god post on race (doesn't mention John but mentions that Gideon is "mixed Maori"), BUT I frankly don't think word of god statements are worth any weight without actual in-text support (see: the "dumbledore is gay" situation). SO!

Specific evidence that John Gaius is Maori, as revealed in Nona the Ninth:

When he is listing his education, John mentions having gone to Dilworth School (John 20:8). Dilworth is an all boys boarding school in Auckland and accepts students based on financial need instead of academic or sporting achievements. Demographics appear to be about 70% low income Maori boys, indicating that it is highly likely that John is Maori

John reports that P- said he looked like a "Maori-TV pink panther" (John 15:23) when his eyes turned gold. Maori TV is a TV station that is focused primarily on Maori culture & language revitalization, with presumably all or mostly Maori hosts, and tbh I don't see why P- would say this unless John was himself Maori

John uses a te reo Māori phrase ("kia kaha, kia māia") (John 5:20) when he is saying goodbye to the corpses in the cryo lab before the power is shut off. Though it is possible he said this as a non-Maori kiwi, but in combination with the previous two points of evidence I think this all very strongly points to him being Maori

He also renames his daughter Kiriona Gaia, "Kiriona" being just literally the name "Gideon" in te reo Māori

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter but to ME this is all pretty solid proof

Why is this relevant to The Locked Tomb?

In Nona the Ninth, we learn that before he completed apotheosis and ate the solar system, John was basically trying to save the earth from capitalism-caused climate change. Climate justice and the rights of indigenous people over their own land are deeply tied together, in the same way that climate catastrophe and capitalism/ imperialism/ colonialism are linked. disclaimer that this is NOT my area of study and others have definitely said it better; this is just the basic gist as I understand it, but on quick search I found some sources here and here if you want to do some reading.

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter, but i don't think it is a stretch to see John as an indigenous man trying to save the earth and getting ignored and shut down at every turn by primarily western colonial powers (PanEuro, the USA) who declare him a terrorist and then as a reader thematically connecting that to the experience of indigenous climate activists IRL

there are absolutely TLT meta posts that have discussed this before me; tumblr search is nonfunctional and I have been looking for an hour and a half and cannot find anything specific even though i KNOW i reblogged multiple posts about this in the first few weeks following NTN's release. sad & I am sorry

I think that by the time the books take place, John is 10k years removed from the cultural context he grew up in, with the Nine Houses having become a genocidal colonial power in their own right (with more parallels to be made between John's forever war for the resources of literal life energy and like, oil wars), but I also think that John Gaius is a fictional character who can represent and symbolize multiple different things in service of telling a story. (not to mention the potential thematic parallels being made to how oppressed people sometimes are pressed into replicating the power dynamics of their oppressors and continuing the cycle--now that is a tumblr post i KNOW i read last year and definitely cannot find right now, once again sad & I am sorry)

How Radical Was John Gaius, Really is a forum thread that was locked by the moderators after 234534645674564 pages of heated debate

[dammit-tazmuir]

John Chapter Verses

Didn't realize until I saw this post that the titles for John's chapters in Nona the Ninth carried extra meaning with the associated Bible verses. (I did wonder why those numbers but hadn't looked into it yet.)

So mostly for my own reference (1599 Geneva translation because it's shortened "GNV" and my brain is saying "Gideon Nav" so it's as good a reason as any to pick one), and with mini notes for what's in each chapter.

John 20:8 (Initial setup, the cryo project gets shut down.)

Then went in also the other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw it, and believed.

John 5:20 (John is "having six breakthroughs a day" and discovers the bodies he'd touched won't decay.)

For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things, whatsoever he himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these, that ye should marvel.

John 15:23 (P— helps buy time. John first makes the bodies move.)

Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

John 5:18 ("We all thought of you right away, what it could mean for you." They're afraid of getting hushed up, of getting disappeared. So they turn to the internet.)

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him: not only because he had broken the Sabbath: but said also that God was his Father, and made himself equal with God.

John 8:1 (John's being called the Antichrist, among other things. M—'s nun joins the group and tells him, hey jackass, regulate this more or they're gonna do to you what they did to Jesus. Also cows.)

And Jesus went unto the mount of Olives,

John 19:18 (In the dream, the water keeps rising and they head to the top of a hill. FTL is announced and John is pissed.)

Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

John 5:1 (P— insists they need to be scarier to be taken seriously. John, now with Ulysses and Titania as constant bodyguards, goes to the meeting where he's asked to puppet a world leader. A— and M— and John play Bad Cop, Worse Cop, and Sorry Cop until they walk away with a couple billion and a nuke.)

After that, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went to Jerusalem.

John 3:20 (John is told to pick a priority, exposing FTL or saving earth. They learn just how bullshit the FTL plans were. John commits to being a cult leader and a necromancer.)

For every man that evil doeth, hateth the light, neither cometh to light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 9:22 (The nun keeps insisting the soul is the missing piece. "Guys as careful as me don't make mistakes.")

These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had ordained already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be excommunicated out of the Synagogue.

John 1:20 (All the shit hits all the fans. Alecto is formed.)

And he confessed and denied not, and said plainly, "I am not that Christ."

