#you would’ve loved gideon the ninth

[twentysidednerd]

the locked tomb series as a whole feels like something the mechanisms would come across and be interested enough to write an album about

like you KNOW one of them would somehow accidentally be ordained as a lyctor or some shit. not because they go through the process but because they’re immortal and have the same healing powers as one. one of them would find a way to meet jod and probably conspire with him (and we know it would probably be ashes). pyrrha would meet one of them on the street and either get into a fistfight or take them out drinking. probably both. poor brian would probably crash land on one of the houses and become some sort of prophet/oracle again. they would encourage so much awful shit and it would be great

this connection was definitely not spurned by mechs content finally finding its way onto my dash again alongside the usual locked tomb stuff i see daily /s

[ratcaveart]

Random modern AU Harrow because I have a vision

[ennow]

You’re correct, @kaixaron.

From this

[2plolo]

“You need to find Jesus you need to find Jesus”

I have found Jesus. She’s ginger and she’s butch and she died for our sins

[procrastinationaccount]

I found another possible literary reference in Gideon the Ninth

From the stair fight:

From War and Peace:

This could very well be unintentional, but assuming it was, it hammers a few things home for me

Firstly, Gideon is explicitly casting her lot in with the dead at this early date, while Harrow is trying her level best (which is poor) to keep her safe and her equilibrium nice and balanced. Ow and ouchie, so glad that sentiment never comes back in a high-tension situation.

Secondly, the 'one must believe in the possibility of happiness' bit in War and Peace very much reminds me of Harrow's empty-hole planetside moment, and it strikes me that to my recollection the only time where Gideon discussed a possible happy future was her fantasy of her in the cohort while Harrow looked on. I know she's angry with her in this scene, but she was angry with her back then too, and choosing a bittersweet cavaliership under "Dulcinea" over continuing to develop her relationship with Harrow does seem equivalent to throwing away her chance of life here.

Thirdly, "It did not enter into his head that he was in love ... he was not thinking about her, but only picturing her to himself, and in consequence all life appeared in a new light" is a beautiful sentiment and I think it very much applies to Gideon "I mean, yeah, I was thinking about you too; if I could’ve turned that off I would’ve turned it off years ago" Nav generally if not in this scene specifically.

No new revelations really, but the phrasing is so similar in places that it piqued my interest!

[reflection-s-of-stars]

Harrow nova au thought (plus more thoughts later): if all the necromancer/cavalier pairs are swapped, the sixth and ninth houses will suffer each other’s fates.

So in the Ninth corner, you have Gideon Nav (Gideon Nonagesimus? Man idk), a self-sacrificing necromancer head over heels in love with Dulcinea, and is extremely upset about the big reveal. This is a recipe for some Very Bad Things to happen to our dear Griddle.

You also have Harrow Nova, who’s willing to do some unreasonable things to protect Gideon. This is a canon quality of hers, but here, it’s also been bred into her as Gideon’s cavalier. There’s no distance she wouldn’t go to protect her adept.

You might notice that this dynamic looks a hell of a lot like the Sixth’s in canon.

I think the way this would end is for Gideon to die fighting Cytherea (or maybe Loveday), and for Harrow, perhaps with myriad-old notes left behind by the OG cavaliers, to find a way to keep Gideon’s soul alive. Maybe she traps her in a river bubble (perhaps with a historical smut book), or maybe she does something else. Gideon is confused and hurt that Harrow won’t let her die for her, but she’s Gideon! Harrow has to protect her, she’s Gideon!

Meanwhile, with the Sixth, you’ve got Palamedes- also madly in love with Dulcinea, also self-sacrificing, and now he’s a cavalier, so that’s to the max. He loves Camilla, too, he loves her with all the strength in his heart. And we see that one of his worst fears is her getting hurt.

And then there’s Master Warden Cam, who’s an odd case. The insane level of devotion that makes her her might be applied to her House, but Palamedes would still be her number one. Permanently losing him would still be unthinkable.

And that’s a good recipe for a very bad start to Lyctorhood.

Palamedes tries to appeal to “Dulcinea” after Gideon is found dead, and the Sixth gets attacked for its troubles. Camilla’s badly injured, and Palamedes is angry- angry enough that he pools his thanergy and explodes himself, catapulting Cam to Lyctorhood. Between that and Cytherea’s (or maybe Loveday’s) weakened state (turbo cancer), Camilla has no trouble beating her, but her grief is almost enough to make it not worth it. And the prospect of immortality doesn’t balance it out if it’s without Palamedes.

It makes sense- switch around dynamics, and the possible outcomes are going to change. The devoted necromancer of a self-sacrificing cavalier will go unwillingly to Lyctorhood, and the devoted cavalier of a self-sacrificing necromancer will carry their soul to the end of the earth.

More thoughts on swapped necros, cavs and pairs:

The Fourth and the Fifth switch. Baroness Jeannemary Chatur and Sir Isaac Tettares are killed shortly after their shared birthday party. Isaac is fourteen, Jeannemary is fifteen. Lord Magnus Quinn and Sir Abigail Pent are heartbroken, but they don’t stick around much longer either. Abigail and Harrow have some version of the “why’d he have to get stupid now” conversation. (Also I need you guys to know that this Abigail is a weapons nerd who can use pretty much every offhand under the sun)

The Third is less swapped than it is rotated. Coronabeth is a flesh adept who ends up a semi-reluctant Lyctor. Ianthe is her twin and cavalier primary, who dies for her sister’s ambitions quite willingly. Naberius is their cousin who would’ve been sent to the front lines if he hadn’t claimed to be necromantic, but is left out of the twins’ scheme and captured by Blood of Eden along with Harrow. (You also need to know that Corona cuts off Ianthe’s hair to use it as a weapon and grows it back later)

Captain Marta Dyas is an extremely competent necromancer with accolades upon accolades and a great Trentham education and a brilliant future in the Cohort. Lieutenant Judith Deuteros is her cavalier whose dad is a fleet admiral. They work together very well, and though Judith does get her ass kicked by Palamedes in a duel, she holds her own against Teacher for long enough that Marta can escape. Marta gets captured by Blood of Eden along with Harrow and Babs, which is very good for her blood pressure. (Marta and Babs do not have an As Yet Unsent romance. She has a boyfriend back at Trentham. She gives him romantic advice.)

