Gideon the Ninth

By: Tamsyn Muir

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap out of the audio, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

©2019 Tamsyn Muir (P)2019 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Tamsyn Muir's absorbing storytelling and Moira Quirk's immersive performance create a richly imagined fantasy world.... Quirk is at turns antagonistic, vulnerable, and hopelessly helpful as she characterizes all the participants and stewards of Canaan House.... Listeners will eagerly anticipate the trilogy's next installment." (AudioFile Magazine)

Come for the gothic panache and acerbic wit!

Be thrilled by the sword play, the terror, and the mystery of Who? How? Why? Stay for the vulnerability and truth.

It's bloody fantastic. The characters and their interaction are worth the story on their own. Intrigue, dueling, and the lure of secrets just make it all the better. And the word play, the turn of phrase... It is so, oh so satisfying.

And Moira Quirk's performance is spot on - doubled my enjoyment of Tamsyn Muir's story-telling.

(Also, this book would make a fantastic anime.)

Inventive, Hilarious, Emotional

Moira Quirk does an incredible job narrating this wondeful, unique book. Her voices for each character were spot-on and consistent. Her Gideon, in particular, is exquisite. Can't wait for the next one!

A Hard-to-follow Teen Romp

When I looked at reviews on this audiobook before purchasing, someone suggested printing out the house names with their scions beforehand. It is hard enough to keep track of the different, complex names, let alone when a character is referred to by their house name. This makes it hard to keep track of the characters. All 18 of them.

Extremely British. Not only is the Narrator (who does a decent job) extremely, over the top British in her voice nature, but so is the dialog throughout the novel. Especially the swearing. (I didn't mind this though, in most cases, being American, I found it very funny.)

There are parts of this audiobook that I very much enjoyed, the back and forth between the main characters for example and the idea of the trial system with the keys, but there were other parts that were just to hard to follow who was speaking to who and so on. I think that this is far from great, especially when compared to other recently released Sci-fi.

I think that this is geared to a very specific audience: Woke Young adult/ Teen readers who don't necessarily like Sci-fi or Goth fiction in particular, but empathize with young characters that are struggling with their feelings and the trials of becoming more than the sum of their parts.

Pros: Humorous, witty dialog, empathetic characters, a sci-fi novel that doesn't take place on an ancient alien planet or on a spaceship, briefly feels a little like that one Harry Potter book where they are completing against other schools or the second Hunger Games book, dungeon atmosphere that constantly made me think of a video game.

Cons: Gay for the sake of being gay? (relationships/love interests never go anywhere) (This could just be me and I don't have a problem with it, but it seems that recently, the Sci-fi genre is chocked full of gay or non-binary main characters and are better reviewed because of it. I think that someone could write a very mediocre novel, like this one, and, then decide to write some of the characters as gay and suddenly it becomes the greatest thing out this year. Just my humble observation), Extremely confusing names for characters. The magic system (necromancy) is never really explained, or the science, or the names of the techniques that they are using, or specifically what house has what abilities, or anything really. It's 10,000 years in some future but things are referenced that are present day like plants and animals, food, modern swearing, dialect, magazines, glasses, etc. Dungeon atmosphere below a castle that is parallel with any video game or book written on the subject. The more I write about it, the less I like it. Way over hyped.

...and what in the hell is "flimsy"? British for paper?

best book you'll ever come to contact with

This book is everything I have ever wanted a non fiction book to be. You'll never find it's equal, and it'll ruin all other fiction/sci-fi/fantasy books you'll ever read henceforth, because it won't be this one. And in the Audible sense, the narrator is fucking fabulous. Her performance is completely married to the story and the characters.

Not what I thought

This was a good story just not what I was expecting. There’s almost no romance. it’s clear Gideon is a lesbian but that’s about as far as you get. The world building could’ve been a lot better. It was like trying to get a connection on an old tube of a television but no matter what; the channel is fuzzy and you can barely see the picture. The narrator took a minute to get used to but did a good job making the characters come to life. I think I set my hopes too high for this book because I kept hearing how good it was, and I am not hard to please. I enjoyed Gideon, harrow, and the overall story, however, I cannot help but feel like it could’ve been done better.