John 5:4 (Harrow addresses John. She sets off at the end to the tower in the distance, walking through the water.)

For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first, after the stirring of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

[shouldhavebeenpersephone]

So I was re-reading Nona. And. Have we talked about this yet? Have we gone through the implications of this section?

NtN John 5:4. Analysis under the cut.

I always assumed the tower was a part of the Ninth because right after this chapter Nona sees the tower in the River and after that drives the truck everyone is in to the Ninth. But nowhere does it say that the tower is the Ninth.

I mean, looking at the description it certainly sounds like it - all grey and death, which is why I assumed it was. The Ninth is tall even if embedded inside of a planet, one could argue shafts are towers. But why would a tower of the Ninth be in the River?

First things first; the tower in Tarot stands for sudden change, confusion and awakening - I don't feel this needs further explanation on why it's relevant (I might, however, someday do a Tarot Locked Tomb analysis because there is A LOT there). It also refers to the Tower of Babel, which was destroyed by God along with the uniform language of Earth so that people would not come so close to Him again, so that they stayed vincible. Sound familiar?

John did make a uniform language technically, but he also separated the population to different planets, rendering them unable to unite and overcome him not only due to instilled nationalism but also due to the faults in the Houses. We know that the Sixth is struggling to keep up their lineages and population number - we know the Fourth die too young to really leave anything behind - we know the Second is too busy fighting wars.

This leads me to believe that whatever the tower represents will be the end of the world as they know it - maybe through a new God and an end to the Houses, maybe the end of Godhood and Lyctorhood in general. Either way, something is piercing through the River - something that has the power to change it all.

NtN Chapter 30. Nona's mind knew what it was "above" and "below". Does this refer to Harrow and Alecto?

Now let's go back to that first passage from John 5:4. The parts that stand out to me are 'speared-through and mute', 'a tower that soared, impossible and deadly grey', and 'lurching out of the River as though gasping for air.' All of this sounds like Gideon.

GtN Chapter 37. Very much speared-through and mute.

NtN Chapter 16. Ramrod posture? Soaring, impossible and deadly grey.

NtN Chapter 25. And Gideon knows what's in the River. Chances are that the tower is a construct created by John for whatever purposes. Gideon is also a construct created by John - at least Kiriona is.

I obviously don't know how accurate this connection my brain jumped on is, but it honestly makes a lot of sense to me. There is something below the River, just like how 'reality' is above the river. Especially when considering Nona referred to a thought above and below that knew what the tower was, it appears to me like the below is a plane much like reality and the River where things exist and can continue to exist. I have not yet sat with or developed an opinion on what exactly might be there, but there is something there. I think it might be the cavaliers.

So what if Gideon ended up there? What if, when she ended up in the River at the end of HtN, Gideon ended up in the below once Alecto was forced into Harrow's body? What if John knew all along how to reach there and he finally decided this was the time to bring something - no - someone back?

But you can't really reach the other plane without the River, can you? We have seen it with the Resurrection Beasts - they travel through the River and exist in it while simultaneously being above it. And, if we look at Palamedes, one who has passed and is part of the River needs a container of sorts to be above. Perhaps, then, one can sink while tethered higher in the three layers, but one cannot soar from below without a container to carry them up. An integrated cavalier is forced down, not reaching up - they are buried in the below.

So let's say John brought Gideon back. Her corpse would obviously be the container for her above. The tower, then, could be her container for the River. Ianthe could be using Gideon's aberration in the River as a means to anchor herself as well. That could be why they are the Tower Princes.

Alecto would know the tower was a gateway of sorts. She would understand, like presumably any other Resurrection Beast would understand. But Harrow. Harrow.

GtN Chapter 36. I cannot let go of this passage in relation to the tower. "Instead, she was Drearburh." "She took the whole putrid, quiet, filth-strewn madness of the place, and she opened her doors to it."

Cavaliers' tethers are shown through the eyes, through altering the look of that which binds them to above - so, maybe through being Gideon the tower became Drearburh. Maybe Harrow saw it, and felt it, and she saw Gideon, and she saw home. So she walked, and she walked, and she knew that it would lead back to her.

The tower - Gideon, then, will be the changer of things in the end. Maybe Gideon and Harrow, but definitely Gideon.

[jackayline]

my open locked tomb questions *spoilers*

the tomb is open and these questions are too! Can you help me answer them or speculate some wacky theories?

The River 

What exactly happened to the River at the end of Nona and why? What is the tower?

Where are the people who disappeared into the stoma? (Augustine, Ulysses...) What exactly is hell, metaphysically?

What exactly IS the stoma?

Is the King over the River who Abigail mentions in HtN a different entity from Jod?

What happened to Mattias Nonias and Ortus after they went the fight the RB? Did they just go into the River? What happens when people go into the River though

Metaphysics of the First House and the Resurrection 

What exactly happened with everyone's memories? Why does Pyrrha remember some stuff e.g. Gideon's original name (she calls him G-- near the end of NtN) but Augustine and Mercy don't remember John's original eye color?

So Jod can't die unless killed by Alecto? Can he actually be killed by RBs or is it really just a sham?