Duke Protesilaus Ebdoma of Cypris is a sick necromancer who’s realized he doesn’t have much time left. He’s taken a new cavalier to make his last days more comfortable- Miss Dulcinea Septimus, just out of school and eager to prove herself. They, of course, don’t last very long- Dulcinea is killed and impersonated, and Pro’s body gets wheeled around with a wave of the hand and a “my adept’s not feeling very well.” (You also need to know that Dulcie dresses like she’s in Barbie and the Three Musketeers and has a stunning array of very cool hats with feathers)

Speaking of the murder of the Seventh, I’m not sure what to do with the Lyctors. It makes more sense for Cytherea to be the one to impersonate Dulcie, but also! It’s my roleswap AU and I want Cristabel Oct!!! She hasn’t got the intellect ordinarily found in a sandwich or an orange and I think she should be immortal!!!

The Eighth is also there. Silas’s offhand is a net. That’s all I have going now, I don’t know or care too much about them

Wow this got long. I guess it turned into a whole Harrow Nova AU planning post? Idk I just really like roleswap AUs and Harrow Nova is fueling my love for them like nothing ever has. (Red OSP voice) So yeah!

[sol1056]

still dead, though

so this is potentially an unpopular opinion, given the love I’ve seen across my dashboard. but I finally (it took like four months, y’all) got to the top of the wait list at my local library to read Gideon the Ninth.

which was a great book (for the most part), don’t get me wrong. Gideon’s voice just sparkles, and even the assorted memes littering scattered through the story didn’t detract (too much). and yes, a baby dyke who glories in attractive women and never once feels compelled to either a) justify her attraction or b) put men down or even c) put other women down (at least not without reason), yeah. totally deserves the kudos. and after starting solidly and undeniably enemies, it’s a believable shift to almost-lovers.

although technically all you actually get is an i-love-you exchange.

that’s it. a paragraph later (not even a whole page!) we get hit with Bury Your Gays (plus some Vasquez Always Dies if we’re counting). 

it somehow just does not help my reaction that the second book is “all about a [queer] character grieving painfully to the point of disassociation.” I’ve read this book, seen this movie, got the t-shirt, lost it all in the lawsuit, and somehow lived to tell the tale. A now-solo lesbian character whose mental state is now so shredded by grief that they’ve effectively gone insane? fuck, you could not write to the letter of the trope harder if you goddamn tried.

I went digging anywhere I could think, to find spoilers. does the dead lesbian come back? was it all a fake-out? she does come back, right? far as I can tell, there are vague-slash-ambiguous comments from the author that the character “is still around!” or words to that effect. and from reader reviews, it appears the character’s “still around” is that her ghost lives on in the survivor’s mind. she apparently makes a ghostly cameo in the 2nd book, and the third book is about a completely different character? idk. I saw no “she’s back!” celebration. what I saw read a lot like when fans are clinging to a few passages and hoping that means eventually it’ll all pay off for them, if they just keep believing.

so. great story, still dead.

oh yes, I’m sure you want to tell me that it works this way for the story! my sweet summer child, it has always “worked this way for the story.” the defense has never been “the author killed off yet another queer”. it’s always been “that’s what the story required” as if the story is some sentient creature that eats dictionaries and spits out cruelty.

don’t waste my time hiding behind passive voice. when an author takes it all the way to the i-love-you then kills the queer, and follows by making the surviving queer go insane, they’re not avoiding the trope, they’ve actively hunted it down and forced it to go to prom with them.

at least have the fucking decency to be honest about that.

and I understand that in a world where there’s just uncounted multitudes of stories with queer characters and the happy endings far outweigh the grieving/insane lesbians mourning their dead, we could possibly, eventually, have a story that honestly explores grief and loss and not have it slam down hard on the big red button of sixty-plus years of literary trauma.

but we don’t yet live in that world, and I am sick to death of authors playing the trope word-for-word but batting their eyelashes like they’re special enough to be exempt. how could anyone be mad at them, their intentions are good, they’re friends with their fans, y’know, now you’re just overreacting.

look, I get you didn’t wake up this morning planning to run over a pedestrian, but you still hit me, and all your good intentions don’t make it not hurt.

le sigh.

I really wish I’d been spoiled before I’d started, so I would’ve known to skip. these stories are never enough to offset the suckerpunch at the end.

[itsthegameilike]

Best Books of 2022

And I’m back again with another list of books that I think everyone should read. Or, at least, books I think are halfway decent given the other books I’ve read this year. To be fair, it was a better year than I thought. Anyway, without further ado, the best ten books I read, plus some honorable mentions:

Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir In full disclosure, I knew this book would be on my list before I even read it and I was not disproven in that assumption by the time I finished. Hands down, the best book I read this year and it’s not even that close. Books tend to take me a lot longer to finish as I get older, but this one took me two days. Obviously, if you haven’t read Gideon the Ninth or Harrow the Ninth, you should, but this odd little sequel was probably my favorite one yet. Nona is such a refreshing character--a bombshell of light and love and curiosity--and it is as queer as ever. Bonus, if you have a soft spot for Camilla or Palamedes, as I do, you got blessed this book.

