#react to nona the ninth

[adearqueer]

My partner sent me her reactions while reading Nona. It brought me immense joy (and immediate tears towards the end) to receive them, see her theories, and get into them with her. <3

[starberry-cupcake]

GUESS WHO'S BACK??? Happy new year you bone-loving weirdos (affectionately)!!! Let's start 2025 with Nona!!!

previously, in this react series:

we (I mean me, but also you, alongside me) finished harrowcita del 9

we read some short stories

I made a gideon craft as a gift and the person I made it for told me that the recap I wrote in the back made it to some discord server somewhere

my legacy is being unfunny

NOW LET'S START WITH NONA:

(that's how I called 2 of my great-grandmothers)

I decided to skip all the praise for the book because some of them were getting a little too involved with the story and I don't want to know anything, thank you very much

I did however read the blurb in the inside cover that I missed the last time

I wonder if at some point I could make like an audio version of a recap as I read, because my reaction when I read the following was Something, but then again you'd have to deal with my pronunciation of the names and idk if I want that

anyway, blurb says "with Pyrrha, Camilla and Palamedes"

???????????????????????????????????????????

I thought it was judith and coronabeer twin??????

I'm gonna change her name from regina george twin to coronabeer twin now because she outlived her other nickname

she's the only nickname graduate so far

who took palmolive out of the tamagotchi river loft???????

who set him loose????

how is phyrrha there, she was with gideon/harrow/gideonharrow fusion??????

"each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull painted face"

don't we all

the list of books says "Nona the Ninth" and so does the title in the paratext

instead of dramatis personae we have a guest list for a party

there are a lot of dogs invited to the party, which is nice

one of them has six legs

there's also people with BOE names

and one kevin, love to see it, I'll remember him

lots of meme potential there

there are some camilla annotations beside all the people from BOE allegedly nona wants to invite

still not seeing coronabeer and/or judith

gonna imagine that, wherever they are, they're making out

good for them

we got two poems after, the latter of which is a bit heart wrenching, I don't wanna ask about it

then we got a title that looks like a bible verse

had to google it and it is a verse about peter and a disciple finding jesus's tomb empty

ice cube barbie is locked tomb jesus confirmed

I've never mentioned this before but this has happened to me ever since book 1, and since it's here again I'm gonna say it

I have noticed I have a bad knee jerk reaction to the adjective 'fat' being used so often for so many things, but I'm trying to work thought it

don't wanna project my trauma onto unintended narrators

we got a summarized recount of events of what might be how emperor asshat and some of his lyctors got where they got from maybe present times???

there's talk about cryogenics for a lot of people and an evacuation plan from earth

and names are erased but we have some initials that could be augustine, mercygirl, cassiopeia and gideon

I don't think c is not!dulcinea because she was meant to be a newer model lyctor

during this recount he's in the beach alongside harrow, who he says he's gonna hurt

harrow apparently says she still loves him

gideon would be kicking him in the nuts

also, I thought the emperor was with yandere twin

what the hell happened between the two books???? where's everyone????

DAY ONE (hot sauce and 5 days until the tomb opens) CH 1

we've got a recorded statement of what feels to me like the Pool Situation Wink Wonk You Know The One

is she harrow??? or is harrow in the river with the emperor and this is a new person???? who is this????? is harrow's soul in the river???? where is gideon's perfectly preserved body that we knew camilla was carrying around with coronabeer and judith???