Can Jod actually resurrect people now or does he need Alecto? I mean we've seen him basically resurrect Gideon Prime but was he technically still alive, just... in bits? Can Alecto resurrect without Jod?

Did Jod repopulate the Ninth like he promised Harrow? What happened these people?

It seems like the people who were going to repopulate the Ninth were like... being suspended in cryoanimation. Who are these people? Are they like, people got put into cryo right after the Resurrection?

Would Jod have just killed everyone after the trials at Canaan house if they hadn't died, ascended, or disappeared anyway? Is it possible he's tried to make new Lyctors before and he just disappears everyone after they fail?

What exactly would happen if Jod went to the First House?

Why can't you send or receive transmissions to/from the First House?

Stole the eyes of my soulmate (Lyctor things)

Why does Nona have golden eyes if Kiriona is a revenant? Is it because she has Alecto's soul?

Where is Gideon Nav's soul? Is it still in Harrow or in Gideon's revenant body?

Was Nona three people in one body?

What exactly happened to Anastasia and Samael? What kind of Lyctorhood did they achieve?

Paul???? So many Paul questions, what is Paul like? Like what is their inner experience of selfhood like? Was Paul always there since Pal entered Cam's body?

House Histories

Why is Canaan house like that? Like it was built as a replica--a replica of what? Or was it more like an homage to Earth? How much of pre-Resurrection like... culture and history was kept?

Who founded the 7th house if Cyth and Loveday were already of the 7th pre-Lyctor? 

Resurrection beasts & Alecto

Did Harrow just hallucinate the Body or did Alecto somehow impart a fragment of her soul when Harrow was a child? I think it's really just that Harrow hallucinated the body...

Why were Alecto's eyes like that (creepy black all the way around)? Is it just Aesthetic?

Inconsistent resurrection beast count?

Unseen character dynamics

What were Ulysses and Titania like, exactly?

What exactly was the dynamic between Alfred and Cristabel? Like why were they a bad influence on each other?

Critical plot questions

How did Harrow get into Alecto's body? (My answer for this is that she travelled through the River instead of going back into her own body. But like... how did the body switch happen?)

How did Harrow's body (Nona) get to Cam+pal and Pyrrha? How did Pyrrha get to Cam+pal? Did I just miss something in NtN?

How did Gideon's body with Gideon's soul (?) which was in Harrow get to the Emperor? Because I thought BoE had Gideon's body? Was it that Gideon's soul DIDN'T get to the emperor but her body did?

What is the role of the Messenger? Who exactly is Aim?

What are the creepy monsters that invaded the Ninth and that Colum Asht turned into? Are they RB related? Heralds? Are they from the stoma? (I think it's the latter?)

What happened to the trillionaires? Are they actually out there or has Jod just been running from his own demons?

Are we ever going to see the Gang from school again?

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - John 5:4

Harrow!!! ❤️❤️ my girl is back!! i know she’s technically been here all the time in John’s chapters, but like. it’s nice to have actual confirmation 

i’m pretty sure i have a grasp on the soul-swapping shenanigans here: Alecto’s consciousness/soul as Nona has been in Harrow’s body, and vice versa. meanwhile Gid’s soul is back with her original (but still dead) body. okay, it was hard to figure out throughout the book but doesn't actually seem too complicated i don’t think 

‘“What does it mean to love God” “Decent dinner and a bottle of rose” why is John quite literally the worst person to discuss theology with

that being said, his description here about the love of God being essentially trusting that you won't be alone is interesting. i’m mildly sleep deprived right now and not really capable of thinking about the significance of it too much honestly, but this description really reminds me to some extent of how the bond between a necromancer and a cavalier is kind of shown to be in GtN - trusting someone absolutely, having someone that you can rely on 

‘Even G—. In fact G— will be the easiest - he won’t remember the compound’ ohhhh is THAT why he needed G—'s arm??? so that he could still resurrect him even though he got nuked. i wonder if the fact that John didn’t have to wipe his memories has anything to do with how Pyrrha can apparently remember something about the past, given she’s in G1deon’s body rn 

and the slight contradiction Harrow calls him out on here seems like a nice hint about how John might not be the most reliable narrator. i don’t know if he’s outright lied about anything, or he’s at least telling what he believes to be the truth, but i don’t trust that what we’ve heard is the full story or exactly how things went down 

the contrast between Alecto only being afraid of dying vs Nona who has her own complicated feelings, but has largely accepted it, is really striking