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado I actually read far more nonfiction this year than I usually do, thanks to getting burnt out on fantasy, my staple. This book is the best of the bunch and absolutely incredible. The writing is poignant and lovely and careful and the topic of domestic abuse is tackled by an author who is invested in making you understand what they went through. It’s personal, it’s internal, and it broke me more than once. Definitely worth looking up trigger warnings, but also definitely worth reading.

The Half Life of Valery K - Natasha Pulley If Natasha Pulley publishes a book, it goes on this list. I have an unending love and devotion for the romances and relationships she crafts. There is such a tenderness and solitude and loneliness to all of them that always punches me straight in the gut. I love her and I am very biased, but this book was as incredible as always. Bonus points, you learn quite a bit about nuclear reactors and nuclear poisoning, too. Not her most realistic and probably not her best, but I still love it to bits.

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov This is a Russian novel from the 1940s that I think is best described by saying that the devil shows up in Moscow and wreaks absolute havoc. It is bizarre and mythic and surrealist, but it is also heartfelt and an utter joy to read. I was never bored, the characters were five parts humorous and five parts relatable, and I still regularly think about the magician show scene on a daily basis.

Clear Light of Day - Anita Desai This book is in many ways indescribable for me. I read it in August, when the days were hot, and the book felt exactly like those long summer afternoons. It cast a sort of spell over me and I would often sit and read twenty pages, then sit and think about them for forty-five minutes. It’s a deep dive into the decay of a country and the decay of a family and their relationships and an exploration of the choices we make in life, how they alter it, and how often we sit and imagine what would’ve happened if we chose differently.

Time is a Mother - Ocean Vuong My one book of a poetry and another that I was positive would end up on this list. Ocean has been a wordsmith rock of mine since college and he did not disappoint in this collection. I highly recommend “The Last Dinosaur” and “Almost Human”. If you read nothing else, read those.

Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind - Alan Jacobs If there was a required reading list for anyone who would like to approach what they read with critical thinking skills, this would be on it. This book is a manifesto to the grays of the world, a sort of rejoicing in how nothing is black and white, and I felt so refreshed reading it. There are also so many great book recommendations in here, including Clear Light of Day already on this list, so it has alternate functions, as well. This book gave me hope, to be honest, so if you need that, look no further.

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao Man, this book. It is like an electric shock to the system. There is so much good here that even the occasionally clunky dialogue means nothing to me. The characters are stunning, there is really excellent polyamory the way I wish more media would display it, there’s Chinese myth, and big metal monsters smashing the patriarchy. The end had a twist that was actually shocking and I cannot wait for the second book. I’ve mostly outgrown young adult at this point, but please read this one, even if you feel the same.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess - Sue Lynn Tan This book was breathtaking. It feels lush when you’re reading it, the descriptions so well done, and I was so swept up in the setting, in the plot, in the pleasant, warm reminders of other Chinese dramas it gave me, that I hardly minded the naivete of the main character, Xingyin. The love triangle isn’t unbearable, as there are clear, obvious breaks with the love interests when she is romantically interested in the other, and Xingyin grows into something just as bold and beautiful as the book. One caveat, I also read the sequel this year and I kind of wish I hadn’t. It’s not nearly as good and I sort of wish this had been a standalone experience for me.

Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner I read this at the very start of the year, so I don’t remember everything, but I do remember that this book was profoundly sad, deeply meaningful, and heartbreakingly lovely. Nothing is held back by the author as she explores her relationship with her mother and the grief that came with her death. I would recommend this to anyone at any time for any reason. It’s that good.

Honorable Mentions: The Charm Offensive by Allison Cochrun, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, Deathless by Catherynne M Valente, Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher, H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, and The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novak

[call-me-rucy]

I’m still halfway Harrow the Ninth but it’s such a ride I have to make post about it.

Spoilers and stuff, obviously.

What. The hell. Is going on?? Except possibly the worstly misplaced "replace all" in history. I caught that earlier than I would’ve liked :/

“Ah, yes, the Ninth House cavalier...” *looks at smudged writing on a note*

[Image ID: A note reading "ORtuS" in a strange gothic-like calligraphy. /.End ID]

It’s all hiding to the characters, and kind of hiding to the reader in a different way!! Such cool writing! I cried so much when I noticed...

[Image ID: The same note, flipped upside-down. It now reads "GideoN" in a strange gothic-like calligraphy. /.End ID]

Not that you can't read notes anyway, being haunted (?) and all. Speaking of which. You?! YOU?!! Second person all the way??

AND NOW MY BOY PAL APPEARED AND I’M CRYING OVER HIM AND I JUST READ THERE'S A ME?! IT WAS FIRST PERSON ALL ALONG?! I always dreamed of writing something like this and OMG this books are the best thing ever. A masterclass of writing plotwists and foreshadowing and writing.

I’m in love and awe with the technique showed by this book and kinda salty at the Spanish translation cause it does very well in some cases, translating expressions (never thought I’d see the words “loca del coño” in a book) but the translation destroys the style. If it’s one sentence, keep it one sentence. If it’s two, keep it two! THE TEXT’S RYTHM IS IMPORTANT, DAMNIT. And the “Is that how it happens?” are not, as far as I can see, supposed to interact with anything so you don’t translate “No, it’s not” as “No, it’s not how it happens”. Anyways.