I don't know anything

but my wife is here, so it's all good

also, she's apparently sharing a body with palmolive now

so now the wife ideal turned into a polycule situation, I guess

didn't have that in my 2025 cards

I have two hands, apparently, idk

turns out, palmolive was somehow freed from his tamagotchi loft in the river and placed in camilla's body so they share it

how? by who? when?

glad you asked, I don't know

they're sharing space now, that's all I know

it's kind of like the lyctors should have been if the emperor wasn't an asshole, I guess

because it seems they can also switch easily and like coexist without totally cutting the other one out

it feels a lot healthier and organic in their relationship, even though palmolive is a soul guest

palmolive says camilla's body is a temple, so I'm glad we agree

pyrrha is also there, I assume taking over og!gideon's body fully, since he died, afaik

they're taking care of nona, who doesn't know who she is and they don't seem to know either, but if she has harrow's memories, I don't know what to tell you

they're living in a complicated militarized situation with few resources and little light use

palmolive thinks he could write explicit materials for a living but camilla doesn't want them to be remembered for that

palmolive wrote a lot of Things to his bae in correspondence, so maybe that's already part of his legacy

nona is sent to her room while palmolive and pyrrha argue about BOE acting weird

camolive want to rescue people, pyrrha thinks it's a bad idea and wants to get nona away from the planet

pyrrha also mentions a "she" that's crazier than camilla and makes references to commander wake me up when september ends but that one died???? twice????? so idk who this new "she" is

let's remember, for the record, that both og!gideon and pyrrha were Intimate with commander wake me up before we go go

apparently there are more people who are planet refugees in this one planet than two houses combined

which doesn't surprise me in the least, because that's how oppression often works, but is good to have it confirmed

heralds are also still a problem and camilla wants to fight them

pyrrha thinks that's a bad idea, because there's data of that not being possible

but she doesn't know that camilla hect is perfect and can do everything right always

it is important for me to clarify that, more than anyone ever in this book series, nona is the true definition of what in my land we refer to as: "está en un cumple"

the literal definition of the phrase means "she's in a birthday party"

the idiom definition is that someone is totally unaware of what is going on, without understanding what's around them, often used for people in a content state while unaware of a problem everyone else is worrying about

I truly think it's a very good way to describe her and I can't translate it in a way that feels the exact way, especially due to the party context

I headcanon her wearing this shirt

she also wants to save the animals, while camolive want to save the people

pyrrha is just tired and wants to retire to a farming planet to live in peace

I get it, though, imagine having to serve emperor asshat for so long

poor cavalier deserves some rest, og!gideon had the right idea when he exited the entire situation

saw an out with that fight in the river and left the chat

pyrrha is also worried about BOE capturing and torturing camolive for interrogation

and there seems to be an underlying plan between camolive and pyrrha that I'm not entirely sure of yet

nona, apparently, goes to school, because she's in a cumple, as previously established

going to school on top of the eye in the sky and the military issues and the social strife and the potential torturing doesn't sound ideal but very glad there's still an education system in place among all that

AND THAT'S IT FOR NOW!!! It's proving a bit complicated to do recaps with a paperback but I'm gonna try to find my footing!! See you on the next one!!

[imaginable-horror]

Stopped to have dinner, but new updates include:

Nona hearing prophecies and proclamations of doom from wordless screams that no one else can hear,

Coronabeth being deeply abnormal about herself

("you're mad at me. Shame on you." Is the funniest shit though),

John being a sad little guy who caused his own problems (literally used hundreds of nearby farm animals as a wall because he was too attached to his pet corpses).

I do believe this is me encountering the cow wall and is was so much worse than one could imagine. Though, for some reason the image in my head from hearing about it had the gows all being somewhat alive which is probably more horrifying, actually. Also, it's not just cows; there were sheep in there too.

Jod also continues to make terrible puns and reference things that I actually recognise. This is terrible and needs to stop. I want to throw rocks at him, why is he like this

Gonna start reading Nona The Ninth now. Guys, I'm scared. Ahhhhhh.

It's been a hot minute since I read Harrow and Gideon so not my fault if I'm stupid and have no idea who anyone is. We have managed to avoid spoilers for the most part but I was, however, unable to resist the allure of art and text posts wandering across my dash so here's what I know going in:

Nona in Harrow's body

Nona kisses Gideon??? Gideon back???!!

Pyrrha? Fully in Gideon's body?? Presumably the other Gideon? The first??

There's a cow wall?!? Wall made of cows. Wtf, Jod?? I have no context for this???

