NONA THE NINTH
Tamsyn Muir
Big Thick Book of I Don’t Know
(CWs Below)
Meh.
I do like Muir’s writing. Gideon the Ninth is a romp, Harrow the Ninth starts out confusing but is also a romp – containing the best revenge killing ever, really – while at the same time being a study in deep grief.
Nona the Ninth is also confusing. It’s a good read, fun, lots of jokes, but the story really does not get rocking until two thirds of the way through and this is a LONG book. In the same exasperating way you can’t really step into a Marvel universe movie without having seen a bunch of others, you’re going to do yourself a great disservice if this is the first of The Locked Tomb books you’ve read. I’ve read all of them, but I did not go back and reread the first two before reading Nona, and that was a big mistake. I struggled to recall things that Muir takes for granted that you’d remember, so there are lots of cameos and callouts I missed out on. Also, while I appreciate Muir’s gothic, heady, backwards first writing style, the end lacked a great deal of emotional punch, mostly because I am not an uber fan totally up on my Locked Tomb mythos. Even if you’ve read all of the books and remember All the Things, I suspect the ending might be a bit of a flat landing for you. At least it was for me.
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