 Current theories involve: The Body is not the body of the tomb but Gideon Jr.’s (maybe?) mother. Hence the yellow eyes. Could be Gideon too but I don’t think it’s her. Idk where her soul is, though. Cause we still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room of the first book yet “Gideon can’t physically die but then she did, apparently??”. WHATS UP WITH THAT. WHERE IS MY GIRL. IM CRYING HERE. Also, someone is controlling the Saint of Duty? How does that even begin to work. Is he haunted too? Is the Body narrating?! If not, who is???

I just know as soon as I finish the book I’ll have to read it again to hit my head with all the foreshadowing I missed.

[iviarellereads]

Full TLT series to date thoughts on rereading Nona the Ninth, chapters 6-John 15:23

A probably semi-regular weekly bonus to my reread blog, since sometimes you realize things on reread that just make you need to yell in a full spoiler space.

"We lost something very important." Gideon's body, however that happened. (I neeeeeed the answersssss.) (Sorry screen reader users but the dramatic effect is required somehow here.)

“If I remember who I am, can’t I help to find them?” Oh, shatter my heart to dust, Tamsyn Muir. So many little, innocent lines stand out all the more on reread throughout this series.

Note to self, see if the red eyes or the hunger in Nona's night-one dream compare to anything later in the book. I could keyword search but I think it's more fun to let this second journey be its own adventure. Or if someone knows offhand or gets curious enough to look it up, you can reply to this post about it. I'm just waiting and relying on my memory of my first speed-read instead of peeking ahead.

John 15:23 seems as good a time as any to say I am a believer that the John River-dreams happen because of Harrow's soul being linked to Alecto's, and Nona needs to be asleep for Harrow to be able to travel it across to hear the story for us. I have seen a lot of theories and I respect them all. I love this damn fandom so much. But this is where I land right now, until something convinces me otherwise.

There is so much in 15:25 to talk about, though I hardly feel qualified to analyze it all through full-spoilers.

"So, my two kids, the guinea pigs, they were U— and T— on their certificates, you know, their old names. I thought about using those but it didn’t seem appropriate. They weren’t around to say yes or no. I was starting to really care about that. What they would’ve thought, what they would’ve wanted." I am just screaming, crying, rolling on the floor with emotion. I don't know what to believe. I think he DOES care, just… not the way he SHOULD care, maybe? It's so complicated. I just love John. I'll be so upset if he's a one-note villain in the finale the way so many people expect.

But also, the implication on the whole rest of the series so far, and on this whole book. That moment when Pyrrha says G- not G1deon. My obsession grows a tiny bit every day and will continue to do so until I get an answer as to what's going on here and why he did it.

[lady-harrowhark]

I posted 3,160 times in 2022

That's 3,140 more posts than 2021!

118 posts created (4%)

3,042 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@theriverbeyond

@corvidcall

@saltwaterconfessions

@kallistoi

@mayasaura

I tagged 3,080 of my posts in 2022

Only 3% of my posts had no tags

#tlt - 1,625 posts

#tlt art - 757 posts

#nona the ninth spoilers - 516 posts

#harrowhark nonagesimus - 401 posts

#gideon nav - 277 posts

#ntn - 263 posts

#griddlehark - 228 posts

#htn - 177 posts

#tlt humor - 175 posts

#ianthe tridentarius - 166 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#or when harrow wasn’t paying attention and said that everyone would’ve throttled her in the first five minutes if she wasn’t so attractive

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

never gonna recover from the realization that this whole thing started because a nun killed herself to save god. 

and how it’s going to end because the daughter of god killed herself to save a nun.

1,323 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

#4

what i would love more than anything in the world would be to see harrow back in her own body but have pyrrha still be just as affectionate to her as she was to nona. can you even imagine how furious harrow would be. to wake up every morning and get called kiddie and cajoled into eating breakfast as pyrrha makes ass jokes.

2,058 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

#3

when i first read the broadcast scene and realized it was ianthe on the screen, i was absolutely freaking out when she was described as having brown hair. i was already like ten miles down the road thinking about how dyeing her hair seemed so out of character for her and i was scrambling to come up with anything to point to why she would have done that and -

oh, she’s just wearing her dead cavalier’s body like a snuggie, phew. okay, yeah that sounds more like her. thought she was doing something weird there for a second.

2,094 notes - Posted November 23, 2022

#2

i am a firm believer that the reason gideon’s vocabulary is Like That is that at some point in their childhood, she got sick of harrow calling her stupid and sat herself down with a thesaurus and memorized with a fervor that can only be summoned by spite

2,986 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

After months and months of Gideon spewing the most bonkers goth pet names at Harrow, Harrow, on her deathbed, pulls out “first flower of my house.” Was she… trying to reciprocate?

Like she literally says earlier on to Gideon, “You’d better stop it with all this twilit princess garbage because I may start to like it.” I can just see the gears turning in her head. “I like it when she calls ME pet names, therefore the best way to show my affection is to also use a fancy epithet for HER” and then she shot right past “goofy teasing” and landed in “irrefutable romance” territory.

3,715 notes - Posted November 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[locked-tomb-shenanigans]

I’M CRYING

I read this at like 4 am on a weeknight and almost woke up the entire fucking house laughing, damn you Gideon 😂😭

[queen-susans-revenge]

Finished the Harrow the Ninth re-read and feel like I'm acceptably caught up for Nona now.

