Book Review: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

How should I say this, I had high hopes for this book as it was one of the most hyped books of 2019, but I was let down. Not because of the unique adventure, fantastic setting in space, a new take on necromancy, genre-bending writing, LGBT friendly prose, it has all that, but because of a kind of young adult fantasy feeling. I get that Gideon is a teenager, that she is meant to be snarky and wiseass, but it gets tiring soon. It is like this defense that you cannot crack, and you wonder, “Is there something more in there, or is that all there is?” I’m not still sure if there was. Yes, her life was not all glory and breeze, there was depth in the tormented history and in love, but again, I think there could have been a step further in from all the clamor and glory and superficial fantasy about push-ups and swords (yes the sword has meaning, but it kind of feels like old school fantasy.)

I won’t say, don’t read the book. I would have loved this when I was a teenager, the wiseass things, everything, but now I’m looking for deeper meanings, thoughts to linger with and ponder over. Maybe the second book in the series deepens the background and world-building.

Thank you for reading! Have a great day.