‘There can be no forgiveness for those who walked away’ buddy the people that you want revenge on are dead and gone. also to add to the parallels of the Lyctors being his ‘fingers’ while the Heralds are the extensions of the RB’s and their ‘Hand [and] thumb’, John’s whole ceaseless and unsatisfying quest for revenge sounds a whole lot like the Resurrection Beasts themselves. which i do have to wonder, obviously John wanted revenge prior to absorbing Alecto’s soul, but how much of that now is due to him and how much is due to having literally partially eaten the soul of a Resurrection Beast 

it is a dream sequence, so i can get that its going to be hazy and make no sense, but i’m curious about what John’s perspective is here, and his motivations for talking about this to Harrow. at certain points throughout these chapters he sounds like he’s talking pre-Resurrection, but then here he’s having a full on conversation with Harrow and knows it’s her

wooooh time for Harrow to go on the necromantic equivalent of a yoga trip of self-discovery

i also like that it’s Harrow’s own decision to walk away from John here. she’s a character who has had this very rigid belief system in large part due to her upbringing, and its nice that she’s deciding to find out what God means for herself

and yep, the final message from the chapter title numbers is ‘THE TOWER HAS REACTIVATED’. and now Harrow’s walking away from John towards some kind of mysterious grey tower. i’m assuming there’s going to be something significant at the top, but i can't for the life of me guess what

and there’s an awful lot of questions surrounding it’s existence even. here Harrow is turning away from John to walk towards it, but him naming Ianthe and Kiriona the Tower Princes suggests that he already knew about it, or even had some kind of hand in creating it? or maybe it’s something to do with what went down at Canaan House with the og Lyctors, which is still a remarkably vague/mysterious period of time. and if it’s reactivated, why now of all times - something to do with Alecto’s soul being moved to Nona? and of course on top of all that there’s Judith’s extremely ominous comment about things coming out of it 

despite being nearly another full book into the series, things Harrowhark Nonagesimus presumably still does not know after the events of HtN:

that John is Gideon’s dad

presumably, that the weird ghost that was haunting her via Cytherea was Gideon’s mum

both Mercy and Augustine are dead

that Pyrrha, yknow, still exists

that Gideon is still around in the form of Kiriona Gaia, and has fully joined the Cohort and John

[so-many-ocs]

user so many ocs, my beloved, fellow Locked Tomb enjoyer, I am about to finish Nona and I am losing my mind because nothing will fill the Gideon Nav sized hole in my heart (lol). do you perchance have any recommendations of what I can read next that's similar to TLT?

ok i wanna preface this by saying i've only read GtN (i needed time to recover after the first one and left HtN at my parents' house for the semester lol but by virtue of Existing On Tumblr i know most of what happens in the series + i plan to read HtN asap)

BUT LET'S GO!! (storygraph summaries linked)

if you liked gideon the ninth, try:

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar - maybe i just read these 2 really close together but Time War has time travel, space fuckery, gut-wrenching sapphic yearning, and a drily humorous tone all packed into the span of less than 200 pages.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - historical fantasy, rich worldbuilding, one of my All-Time Favorite Books (right alongside Time War and Gideon the Ninth lol)

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang - historical fantasy, political intrigue, silver possesses the ability to manifest any meaning lost in translation between languages.

Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer - graphic novel (2 books out now); princesses, politics, and gladiator-style fights, but in space!

now for books i haven't read (on my tbr) that others have recommended for fans of TLT:

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark - fantasy, desert empire, a soldier and a princess "haggling" over the price of a nation.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - fantasy/romance, one seeking revenge, one seeking family.

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix - fantasy, girl who is a monster (favorite trope of Ever btw), witches, kingdoms, and assassinations.

Crier's War by Nina Valera - fantasy with some sci-fi elements(?), humans vs. robots but with a twist! i want to read this so bad but have not found it anywhere

this list has some of the books i've recommended here, as well as a couple others i haven't! most of the books i've recommended are sapphic or at least lgbtq as well if that's something you're specifically interested in :)

lastly, storygraph does have a "browse similar books" feature, though i'm not sure how accurate it is as i've yet to really try it out!

i hope that was helpful !!!

[legaltrashgoblin]

My review of Nona The Ninth

Spoilers below the cut

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chewing on the bars of my cage for the next book.

Nona was such an intriguing character to read about, and, much like the quote on the front - "You will love Nona, and Nona loves you" - I truly did love Nona. She was inquisitive, charming and so brutally kiddish it hurt me to see her go, and to see her in pain, and to see her so eager to stop. She loved herself, thought she was beautiful, much like many little girls do, and her ending very nearly brought me to tears. I know, probably a few days from now it will finally sink in that Nona won't be entirely Nona anymore, but she'll be someone new after this, and it feels like a tribute to little girls growing up and realising that shit hurts, that you lose people you love and people give themselves up for you, people become new people, friends are lost, new friends are gained and you just have to love them for something.

Nona The Ninth was such an incredible switch from Gideon and Harrow, with the new environment, the new character dynamics, and the new absolutely fucking radical action.

Much like Nona, I loved everyone in this book. I loved Pyrrha (she and Gideon the First will be one [and some] of my favourite characters I've ever read about. I felt so much for Gideon the First in Harrow, and Pyrrha left behind in his body after he died. I loved Camilla, I loved Palamedes, I loved Camilla-and-Palamedes, and think I'm beginning to love Paul.

Plus, I love the complete disregard of gender and gendered terms: Prince Kiriona Gaia, Daughter of God; Prince Ianthe Naberius; The Angel being referred to as "Sir"; Pyrrha being a woman in a man's body, quite literally; Palamedes and Camilla sharing Camilla's body; and Nona's general acceptance that it's the conscience and the soul that matters, not the outside.

I need to get my hands on Alecto the Ninth right now, else I shall surely die.

P.S. I'd so love to be friends with Nona.