One thing that changed was my estimation of Ianthe's actions at the end. First time around, I was so done with Jod that I definitely agreed with Gideon's framing:

Which was Tridentarius all over. She got one choice, and not only did she blow it, but she blew it in such a huge fucking spectacular way that you would’ve been impressed had you not hated her for it. Ianthe, throwing in her lot with the guy who had lied to everyone about everything. Ianthe, backstabbing her own cavalier all over again. Ianthe, with the world in the balance, reaching her hand out and pressing down on the weight marked BAD.

And like, Gideon is still probably, I'd say, objectively right. Even though Jod's death means turning the sun into a black hole and killing everyone in the Houses, it would also end this terrible genocidal planet-killing war machine he's created. But like... it's a real cost, a high one! Not everyone's homes seem as terrible as the Ninth; Palamedes and Camilla would probably prefer not to lose everyone they grew up with on the Sixth, just for starters. Abigail wants to go back to her family as a spirit, and that's not going to work out great if the Fifth gets sucked into a black hole.

None of that probably matters much to Ianthe, but what does matter is: she doesn't know Coronabeth isn't in the Dominicus system any more. So, of course she's not making that choice. She's probably not actually being completely awful for the sheer sake of it. She's saving everything she knows and everyone she loves. And it's hard to resent someone too much for making that choice, even when they are wrong.

John is such a good villain. So, so good. I hate him so much, and I'm so fascinated to learn his full story.

And of course it was Number Seven that they had to fight. Because that would be the ghost of Uranus, and what could be funnier?

Words I looked up:

whilom ("formerly; in the past." Fittingly enough the word itself is archaic.)

cinereous ("ash grey," it comes from the same root as cinders)

fluvial ("of or found in a river"; related to the word effluvient, which is generally used for sewage)

iliac ("relating to the ilium or the nearby regions of the lower body." The ilium is a pelvis bone. The context for this one was Your love for God was akin to your love of the beautiful riverbed edge of the iliac crest, which is such a gorgeous and creepy sentence.)

pellucid ("translucently clear")

tergiversation ("equivocation. Evasion of clear-cut action or statement")

osiers (small willows)

collocation (I figured this would be somehow related to the word collation, and it is, but it's more precise: "the habitual juxtaposition of a particular word with another word or words." Like Homeric epithets.)

My love for Abigail Pent remains boundless, and I cling to two things she said: to Matthias Nonius, "when I come into my homeland, my family will sacrifice in their halls for you." And to Harrow, "I believe that we will see each other again."

[inkubusmb]

recently read the nona the ninth excerpt and got obsessed o|-< couldn’t stop thinking about it so I’m just putting my thoughts here so I can find them later

Camilla and Pal were already shown to be with the BoE in htn, and it looks like Pyrrha has somehow joined them. I’m guessing she did it without revealing to the BoE that she’s a lyctor bc i feel like their living situation would’ve been a lot different if she did. NO idea where Judith and Coronabeth are.

Nona is also with the three of them. I’m just assuming she’s in Harrow’s body because:

Ppl have already made posts talking about how the girl on the cover looks like Harrow without the skull makeup

Pyrrha was with Gideon-in-Harrow’s-body the last time we saw her, so she might’ve brought her along to Cam and Pal.

Nona’s hair is implied to grow really fast like Harrow’s did after Ianthe messed with it.

Nona most likely has regenerative lyctor powers, as implied once in the htn epilogue where her burn quickly heals and again here when it says that she and Pyrrha don’t need to wear masks like everyone else when they go outside.

This isn’t really evidence but she dreams about a girl holding her tight while they’re both in water. Nona seems confused at first about whether the hands are hers or the other girl’s, which is v interesting. She also smiles when thinking about her 👀 It might be the pool scene from gtn but who knows.

She also says she dreams about a woman w a skull face, this same woman in the water scene, but that could be either Harrow or Gideon so it’s hard to tell who’s viewpoint she’s seeing this from.

The planet they’re on is under siege by necromancers (“zombies”; it’s weird that that’s what her POV calls them given that she’s around ppl who know about necromancers). There’s also a big blue thing in the sky? It might be a resurrection beast because Heralds are mentioned at the end of the excerpt.

BoE seems to know about Nona and has a deadline for when the necro-cav group has to return her I think? Some of BoE is protecting them for some reason.

Pal and Cam are sharing a body! I think Pyrrha mentions that their situation is similar to hers so maybe she helped them figure out how to do that. Or maybe Pal figured it out himself. Cam writes notes to Pal for when he takes over, so it seems like the backseat soul isn’t completely aware of the body’s surroundings when they aren’t in control, similar to Pyrrha/Gideon and Harrow/Gideon.

Still have no idea who Nona is but I wonder if she’s just, no one? As in neither Gideon nor Harrow but a culmination of whatever was left without either of them to inhabit the body. But she could also just be memory-less Gideon. Someone also mentioned the 200 sacrificed children which would be wild and interesting:

She acts like a kid with a lack of knowledge of pretty much anything, like she mentions not knowing how to put on clothes at first. Most of her knowledge seems to come from school? Which Pal/Cam seem to want her to go to?

The description of the “woman with a skull-painted face” is (so far) vague enough that it can be either Harrow or Gideon who she’s dreaming about.

Pal keeps a tally of “ass jokes” made by any of them. I thought it was a joke at first but he treats it pretty seriously. Maybe it’s to see if Nona makes enough of them to prove that she’s actually Gideon.

One thing that I almost didn’t noticed was this line:

“You were allowed to put as much thin, fiery red sauce on them as you liked, but it wasn’t the taste Nona minded.”

The rest of the excerpt is all written in 3rd person (afaik) except for this one, which is in 2nd person like when Gideon was narrating in htn. I have no idea if this was Gideon or Harrow surfacing for a moment, or if it was just something else.