Also, necromancers might be evil?? I feel like our buddy John was kind of giving those vibes anyway but I have no idea what I'm about to read

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 25

Pyrrha really is committed to mentioning that she found Gideon’s mother attractive in every conversation that she has with her, i admire the dedication 

haha what the fuck is this. Kiriona Gaia Her Divine Highness

MUMFUCKER PRIME ngl the bad jokes are mostly the only reason i’m pretty sure this is actually Gideon and not some doppelganger. idk whether its all the trauma she’s built up over the last two books or just having to be in the general proximity of Ianthe and John for an extended period of time, but something is up with this gal

'Judith Deuteros for some reason’ i relate to this on a fundamental level given i genuinely didn’t realise that Judith was here until this moment

as much as it pains me that two of my favourite characters immediately Do Not Vibe with eachother, Gid being a dick to Nona makes sense given Nona is currently occupying the body of the person Gideon cares the most about in the world, who is themselves god-only-knows-where rn. props to Tamsyn Muir for making the bold creative choice to have her protagonists all just fucking loathe each other at some point

okay there is no way in hell that Gideon actually wants to go back to the ninth for nostalgia. unless it's nostalgia for dunking on Crux

‘it was not a very friendly smile [...] there was something a little bit hungry about it’ haha what the fuck. really said let’s dial up the ‘came back wrong’ trope to eleven here. what in the Jason Todd is this

well miss ‘I am the Emperor’s construct’ has come a long way since ‘Go to hell Pops’, this was NOT what i meant when i said i wanted more of Gideon and John interacting this book 😭😭

tamsyn muir really said ‘oh you want Gideon back? i’m going to give you what you want in the most painful way possible’ huh. this is uh somehow worse than her dying actually :)

Gideon actually knowing anything about necromancy is the most disturbing part of all of this. what happened Gid i thought you and me were on a team of this ‘necromancy is confusing as all hell’ thing. can’t believe you’d betray me like this smh

also given we last saw Gid finding out she was born as a ‘bomb’ to open the tomb, and how much she hated everything about the Ninth other than Harrow, i am very concerned about why she suddenly wants to come with to open the Tomb

the saddest girl in the whole world is Gideon??? GIDEON?? the presence of Noodle in this book lulled me into a false sense of security so that i forgot just how much this series loves breaking my heart over and over again 

i know everyone already knows from the broadcast (and possibly before if Pyrrha told them) but i do wonder how Corona, and Pal & Cam etc. reacted to finding out Gideon was God’s daughter. imagine having to deal with the revelation that the deity you are becoming increasingly disillusioned with has a kid that spent much of the time you knew her making terrible sex jokes

[swampsiren-piratefairy]

Nona the Ninth spoilers

When Gideon Nav, Kiriona Gaia, first lays eyes on Nona, in Harrowhark Nonagesimus’s body, she looks at her “in such a mute, helpless appeal” and Nona knows exactly what Gideon wants and gives it to her: Nona kisses her.

Poor Gideon’s want must have been deep and desperate and so clear to Nona. And Nona, kind and loving Nona, just wants to help and Gideon reacts with a face that is “ridged with shock and disbelief.” Because by kissing her, Nona immediately shows Gideon that Harrow is not here. Harrow’s body has been inhabited but Harrow is gone.

And Nona, always so perceptive, is absorbed by watching the way Gideon moves. She’s “never seen anyone move like that before.” And it’s not for many pages that we learn what’s so interesting about Gideon’s movements.

Gideon is so sad. She’s sadder than anyone Nona has ever seen before, and Nona lives in a war torn refugee city.

Gideon gave her life for Harrow. Harrow didn’t accept the gift, and Gideon was devastated.

She felt so rejected. And now, Gideon must have thought, “finally! here’s Harrow again.” And had that hope is immediately squashed. No wonder she’s so fucking sad.

[petit-sapin]

Hey guys my girlfriend got me to read Gideon the Ninth and I tore through it, followed up by reading Harrow the Ninth in about a week.