P.P.S. what was that with Nona kissing Kiriona?! The only griddlehark full fucking mouth to mouth nec-romance (see what I did there) kiss and one of them is dead and the other is not the right person?!? Scammer.

P.P.P.S. I love you, Tamsyn Muir, for Nona and Gideon and Harrow and every single page of these books that have now overcome my whole brain.

[apostleofgreed]

It's here, the finale - my friends thoughts throughout Nona the Ninth (it's a long one)

Right which one of these idiots is stuck in Nona's body

Signs point to both

I think more likely Harrow and shes just removed the massive stick up her ass

Most other signs thus far do point to Gideon though- lack of aforementioned stick, finds herself attractive, loves ass jokes, wants to pet dogs (Harrow seems like a don't work with animals or children type)

Also these other kids have names like they're gonna be running in the fucking grand national

Honestly what the fuck is going on with child conception in this series???

Someone has five dads, God was asking if Harrow and Ianthe were being 'safe' sexually and I'm just confused

Okay so I've only listened to half an hour today but if Crown isn't coronabeth I will eat my own arm

My theory is that neither of them are in Harrow's body and that she's being possessed by The Body

Maybe I should follow in Harrow's footsteps and ask you to fucking lobotomize me

No beta we die like Babs

"what do you think is sexy?" "Eating breakfast" Me too, Camilla, me too

Maybe someone needs to lobotomize Judith, has anyone thought of that?

Thing is I feel like I'm supposed to think John is really bad and is the villain here but I just don't

The worst thing he's done is lie to his friends for a few thousand years

Finally, the baddest bitch in all the nine houses (it's Ianthe)

What a power move honestly first she steals Babs' soul now she steals his body, absolutely inspired

She could literally kill another 200 babies to resurrect Harrow and I'd be like what a babe 😍 at this point

I'm bored of shooting can we go back to swords and doing weird things with your body please

I just think it would be great if Harrow could hop back into her body and have a full meltdown about how to function in this world

Erm Corona darling can you please try to stop them bombing your sister in the body of one of your lifelong pals pls and thanks

Y'all better sTOp

Fucking marry, kill, reanimate I can't hahahaha

"that's not actually crown's boyfriend Nona, it's her sister but I don't think anyone could blame you for getting confused" Fair hahahahah so very true

Don't know how they think this is gonna work seeing as though Harrow and Ianthe literally lived together for like over a year and had an interpersonal relationship but ok

Maybe it's because pash has the accent of a rudeboy from Oldham and suffer is weirdly French (on disliking We Suffer and Pash)

Palamades in Ianthe in Babs is sending me west

Abigail died too soon and really she did all the legwork in Harrow

Can't help but feel all of this drama could have been avoided if Harry had just done the job properly in the first place and just let Gideon die properly

All of this just because an 18 year old gave herself the brain scramblies

Cam has just burst into fire wtf

Can't believe Crux hasn't dropped dead tbh

I've got less than an hour left I feel like we're cutting it fine to get Harry back in her body here

Big flex to be waiting for everyone to arrive smoking a ciggie with your golden skeleton arm

Fucking friendship bracelets and a secret handshake hahahahah

Gideon needs to stop being such a bloody himbo

Who has shouted "get in line thou big slut!" Hahahahah

There we have it, the full series. Hope y'all have enjoyed this.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Personal rant ahead✨

okay, so. I'm not sure anyone's reading, but I'm writing this. Maybe putting it in words will help, you know?

I've had a fucking terrible time lately, there's no denying it – I'm not even sure how long it went on. For sure, the last half a year–

Guys, I didn't think I'd survive it.

I'm not lying. God, I'm not lying.

Looking back, I'm not sure how I did survive it, but I did. Somehow. I just kept going. (Till Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; till Nona the Ninth translation; till Rise of Red; till The Umbrella Academy 4). I fucking kept going even though I was fucking exhausted.

I ended up in the emergency two times, with a panic attack that had me sure I was dying.

I ended up in the psychiatric emergency two times, too, when the emergency personel said taking me to the hospital wouldn't help.

I asked my roommate to send me photos of chemical reactions and formulas to the emergency psych ward. I broke down bad enough to end up there and it continued: two two Exams the next day, final labs and test the next, another exam three days after and two days after that and chemical engineering with about seven hours of prep time. I did these on sedatives that didn't even take away all of the anxiety.

On the weekend then, I crashed at my friend's, completely crashed. I was afraid to stay alone. I was so out of it I was sure i'd die if alone.

(If you're reading this, thank you. Really.)

This doesn't need to be coherent, right?

I've been struggling with food too. Namely, eating enough.

(I tell you, one of the days I ended in emergency: for breakfast, I got half of a pastry, some cottage cheese and handful of cherry tomatoes - that doesn't sound too bad, but it was only half because I was supposed to eat it for dinner the day before. For lunch, well, I decided I'd go swimming, physical activity is supposed to help, right, maybe I'd buy something at the pool? (Spoiler allert, I didn't). I bought one (1) slice of pizza at the subway when getting home from the psych clinic.)

Fun time, right?

With a track record like this, I've managed to lose five kg (about ten pounds?). Problem with this, of course, is that that was a tenth of my total weight.