Other random notes!:

Nona loves Cam

Nona loves all of them tbh 🥺

I think Cam/Pal is wearing Gideon’s sunglasses? I guess so no one can see their eyes change.

Pal wants to stay and save everyone but Pyrrha wants to leave. She mentions a “half-flipped” moon and idk if that was mentioned earlier as something that was possible

Pyrrha does Nona’s hair :)

[upside-down-uni]

Hey! Idk if this is too much t9 ask, but could you rec me 2, 19, 20, 45, 55, 63, 69, 71, 72, 75, 86, 104, 111, 116, 131? sorry if it’s a lot but thanks in advance if u can rec me some! :)

Hi, you're in luck! I have an essay to procrastinate on and this ask is just the right thing to distract me! Here you go, I hope you'll find something that you like:

2. a book with a blue cover

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. When i read it for the first time I was just on the brink of going to uni, still figuring out what I even wanted to study and this book just wrapped me in a warm blanket and said "it's going to be okay". I love the main characters Frances and Aled, their arcs and especially the really nice and quiet queer rep in this book.

19. a book that put you in a reading slump

The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. When I start a book I generally have the feeling that I can't put it away until I have finished it. With The Knife Of Never Letting Go my problem was that I did want to read it but it didn't fit my mood, so I couldn't bring myself to read it but also beat myself up about not reading it until I put it back onto my shelf. So, I basically pushed myself into a reading slump over this book.

21. a book with a red cover

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. I enjoyed this book so much but probably not for the reasons most people would think I enjoyed it? The wlw romance was definitely nice and I really liked them being dramatic but also kind of mundane? What really got me though was the strong theme of found family of young adults and queer friendships, that really yanked the yearning hours wide fucking open for me. (I also liked that in the end the book wasn't as much about romance as it was about finding yourself after surrendering yourself to academia for ages and working through your issues.)

45. a book featuring the friends to lovers trope

The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I adore this book. It's so long and there's so much incredible world building and history in it that it made reading an untter delight! Coming in it was a bit hard to acclimate to the slow paste but after a while I just settled in and enjoyed the ride. It's a breathtaking story in a breathtaking universe and afaik there's a second part coming!

55. a book with a satisfying ending

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi. Yolk doesn't really have an ending in the sense of a "happily ever after" but I really loved where the author chose to leave the characters and how she did it. The book is quite different from what I usually read, tonewise, but especially that ending made me leave the book with a warm feeling. (also the cover is yellow and really really gorgeous)

63. a book that actually made you laugh out loud

I would've reccd Red White and Royal Blue but judging by your url you've read that already...sooooo, it's Snapdragon by Kat Leyh! Super cute graphic novel, with a weird and adorable storyline and such lovable characters!

69. your favorite mythological retelling

I haven't read a mythological retelling in ages, so basic Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan will have to do.

71. your favorite LGBTQ+ fiction

now that's just rude how am I supposed to choose?? I'll say it's Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire and Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and Loveless by Alice Oseman. I feel very strongly and very distinctly about all of them, if you can get your hands on them my only comment is READ. (and maybe make sure you're okay with gothic sci-fi horror for Gideon The Ninth)

72. a book with a gorgeous cover

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth. It's her adult gothic horror debut after The Miseducation of Cameron Post and not only is the hardcover just stunning in black and red, it also got illustrations inside!! (And all teh women are queer and it's deliciously fucked up!)

75 a book featuring the I'm not like other girls trope

I think the closest I can come to that is The Lady's Guide To Piracy and Petticoats by Mackenzi Lee. The main character has to unlearn a bunch of stuff really fast if she wants to get along with the only other people that will help her. We have road trips in the 16th century, kidnapping and asshole husbands to be, piracy of course and friendship!

86. a book with an insane plot twist

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. Sawkill Girls was my first touch with horror and I have to say I have no idea whether there was heavy foreshadowing. I think I remember thinking that there was something else to come but when the shit hit the fan I just sat there with big questionmarks over my head because I had read the book in a frenzy in one evening and truly did NOT anticipate it. As someone who did not read horror or thriller before this I have to say I was already insanely confused and disgusted by a bunch of stuff that went down. But then...uh. the thing happened and I was just lost. (In a good way though.)

104. a fluffy sweet read

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann. It's been a while ever since I read it but it's essentially a cute summer story about Alice who's a disaster bisexual when she sees people she finds cute. Which is a little inconvenient because the new guy at her job is really, really, really extremely cute and she ceases to function around him. There's best friend drama, eating pizza iirc and figuring shit out!

111. a book writing a book

I assume it's either "a book about writing a book" or I am literally supposed to rec a book that is writing a book...I'm going to rec a book that is about books! (because I can.) It's The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury and it follows a young woman called Juliette wo gets sucked into an old bookseller's world of life saving, life changing books. A really quiet, really cute book.

116. a book with multiple povs

the Reckless books by Cornelia Funke! Simply divine stroytelling, a vibrant world and amazing characters! I have to say that I only know the German original so I don't know what the English translation might be like.

131. recommend any book you like

um. so knife gang members and people who follow my main, you'll once again be subjected to me being a mess because of lesbian necromancers in space! I've mentioned it before, it lives in my head rent free, it is the one, the only Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! It's an insane sci-fi horror fantasy blend where Gideon has to play cavalier to Reverend Daughter Harrowhark I-love-being- an-absolute-pain-in-the-ass-to-Gideon Nonagesimus to help her become an uber-necromancer (like Harrow needs motivation to become even more of a nerd and shockingly good at necromancy) for the Necrolord Prime/Undying Emperor. There's BEAUTIFUL WRITING sprinkled with MEMES when you least expect it. There is incredible toxic codependency and repression. There's MURDER. There's fancy necromancy theorems and DUELS. There's enemies to begrudging allies to ??? Staple your socks to your feet or this book will blow them clean off!