Given how fast I read it, my girlfriend didn't get to see or experience me reacting to it. So, get ready for lots of tlt spoiler tag posts as I no context react to Nona the Ninth for her (and your) viewing pleasure.

[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

[cognito-mode]

Hey! So, @tordotcom generously agreed to publish an essay I wrote. It's about The Locked Tomb series, how we define magic, and how (I think) Muir's conception of necromancy contributes to the themes of her books.

Tumblr makes a cameo.

Also discussed: Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea series and ancient ideas of magic vs religion and science.

Give it a read if you're interested! And if you want to play a fun little game with it, try defining "magic" to yourself and see what you come up with. The essay references a definition of magic once proposed by the great Ted Chiang, so see how close your own definition comes to his!

[toweringclam]

After finishing Nona the Ninth, my theory on Kiriona:

We know that she isn't Gideon by the "Thou big slut" line being shouted from the other bank of the River. Like...this should be a settled issue by now, but the problem is, she does a very good job of being Gideon. Specifically, the Dark Side AU version of Gideon that lives rent-free in our heads. She's exactly what Gideon would be like if she were raised by Jod.

Because that's basically what she is.

The body influences the soul just as the soul influences the body. He had Gideon's body, which meant all her memories and the basics of her personality. He had himself. And I'm thinking he caught whatever remained of Wake's soul, too. So he took the scraps of Wake and a tiny sliver of his own soul, stirred it around, and poured it into her body. The result is Kiriona Gaia.

But like he fucked up the recipe. He put the dries into the wets. He let the batter sit too long. He underbaked it.

This Gideon doesn't make bawdy jokes. She doesn't react at all to Harrow's face. Hell, she barely does anything until the situation calls for it. Most of the time, she just shuts off. She's the saddest girl in the world because she knows how she should be feeling at any given moment, but she just doesn't. So instead, she plays the role of the arrogant, indulgent prince. She does what Dad tells her to hoping she'll feel something.

Because you can't take away loved, and you can't fake it either.

[maybecould]

"Ninth, really, I sincerely did not want to have to look after your bedamned water bottle.” -Palamedes, NTN

This is the locked tomb quote I rotate in my mind the most for three reasons.

1.

This is 100% a reference to this tweet and it makes no sense diagetically.

2. I have thought about this really hard and I am still truly am unsure who Pal is referring to. It could be Gideon, or Harrow, but it could also be some theoretically merged being of the two. Like, no amalgamation actually exists yet, but Pal and Cam are convinced throughout ntn that Gideon and Harrow, the Ninth, may have beat them to it. I think Pal could be addressing them as a unit here.

3. I will never not be emotional about the relationship between the Sixth and the Ninth. Camilla and especially Palamedes care about Nona no matter who she is but that love started with the completely unlikely alliance and genuine solidarity between those four.

And it is reciprocated! One of Harrow's first emotions once her brain gets sclorped back together in the Bubble is guilt over how she reacted to Camilla. Maybe the most striking action of Kiriona that makes her seem so UnGideon is how she treats the Sixth, even when it's a halfhearted dismissal (no pun intended). It genuinely reads as such a betrayal. And that shouldn't be the case, because of how little those four actually interacted, but those bonds were so important!!!

[theriverbeyond]

After the flame, when the stranger with strange eyes comes to her, Nona screams.

(or: missing scene of Nona reacting to Paul)

(or: the author was missing Cam & Pal and is now making it everyone's problem)

(or: what if the people who love you decided to commit mutual suicide to fuse and form one person who wasn't either of them anymore and you were upset about it)

Rated G | 1.5k words

[starberry-cupcake]

Here we are again!! Let's get to it!!

previously, in noni del 9:

this happened

this is the tag for all tlt recaps

I'm loving that many of you are adopting the "está en un cumple" phrase, living for that