I'm better now, almost back at my original weight, but sometimes, my brain still screams at me that the food is poisonous.

You know, I've got a pretty strong catalogue of venoms and poisons and alimentary ilnesses. The toxicology and microbiology courses didn't really help. God, I freaked out over soup one time, I was sure it was full of botulotoxin. (It was not. Botulotoxin is termolabile.) (I cried over this for hours anyway and I'm not sure I'll eat that soup again.)

But, you know. I'm trying.

I'm trying.

I got some meds, but - the first ones - it was bad. It was so bad. It was supposed to help, but first, it got worse. I could do nothing but cry for four days, I remember I felt nothing but terror.

It was only a bit better when I went to a summercamp as a councilor- nothing much to say about the camp. But, there was a storm, we were waiting it out outside under an altan with the girls who slept in tents - god, we were all scared. I kept telling fairytales for an hour and then more at curfew for the little ones, I almost lost my voice. (There was a boy with us, about fifteen, helping counsilor. He slowly inched closer as I was telling the fairytales, it was cute.)

Still, the girls were crying, I'm not surprised, the storm was bad, and then there was some scandal among the younger kids about some video, and more people cried. In the end, at least ten people cried. I didn't break down only because I took xanax in between.

I'm not sure if I want to say anything more; I've said enough already.

There's a new school year soon and I'm scared.

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 27 of Nona the Ninth

Looks like the Nook app had a character encoding issue, haha. Going into the ebook file, it looks like it was supposed to be Takṣa, which seems to be the name of a person who's important to Hinduism in some way. I'm guessing the rest of those names that I don't recognize are probably also random Earth references

That's pretty interesting, and makes a lot of sense, and follows on from Pash talking about being in BOE from a young age. And I guess maybe also explains why We Suffer tolerates Pash and gives her important assignments in spite of the fact that they seem to clash a bit, personality-wise

Man, so many people have come back that I hope G1deon does come back at some point, both for Pyrrha's sake, and also, I'd like to actually learn what kind of person he was. I know that G-- there is probably just her saying [g], but it makes me think of the way he is referred to in the John sections, like she is saying his original name? But even if she knows what that is, I don't think there's any reason for Nona to not hear it here

Manifesting cosmic spider Alecto

She just, like - she's not having a tantrum or anything right now, she just sticks a sword into her leg because it's inconvenient to carry it and she's only worried about damaging her shirt

Also, I don't think it is ever clarified in this chapter what she actually needs the sword for? Was she planning on fighting the Heralds?

I'm not sure exactly when she had this communication? She doesn't talk about it at all, the only time she really mentions Number Seven is when she said good night to it that one time, and she doesn't mention ever having had like, a conversation with it. I also don't think she knows it's possessing Judith at this point or she would probably have addressed Judith in the truck, I would guess. Number Seven also claims that she asked it for help, but I can't find anywhere in the story where she did that or mentions having done that

This has to refer to John, right? I don't think there are any other relevant male characters left in this story, except Palamedes, who is definitely not who's being referred to here. But John hasn't been present at all in any of the Nona-narrated sections of this story and is probably on the other side of the galaxy right now, so I'm not sure how he could be fleeing from Number Seven here

Again, I'm not sure when this happened, unless it's referring to something that happened 10,000 years ago? Or how a planet can somehow give "blood for blood", or what exactly it was supposed to help with, or how

Yeah, I think she knows what it means. She's standing up here begging Number Seven to not eat the planet and not kill all the people she cares about, so yeah, I think she does

So this was what Judith was talking about earlier:

And:

Alecto is a "green thing" I guess because Earth has plantlife? But if you see it from space, it looks more blue than green. I guess she is green-and-breathing because she has a physical body? I'm not sure who Number Seven saw in the waves, here. The people fighting it were G1deon, Mercy, Augustine, Ianthe, and briefly Nonius and co. Is it talking about how it noticed Ianthe arriving in the shuttle via the River and remembered that she was one of the people who had fought it earlier?

Here on truck, I'm not sure if Number Seven is talking about Nona expending Harrow's body or something else when it says "you eat yourself". And so far, we are to understand that the resurrection beasts do eat living planets and aren't interested in the dead ones, so I'm not sure what it means by "unliving marrow", either

I mean it did work on one resurrection beast

I don't know what the significance of this is

More references to whatever this tower is. Is this some new thing that John made to fight resurrection beasts now that he's down to just one Lyctor?

Maybe Judith is going to be ok, but she's not up to date on recent events, haha

[margo-mania]

i just finished nona the ninth and i'm too autistic for dealing with this emotional bullshit i wanna scream and cry and sleep for forever but i cant do any of those need griddlehark fanfic recs please. aus only atm

final personal character ranking untill alecto comes out

can do no wrong i'll die for you: pyrra, camilla, palamedes, paul, nona, hot sauce, noodles i love you but if i look at you right now i'm going to scream: gideon, harrowhark b tier: abigail, magnus, ortus, honesty, g1deon, mercy, aim, pash, we suffer you werent around enough for strong opinions: isaac, jeanmary, born in the morning, kevin, ruby, dulcinea, babs, 1 hour time out: coronabeth, wake GO SIT. YOUR FUCK ASS DOWN. OUTSIDE. WHERE I CANT SEE YOU RIGHT NOW: ianthe, john i forgot you existed: everyone else

[malatruse]

TSV finale thoughts

uh spoilers ovbiously

initial thoughts

Ok first of all WOW i am dehydrated from crying jfc. like I listened to Eskew, I knew what to expect, but DAMN.