[tazmuir]

Hello! I loved Gideon the Ninth so much!! and would like to draw fan art, would you mind sharing any helpful summaries of what each character looks like? or must us fans hunt through the book for every offhand line of description? (not that I'm not planning on rereading it anyway)

I have let myself drift back onto Tumblr after two weeks, am deeply affrighted and excited at the idea that anyone has drawn my kids (I had an AMA on Reddit and as said there, my editor every so often hollered into my inbox about amazing shit people were doing, but I was too busy complaining back to him that my face had gone numb and that I no longer slept, but instead the darkness of the grave claimed me for four to five hours each night). Thank you so much to anyone who has already done this. Many people on my team have yelled and yelled.

Back early on in the piece I made a document for him about what characters looked like in terms of basic ideas/outlines for copyediting, covers and sense purposes, and I’ve dug out that document and slapped it up here for general delectation. As a note: I imagine specific things when it comes to my characters (I am a Kiwi: I write Kiwis In Space as a default) but as I have nothing but joy in my heart for how anyone would want to draw these characters, feel free to glance over this, then toss it out the window. It would bring tears of beauty to my eyes if anyone was like “Yes, but when I was reading I imagined Naberius Tern as a huge monitor lizard,” because absolutely yes, Naberius Tern was just a huge monitor lizard, godspeed.

I had only described below the specific cavalier-necromancer pairs, so that’s what you’ll find below, sorry if anyone wanted Teacher.

SECOND HOUSE

The only ones who seemed even vaguely compos mentis were the Second House: as it turned out, they had been the ones to call Teacher to the access hatch, and now they sat ramrod-straight and resplendent in their Second-styled Cohort uniforms, all scarlet and white. They both affected the same tightly-braided hairstyle and the same amount of extremely gilt braid, and also the same serious-business expression, and they could be told apart by one having a rapier and one quite a lot of pips at her collar.

Captain Judith Deuteros and Lieutenant Marta Dyas are alike in posture, bearing and extremely crisp military uniform (think a cross between US Navy whites and the Regency navy). Unlike every single other necromancer on the cast, Judith never wears necromancer robes, but is dressed in the exact same way as Marta. Judith is somewhat less completely scrawny than other necromancers on the cast, though she should be less built than Marta is; Judith is imposing, solemn-faced and reflective, Marta is more keen-eyed and restless. I imagined both as Tongan.

THIRD HOUSE

[Coronabeth] was tall and regal, with some radiant, butterfly quality – her shirt was haphazardly tucked into her trousers, which were haphazardly tucked into her boots, but she was all topaz and shine and lustre. All necromancers affected robes in the same way cavaliers affected swords, but she hadn’t tucked her arms into hers, and it was a gauzy, gold-shot, transparent thing floating out around her like wings. There were about five rings on each hand and her earrings would’ve put chandeliers to shame, but she had an air of wild and innocent overdecoration, of having put on the prettiest things in her jewellery box and then forgetting to take them off. Her buttery hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and she kept tangling a curl of it in one finger and artlessly letting it go.

The second twin was like someone had taken the first to pieces and put her back again without any genius. She wore a robe of the same cloth and colour, but wore it like a very beautiful shroud on a mummy. The cavalier had lots of hair, an aquiline face, and a self-satisfied little jacket.

Coronabeth is massive, taller even than Palamedes, larger-than-life – statuesque, very bright gold hair, golden/bright skin, violet eyes. Ianthe is the same height but gangly and washed out. Skin colour defined heavily in Corona’s case as golden/olive-hued brown/tanned; Ianthe similar, but less radiant/more pallid whatever the case. Both have long hair: Corona’s should be big and bouncy, Ianthe’s flat/sleek.Naberius is shorter than both, brown-haired (brown can be light, medium or dark, it’s not defined) and blue-brown hazel eyes. Also has lots of hair, cut short, but sense of pompadour/waves. I imagined all three as Pakeha/white.FOURTH HOUSEBoth Isaac and Jeannemary are around fourteen and have pretty much the same body shape still: Jeannemary is semi-muscular and has lots of corners, Isaac is skinnier. Both are natural brunettes, though Isaac has bleached hair (orange, fauxhawk) and Jeannemary is described as having curly hair. Both have multiple ear piercings and eyeliner and the visual is somewhat Glassons storecard punk. Both have dark brown eyes. Jeannemary has a somewhat dusty, fierce, monochromatic appearance (brown hair, brown skin), and I imagine her as Māori. Isaac I imagined as NZ Chinese.FIFTH HOUSEMagnus Quinn is a man in his middling to late thirties, with short, curly hair: he is a frank-faced, nice-looking guy of medium build with a face inclined to wholesome smiles. His outfits should be absolutely exceptionally well-tailored and not very flashy. Imagined him as Samoan. His wife Abigail is perpetually neat, wears round spectacles and has long, glossy dark brown hair – she is the least described of a cast not very specifically described. Much like Magnus, she should always be beautifully and tastefully dressed, though in her case she would affect trousers as well as a robe. Imagined her as Pakeha/white.