CHAPTER 4 (seventh house skull 👀)

it's another day in this planet and everyone's up for their routines

they all travel together, then pyrrha goes on her way to work

camolive go on their way to do what they do

undetermined what it is they do, to nona's pov

camilla can do whatever she wants, though

you go queen

and nona goes to school for her unpaid job of assistant

when she gets there, kevin is playing with plushies

we love kevin

and hot sauce is staring out the window in suspicion like this

how many cartoons with eccentric kids in school can I use to illustrate? we'll see, I have a lot to pick from

anyway, apparently there's people watching from another building

0 discreet, if kids are spotting them

this, coupled with the seventh skull, gives me ideas

so nona asks if they're watching her, to which hot sauce goes "why would they?"

nona says she doesn't know

not sure if she says this because she's in a cumple, as previously established, or because she doesn't want to give too much away to hot sauce

who seems to have all the brain cells of the school

hot sauce is on the case, though, and says she'll investigate

but has to delegate that to nona during science class, because nona has dog privileges and can go outside to the blasting heat to see if something happens

today was the first pool day of the summer for me, so I feel that and thank her for her service, because heat is terrible

also, the science teacher, aka the angel, comes in looking as worse for wear as daniel craig in the majority of the movie queer

here everyone has weird names

except for kevin

we love kevin

you know, that might be why I'm having trouble with this one, I feel like I'm not in my element enough in these recaps

because everyone has weird names already and I can't do my bit

I'm failing you, I'm sorry

my power is wasting away

so, anyway, the teacher is not looking good and nona thinks maybe it's a hangover but hot sauce says the teacher doesn't drink

nobody questions her knowledge

ever

are they torturing the teacher for information on nona????

have they been spotted????

also, everyone says nona isn't pretty and nona insists on her being pretty, which makes me feel like this is gideon in harrow's body, but who knows

it'd definitely be fun if she is and has to own up on all the times she's said she's beautiful and kissed her in the mirror and whatnot

camilla wrote like 6 pages about that, which harrow should read, if that's the case

the only thing nona sees on her stakeout is a person who she thinks might be a dead body, because they're very still

but decides they aren't, because their nice clothes weren't stolen from them

I'd think the exact same thing, that's sound judgment imo

and the person isn't there when they leave, so that's disquieting

a worse thing than a sus person is not knowing where the sus person went

CHAPTER 5 (nine house skull!!! everyone stay calm!!!!)

nona and camolive go back to their apartment

I'm picturing something between the infinity fortress from getbackers or the heaven's arena from hunterxhunter

(camilla would kick absolute ass in both of these)

anyway, nona is instructed to try doing bone stuff

she asks what camolive were doing and when they said talking with friends, nona asks about "crown", who she says she loves

I assume "crown" is coronabeer because corona is crown in spanish and nona knows multiple languages

she describes her as: smelling like cinnamon, having nice hair, having nice breasts and being big and pretty

that could very well be coronabeer, so I'm sticking to my hypothesis here

palmolive says that they're not friends with coronabeer right now, which ok?????

I think coronabeer was going full BOE last time we saw her? but judith was not, so idk what's happening over there

ALSO

this is the first time I remember hearing coronabeer described as "big"

I think I, of all people, would remember that

I'm immediately giving her extra points for that

I'm not looking into fanart yet for spoiler reasons but I'm gonna take this one adjective and run with it because I'm starved for representation, ok? ok

palmolive writes down about the "breasts" comment, which I'd also write down, because that's such a gideon thing to say and focus on

I don't think harrowbean has been preoccupied with boobs quite as much as gideon has

also, nona doesn't remember why she knows what cinnamon smells like

in my top 3 smells (I have such a list), cinnamon is my nr 1, so coronabeer is winning a lot of points with me on this day

who would have thought????