Really lovely work all around. They did a really nice job with representation and making it feel natural and a part of the characters.

No skip kd song to close out the show, which is a little disappointing.

ok so down to the actual events

when faulkner's being all sarcastic about what will happen if he goes with carpenter i was just sitting there thinking 'well damn you can just say you dont wanna go'

they did a really good job of portraying faulkner as someone who's clearly sympathetic but also completely fucked up. who was he following in the water though? i guess it's implied to be an angel but idk. the callback to episode 1 was heartwrenching.

the fakeout at the end with carpenter felt so cruel, they let it go on for so long, she forgot the rest of the lyrics even! speaking of, why didn't that guy's truth come true? i guess it kinda did, but why didn't it happen right away during active wartime?

i love val so much.

it's so upsetting that everyone has to die alone. they couldn't even get back to each other before biting it like cmon.

couple of loose ends

the girl from the birch cult. i thought since they brought her back she would be relevant. maybe she was and i missed it?

the god or spirit or whatever that haunted carpenter when she fell asleep at its altar. she told it she was talking it with her. i hoped to see that manifest somehow

carpenter and paige never talking about how they both knew vaughn!!! cmon!!!

acantha....i guess we're meant to assume she died but :(

themes

strong vibes of 'if the system is this fucked up the only thing to do is abandon it' which is fitting considering the everything happening right now

no one's truly good or bad they just do things and they think they're doing them for a reason but it's not always the reason they think it is

the victors writing the history books. reminds me of in nona the ninth (spoilers for nona the ninth) when pyrrha tells john they can write the history books to say he was a good wizard, as a justification for doing questionable shit to get taken seriously. and we all know how that turned out

closing thoughts

we all need to be nicer to each other because we're all we've got

i love val ;;;;_;;;;

not forgiving yall for that hotel that feeds on hope. you can suck my nuts that kind of infohazard shit fucks people up for real

[jods-duplicitous-sluts]

Alecto the Ninth News

Part Two

If you haven't read part one, click here. If you are looking for part three, click here.

Another bunch of screenshots and links after the cut

If you enjoy this post please reblog so more people can see it!

Source: The Portalist Interview

• wonder who all this could reference...let's see: Gideon, Harrow, Ianthe, John, Judith, Coronabeth, Pyrrah, Aiglamene, and Sarpedon are who I can think of that match this in the literal sense of not being dead[well...] at the end of Nona. But if we start including souls we've seen in the river and deaths we've only heard about or were in any way ambiguous....it gets more interesting. I'd imagine the BOE who were on the Ninth will continue to be involved like AIM and Pash. I'd assume Paul will be a major player despite not technically appearing in two books and maybe Juno Zeta and Kiki?

Source: The Library Journal

• this kind of ties into the above but also ties into the harrowing of hell/what's wrong with the river plot line. I'm still saying John did something to damn the river and feeds off the energy of all the ghosts of the past 10,000 years being unable to cross to the beyond. I'd also venture that it has something to do with needing to restore the soulnof Earth as the rightful power/God of their universe. But eh. Maybe that's too simple. Again, all just speculation on my part.

Source: In the Margin

• This whole interview is great but this part about tragic figures in the locked tomb stuck out to me. It definitely seems like the third temptation will be a subject for Alecto and yet again heading into the Catholic allegories. Obviously referencing to the third temptation of Christ.

For the third and final temptation in Matthew (presented as the second temptation of the three in Luke) the devil takes Jesus to a high place, which Matthew explicitly identifies as a very high mountain[or a tower], where all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. The spot pointed out by tradition as the summit from which Satan offered to Jesus dominion over all earthly kingdoms. The temptation to assume leadership over the kingdoms of man. The kingdoms Jesus would inherit through Satan are obtained through love of power and political oppression. Barrett characterizes this "the old but ever new temptation to do evil that good may come; to justify the illegitimacy of the means by the greatness of the end." [From Wikipedia]

Basically the temptation to overthrow God.

Source: In the Margin

• A return to Canaan House and its mysteries. Is this in regards to the devils and the tower, Abigail and her theory about the secret private chambers of the Emperor, Palamades being systematically lied to about the ages and psychometric signatures in Canaan House or Harrow and her secret door theory? Or something else entirely...but I'm glad that we may get another glimpse into Canaan House.

Source: Nerd Daily Aug. 2020 interview

• Now this interview is pre-Nona as its own book, but I can't think of any 2 characters that interact in Harrow that would have had a moment that fits this in Nona. Brutal sincerity? It feels like it has to involve Harrow, John, Ianthe or Gideon in some way.

Source: The Nerd Daily 2020

• Again on the theme of love which relates to Nona, but TazMuir has said in other interviews to expect that theme to continue onto Alecto.

