Harrow the Ninth

Space Necromancers! I do love the overriding concept of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb trilogy. This time we are reading from Harrowhark's point of view and things are confusing. There is quite a dramatic stylistic switch in this story compared to the first. This time we are in second person, which can be a bit jarring, but adds some interesting conceptual twists. Are we in fact viewing things as Gideon still, just through the mind of Harrow? Then there is the fact that Harrow doesn't seem to be all there. Apparently something went different with her ascent to Lictorhood?

The first two thirds of the book are very strange and jarring. They mostly seem to ignore the events of Gideon the Ninth. This uncomfortable revision of history is decidedly deliberate though. What we are getting is an extreme version of an unreliable narrator. As it is in second person this gives the odd sensation of you lying to yourself through the reading - a strangely uncomfortable and unsettling experience (and where I see quite a few reviewers take umbrage to the book). To me this fits the aesthetics perfectly though. Whilst I do miss Gideon's fantastic snark this does seem a logical and very Harrowhark place to end up.

We also get to sense a bit more of the wider universe this time. We get the impression that the necromantic overlords are not viewed altogether positively, and they have unleashed some other monstrosities on the universe through their magic.

Ultimately this is a strange, unsettling and frequently confusing read. However, somehow it all works perfectly. This book demands patience, but the payoff is spectacular.