making a new version of this meme I dropped on this recap with her new name

they also talk about "the captain" and palmolive says he doesn't like her too much

so that's judith

I stopped being super hard on judith when I found out she was as much of a gay disaster as most people in these books

in other news, palmolive can do some necro stuff still and it doesn't hurt camilla when he does it

which is what's really important here and what really matters

they have the timer so that palmolive doesn't hurt camilla by overstaying his welcome in the temple of perfection that is her body

apparently, the blue light in the sky doesn't hurt camolive either

nona says she loves camilla and how she moves

also gideon behavior

the first time gideon saw camilla fight, she thought she was friend-shaped

I mentioned it on this recap

palmolive agrees about camilla's moves and says he misses seeing her

now you know how I felt during half of harrow, palmolive, it was painful

you were in a man cave in the river at the time, but still

ANYWAY, IT'S LOVING CAMILLA TIME

EVERYONE, GET IN LINE

pyrrha is immune to the light in the sky because she's a lyctor

(they don't use that word)

but she has "the wrong soul"

because og!gideon and her switched and he died

(they don't say that explicitly but I'm filling in the gaps)

nona asks if she has the wrong kind of soul or the wrong kind of body

which we don't know, neither palmolive nor me

she also asks if that's why BOE doesn't want her and palmolive says that they do

and nona adds that she likes commander we suffer

who was named in the dramatis personae aka guest list at the start

and she's part of something palmolive calls "ctesiphon wing"

palmolive has mixed feelings about all of these people which, I guess, in this social context, being a necro narc undercover would do that

not that palmolive would be fighting for emperor asshat anymore, but I assume there's tension between the sides still, being the oppressors and all

which might make things somewhat easier for coronabeer, since she wasn't really a necro to begin with?

judith is probably fucked, though

rip judith

nona says that palmolive doing necro stuff makes her sad, which is kind of what I'm saying

I'm guessing regular folks here would hunt necros for sport if they could, as evidenced by the kids

palmolive tells nona to give camilla a kiss in the second right-hand knuckle

and, apparently, this falls into the "nona can read, understand and replicate body language to perfection in an instant" category

because she apparently did this the first time and camilla had a bit of a breakdown about it

they give me qpr vibes, camolive

I'd marry them as a package if they'd have me anyway, I'm not backing out because palmolive is suddenly an addition

I passed the sixth house audition, maybe I can pass this one, who knows

I can write a detailed CV with color coded references to what I can provide to this association

ANYWAY

under the "nona can read people's bodies and replicate things" umbrella, gestures fall right in

she's in a cumple and she can read people's bodies and gestures and replicate them as well as tell if someone's full of crap and lying their asses out

and she likes coronabeer's boobs

all important details to think about

and that's it for now!!!! see you on the next one!!

[carica-ficus]

"Nona the Ninth"

14/07/2024

Reading progress: 274/477 (57%) Read through since last update: 158

Reading this book is such a joy. I keep surprising myself by how easy it is to read. I go through twenty pages without even realizing. it I missed reading such books. I missed being so immersed in a book. Man, it feels good! I decided to share some really CRAZY ideas in this post because my reading diary is meant as a brain dump. Don't take them too seriously. I just like thinking about all the possibilities. (I'm usually wrong, but it's fun to see by how much.)

So, notes:

I was so into these last two chapters that I didn't even remember to comment.

I love how Pyrrha calls Nona all these cutesy nicknames. And how sweet and gentle she is with her.

I audibly gasped when Palamedes needed to confess to Pyrrha that Cam sold her cigarettes. Literally 😮. Only for Pyrrha to take it as a champ. (She obviously took enough shit that day.)

So, blue dot in the sky. Earth or Uranus? Or Neptune? I'm guessing we're on some moon, but not sure which one. Considering they keep talking about how hot it is and that it's almost always day, they should be somewhere near the center of the solar system. Might as well be Venus considering how everything is VERY toxic and they need to wear gas masks outside. (Addition from future me: Bruh, I have no idea.)

Palamedes, my man. 🤝 This is a guy that knows what it's all about. (The nurse thing. I'm dating one, so yeah.)

Been thinking about Harrow and how she ruled on a dead planet and how John promised her new people when she succeeded with her task as a Lyctor. New people. New future. But where do all those bodies come from? So, my random thought of the day is that maybe she got promised some of the bodies transported in the Convoy? Speculating, speculating, I know. But I decided to write this down, so I can reflect on it later. (Future me: Still have no idea what the Convoy is for, but with everything happening, this idea really is a LONG SHOT.)