Also don't expect everyone to get what's coming to them which doesn't shock me.

Source: LA Book Review

• Pre-Nona interview. But talking about Gideon and Harrow’s relationship dynamic changing as their standing changes. Obviously we're going to see some fallout/paradigm shifts with Gideon being the heir aparent of God and Harrow basically becoming a heretic of sorts.

Source: The Library Journal

• Broad strokes here about character growth and a painful but begrudging happiness that some characters will find. But there is a chance at happiness. So that's something a lot of haven't been counting on.

Source: Vox Bookclub Podcast transcript

• while this is a reference to Harrow the Ninth it does mention to look out for more biblical allusion in Alecto. Now, I'm pretty sure this is pre-Nona announcement and obviously we got all the John biblical references but from the other interviews we've been talking about we know there is so harrowing of hell and temptation of christ in our future. Maybe someone more upon Bible study can chime in with other Biblical passages or stories that may come into play that fit the same theme?

Source: The Coode Street Podcast

• Paraphrasing but On episode 598 of the Coode Street podcast, Tamsyn Muir said that Alecto the Ninth was completed but hadn't been edited yet and that she doubted it would be out by the end of 2023 as it was a "chonky boy" or a "chungus" (her words). That podcast was released in December, so I'm assuming recorded in November or earlier.

Seems to me like any listed dates right now are probably placeholders until Tor announces an official release date.

PHEW! That was a lot so far. To be honest there are some other podcast interviews I know I've listened to in the past but haven't had time to revisit for this project so I may be missing some things.

We have one more roundup of interview screenshots to go, but it will have to be its own post. And the theme of part 3 of ATN news is: CW: Ianthe Tridentarius. Yep. There are so many mentions referring to Ianthe in Alecto that they will be their own post. [Yikes]

Click here to see part 3 of this post

[dragonologist-phd]

tagged by @camelliagwerm and by @gothimp! thank you both so much!

1. the last book I read:

A House Between Earth and the Moon by Rebecca Scherm, which i overall enjoyed but oh boy did it hit that mood of 'this is a terrifying future for the world and one that i can absolutely see happening given the current trajectory of society'. so yeah it was a little...anxiety-inducing (which it's meant to be, so good job!)

2. a book I recommend:

ooh that's tough because what i recommend depends a lot on who i'm recommending stuff to! hmm...first thing coming to mind right now is Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I really loved that one, and if you also enjoy queer horror, it's probably something you would enjoy!

3. a book that I couldn’t put down:

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! the narration tricks and the reveals and the dramatic irony for that one are all so good, it's one of those books that i wish i could read for the first time again. it was so much fun that i tore through it all over the course of a weekend (though it also helped that i was on vacation at the time- i always read so much faster on vacation!)

4. a book that I’ve read twice (or more):

Quite a few, mostly ones i loved as a kid, but i'll go with Redshirts by John Scalzi- it's a short, goofy read and it's one of my comfort books when i need something light!

5. a book on my TBR:

*glances at the stack of books on my nightstand*. um. well there's a few. let's see...i got a nice copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde a while back that i still haven't opened yet, so that's one i want to get to eventually!

6. a book I’ve put down:

i have very little patience with pushing through books i don't like, so i'm prone to putting down a book as soon as i start to dislike it. i believe the last one i did that with was The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. that was a particularly disappointing one because it had such an interesting premise, but god was the fatphobia off the charts, and i'm so done putting up with that shit

7. a book on my wish list:

the latest one i've put on my wishlist is Coyote America by Dan Flores! it sounds fascinating and it's also probably gonna make me really sad!

8. a favourite book from childhood:

ooh there's so many to choose from, but the first one to pop in my head is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. i loved that book- like, "i had a paperback version of the book that i carried around so much it was literally falling apart" level of loved. i think it single-handedly started my ongoing affection for classic fairytale re-tellings!

9. a book you would give to a friend:

Again, it depends a lot on the friend in question! But just going off the last book i lent out to someone, it would be House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson, which i recently lent to my girlfriend!

10. a book of poetry or lyrics you own:

i own a copy of Useless Magic, a lyrics book by Florence Welch! and a collection of Edgar Allan Poe poems which i haven't read yet but i swear it's on the list

11. a nonfiction book you own:

i just recently finished Hi Honey, I'm Homo! by Matt Baume (full title: Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture) it was super interesting and had quite a few anecdotes i hadn't heard of, i'd definitely recommend it to anyone who's interested in those subjects

12. what are you currently reading:

i'm making my way through The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers! that one's been slow going, but i'm hoping to finish it up over the long weekend.

13. what are you planning on reading next:

i've got a few on the list, but i think i'll be starting Nona the Ninth once i get the chance!

no-pressure tagging, though i'd love to see y'all do this if you want to!

tag list here!

@bugdotpng @dujour13 @mordred9971 @orime-stories @transprincecaspian

@miseryscrowned @bladesmitten @big-cheesy-productions @arendaes @bezelusbubulez

@starlightcleric @vigilskept @thesolemnhour @ampleappleamble @herequeerexitentialfear

@rollofleaf @adozentothedawn @undyingembers @thefathersbride @milesmentis

@serenbach86