Nona the Ninth

It's a bit of a disappointment that, yet again, the reader is left to try to make sense of the characters, plot and wtf is going on. I wish I didn't have to go on forums to find out important information that was only very, very slightly hinted at in the book. It's one thing to want revelations and plot-twists and ah-ah-moments, it's another to leave the reader completely in the fog for 500 pages. If the writing wasn't that good and the characters that compelling, I would've left it a while ago.

It shouldn't be possible, after reading Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, to finish another Locked Tomb novel and yet again be like "What the hell did I just read?!" However.

Nona the Ninth is yet another wonderful, unexpected, weird masterpiece from Tamsyn Muir.

Did this feel like a bit of a filler at times? Yes. Is having an extra book that accomplishes less than the previous two, in terms of resolving existing plotlines, immensely preferable to having a rushed final volume in a series, especially if said book is full of delightful character moments? Also yes.

In the words of wise tumblr user gideonisms: "tlt was written for the girls who get obsessed with random side characters and for everyone who did the lord’s work in the early 2010s: shipping two women who have spoken twice in canon."

I blazed through this book after re-reading Gideon and Harrow (and I'm glad I did- there were details there that were great to have been reminded of). Overall this was a great story; Nona is an interesting mystery and trying to figure her out is part of the fun of this book. It does start off a bit slow, but towards the end it is rushing and almost too much is going on to fully follow it all. This is one I will have to re-read when the next (yes there is a fourth) book comes out.

For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2022/09/book-review-nona-ninth-by-tamsyn-muir.html