HAHAHAHAHHAA Palamedes calling Cam a hypocrite. Love it.

I keep forgetting to comment, and a lot's been happening. The "little" meeting Cam, Pyrrha, and Nona had with the Crown and the Comander was insightful, but difficult to follow. I got like? Half of it? But managed to understand the most important things - there's a craft in orbit and they have no idea what it is, there's some background for the first book and Cytherea's mission, then we see Judith and Crown realizes Cam is hiding Palamedes. Marvelous.

Millie? Lol, I'd be mad too. I have no idea why Palamedes didn't react. I certainly would.

Nona's the weapon. Cool. They're growing their own Lyctor. So, the body needs to be a necromancer that ingested the soul of a cavalier? Yeah, whatever, we'll see. My money's on The Body being Nona, but who even knows at this point. (Not me.)

But one thing I am excited for (after I finish Nona) is FINALLY going into the locked tomb tag without the fear of spoilers. Can't wait!

Fuck! That's true. Nona truly is Camilla's age. And Corona's. I keep imagining her younger because she is childlike, but I shouldn't. Granted, I think that's also the point of Muir writing her like that. Nona is constantly babied and talked down to because she doesn't understand the world as the rest of them do. She can't. At least not yet. Anyway, yeah, this sentence reminded me to adjust the way I imagine Nona. She definitely needs to be a little taller in my head. (Even though she is still shorter than Camilla.)

"Beef." 🙄

HAHAHAHAH crying again. Yeah, me too, John.

Yo. What the fuck.

Makes sense because Gideon has taken over Harrow's body, but still. Huh? (At least that's my guess. I don't know)

PYRRHA'S MISSING? NOOOO.

Oh yeah, ok. Are John and Harrow somewhere by the River like how Harrow's dreams were? Also, still guessing at this point, but I've been thinking about this ever since John's chapters started. (Primarily because their location is very surreal, very dreamlike.)

"I've carried you, Warden. And I've carried your memory... I'd rather carry you." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ok, so... If Hot Sauce didn't know Nona was a Lyctor, what was the secret Nona told her when they were lying next to each other at school?

Okay, wrapping off here because this post got a little long. I'll do my best to finish off this book quickly because I have a trip coming up next week and I won't have the time to read which will make me frustrated because I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. Anyway, I'm really, really loving Nona so far. It's very different and the pace was quite slow, but I love that about Muir's writing. Every book in this series has been a breath of fresh air, something so unique, but familiar at the same time. ❤

[goodluckdetective]

Finally I have finished Harrow the Ninth.

Thankfully, I also have Nona the Ninth at the ready to read.

Some thoughts below the cut. Spoilers for Harrow below:

-I figured the Emperor was going to be a bad guy cus, everything, but I really like how he’s both, 1. a humanly guy with a personality and traits other than being evil and 2. Even worse of a guy than you think!

-Like you know he’s gonna be a bad dude but when you get to the LEVELS, my goodness.

-This was a hard book to get through but I bet it makes a delightful re-read once you know what’s going on. Especially with the elder Lyctors.

-it’s really interesting that all the Lyctors we’ve met so far besides Gideon are against the man they claim to serve (and with Gideon that service is also complex)

-the fact John reacts to Gideon as his “daughter” and not “plot to destroy me” is kind of fascinating. Cus Gideon is essentially a plot to destroy him but he claims her as his, anyway. And i don’t think that’s a good thing (he’s gonna want to control her), but I’m curious why the logic went that way.