SIXTH HOUSECrouching in front of the hatch was a rangy, underfed young man: he was wrapped in a grey cloak and the light glinted on the spectacles slipping down his nose. Standing next to him holding a big wedge of broken sculpture and the flashlight was a tall, equally grey-wrappered figure with a scabbard outlined at her hip. She had hair of an indeterminate darkness, cut blunt at her chin.Up close, he was gaunt and ordinary-looking, except for the eyes. His spectacles were set with lenses so thick they could make spaceflight grade, and through these his eyes were a perfectly lambent grey: unflecked, unmurked, even and clear. He had the eyes of a very beautiful person, and the head of someone with resting bitch face.

Palamedes is seriously underfed with a bony, thin face and glasses: medium brown hair cut short and with no particular thought for aesthetics, dresses just in greys, eyes particularly lovely clear grey. Camilla has very dark cold-brown hair – chin-length, straight and with a fringe – dark eyes. She’s compact and has lots of lean muscle, and I imagine her of being Middle Eastern extraction, though due to Sixth House parameters both will be fairly mixed. They’re actually second cousins, so there ought to be a faint resemblance.

SEVENTH HOUSE[Dulcinea] was a slender young thing whose mouth was a brilliant red with blood: her dress was a frivolous concoction of seafoam green frills, and the blood on it seemed more somber against such a backdrop. Her skin seemed transparent – horribly transparent, with the veins at her hands and the sides of her temples a visible cluster of mauve branches and stems. Her eyes fluttered open: they were huge and blue, with velvety brown lashes.

Dulcinea is a girlish woman who looks extremely fragile and sickly, like a neurasthenic Victorian maiden. Eyes should be extremely blue. Hair is light brown in long curls; skin is pale. Pretty in a frivolous, invalid way. Gives the impression of being slight. Outfits should be gauzy and nightgownish. Imagined her as Pakeha/white.

The man who’d put the sword to her neck was uncomfortably buff. He had upsetting biceps. He looked like a collection of lemons in a sack. He didn’t look healthy; he was a dour, bulky young person, whose skin had something of the strange, translucent tinge that the girl’s had. He was waxen-looking in the sunlight […] He was dressed richly, but with clothes that looked as though they’d seen practical wear: a long cape of greyish-green, and a belted kilt and boots. There was a long, shining length of etched chain rolled up and over his arm, and a big one-handed sword hung at his hip.

Protesilaus is massive, buff, and also sort of sickly and indistinct-looking in his colouring – he is described as being made up mainly of muddy, ashen browns. Think Greek warrior, but with no vibrant colouring. Biggest on cast, even bigger than Colum Ash. Imagined him as mixed Pasifika.

EIGHTH HOUSEIt was a pair who were both boys – well – a boy and a man; one was a wan, knife-faced kid dressed in antiseptic whites and useless chainmail you could cut with a fork, it was so delicate. [Silas] was draped in it even down to a kilt, which was strange: necromancers didn’t normally wear that kind of armour, and he was definitely the necromancer. He had necromancer build. […] He gave the impression of being absolutely no fun at all. He was prim and ascetic-looking, and his companion – who was older, a fair bit older than Gideon herself – had the air of the perpetually disgruntled. He was rather more robust, nuggety, and dressed in chippy bleached leathers that looked as though they’d seen genuine use. One finger on his left hand was just a gross-looking stump, which she admired.

Silas is in his teens, has shoulder-length white hair in a braid and dark eyes. He has extremely pale skin, and coupled with the white robes and silver chainmail (all of which somewhat swamp him – he’s sort of slender and purse-mouthed) gives the impression of being arrestingly white all over. Pointy chin, oval face, disapproving expression, a little insubstantial. Colum, his older, larger nephew is much taller, broader and in his early thirties. He has medium brown hair in a short back’n’sides crop, dark eyes, and appears jaundiced in skin tone – he’s very weatherbeaten and tan-skinned, scarred, and though he’s dressed in the same colours he tends to contrast heavily with them and his leather armour is also beaten-up. He looks tatty and ill-used, expression is apathetic or forbidding; Silas always looks perfectly clean, crisp and white. Facially there should be a similarity. They’re both Pakeha, with Silas being significantly the palest person on-cast.

NINTH HOUSEThe light fell on [Harrow’s] painted grey face and black-daubed chin, and her short-cropped, dead-crow-coloured hair. […] She had such a peculiarly pointed little face, high-browed and tippy everywhere, and a slanted and vicious mouth.

Harrow is a scrawny teenage girl with black hair cut short (as befits someone in a monastery) and truly black eyes: she never appears except in black and white skull facepaint. She has a pointed, rather triangular face, not very long, a triangular heart rather than a triangular diamond or oval. She wears black robes and long-sleeved, long-trousered clothes – all black – with no skin showing: the main decoration on this is bones. She wears a corset of rib bones and could have any other bone decoration, which has been written of in the book as bone bangles and multiple bone stud piercings in the ears. She’s more femme-androgynous than outright butch; in Book 1 she’s a bit birdlike and free of specific masc or femme gender markers in terms of outfit or build. I imagined her as being mixed Māori.Gideon is true butch: tall of height – at least, taller than Harrow – extremely, shreddedly fit with the muscular arms of a swordswoman or boxer. She should have a strong-jawed, boyishly pretty face with a big douchebag grin. Cropped hair same as Harrow, except that hers as an oblate is more of an in-your-face mop (could be partly-shaved except that implies more care than Gideon possesses) and is intensely, vividly red.  I envision her as mixed Māori, darker-skinned than Harrow.  She also wears skull facepaint, though hers tends to be much less careful and baroque than Harrow’s. She often affects a pair of black aviator sunglasses. She wears the same black cloak as Harrow, without any decoration, and a plain black shirt and trousers underneath. Her eyes are an extremely vivid amber with more of a yellow/golden tint than a russet one.