-Ianthe you big bitch (affectionate)

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 28

‘golden eyes like a dead animal’s’ you are sick and twisted Tamsyn Muir, sick and twisted (affectionate). also that is an interesting description of Kiriona's eyes. of course part of it is that she is quite literally in a dead body, but these are also the eyes that John got after he gained his necromantic powers

ohhhh my god. i don’t think my heart can take Kiriona asking after Harrow. she gave up her life for her, did the best she could to take care of Harrow’s body, and now she doesn’t even know if Harrow’s alive or not

oof both Pyrrha and Nona clearly know that she’s Alecto, but Nona really doesn’t want to remember. i wonder how long exactly Pyrrha knew who Nona was, even if she was hoping she was Gideon, i feel like part of her must have suspected since the beginning

hmm i wonder if there’s something significant about Alecto’s name? not in terms of its Doylist meaning i.e. being named after one of the Furies, but in universe. here Nona doesn’t want Pyrrha to say her name because it will make her remember, John (from what i recall) only ever used nicknames like A.L. and Annabel Lee etc. when talking to Harrow, and both he and the other Lyctors had a remarkably strong reaction to Mercy using it at the end of HtN:

'A ripple of ice over the face. A hardening of the mouth. He said quietly, “Don’t call her-” “Alecto! Alecto! Alecto!” repeated Mercy shrilly. The other Lyctors flinched each time she said it, as though it were an aural stab’

oh wow, Alecto’s consciousness (voice?) rising up to speak from Nona is very disturbing. once again, Alecto doesn’t seem like the nicest person. which makes sense i suppose given she is in actuality a Resurrection Beast herself and seemingly very pissed off about the whole ‘killing humanity and putting her in a human form’ thing

‘astonishingly, Pash, helping an extremely feeble and aged person’ i mean good on Pash for helping the elderly, i guess?

it’s gotta be so strange for Palamedes’ mother and the other people in the Sixth to be dealing with the ‘i’m dead and in Naberius Tern’s also dead body’ thing. it can hardly be what they imagined when he and Camilla went off to the First in GtN. speaking of, i do still wonder how everyone’s family members, the Cohort etc. reacted to the news of basically everyone dying after going off to try and be Lyctors

‘Palamedes was acting as though he were a tiny at show-and-tell’ is that not how Palamedes always acts about everything

Pyrrha Dve queen of ill-advised romantic relationships. poor her, she’s lost basically everyone she cared about before (G1deon, Wake, and now Pal and Cam, Nona is dying) now as a result of Lyctorhood to some degree

oh why does everything they’re saying here feel like a goddamn funeral, i categorically don’t like this

'something white and grey and powdery [...] Camilla [...] - to Nona's horror - ate it' i’m assuming that’s Palamedes’ skull goop making a reappearance. ew

ohhh wow this is a lot worse than i thought it was going to be, they’ve actually just straight up merged themselves into a single person. i suspected the whole Camilla-and-Palamedes thing was going to come back but not like this. it’s not like they had a lot of choices, and i mean i guess it’s better on an emotional level than one of them dying and the other having to live with it, but still, yikes

wdym i am categorically not crying about the fact that Kiriona is apparently totally disinterested in this whole situation, but her first instinct is still to want to hand over her jacket to … Cam/Pal. (Pam?)

listen i get what Palamedes is trying to do here, encouraging Ianthe to accept Lyctorhood as a mutual loss & rebirth rather than a sole sacrifice of the cavalier, but quite frankly i think poor Naberius would like being merged into a single person with Ianthe even less than being murdered

[griseldagimpel]

Speaking of The Locked Tomb interpretations, my takeaway from Nona the Ninth was that all the instances of Kiriona seeming like a corpse were Kiriona's doing, rather than something Ianthe had done to her.

My reasoning for this: when she sees Nona mocked up as Harrow, she looks like she wants to be kissed. If Kiriona was actually "turned off" in that scene, she wouldn't have reacted to [seemingly] Harrow coming to her.

And also because Kiriona is on a secret mission that Ianthe doesn't know about and objects to. John giving Ianthe the power to turn Kiriona off would interfere with Kiriona's ability to do that mission. In fact, note that at the end of Nona the Ninth when Ianthe is trying to stop the Tomb from being opened, she doesn't just turn Kiriona off.