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abby_ace_of_books 's review for:
Harrow the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
This is one of those books that I don't think it's fair of me to rate and review traditionally.
And just to put it out there before I continue: I have some very strong feelings about this book, so if you're willing to suffer through me ranting and rambling, buckle up.
My General Opinion
I'm going to be brutally honest here: I'm kind of underwhelmed. Let me explain.
Gideon the Ninth is a locked-room murder mystery of sorts with, quite frankly, one of the most epic endings to a book that I've ever read. Going into Harrow the Ninth, I knew a few pieces of information from scattered reviews I read (the most notable being that this would be written in 2nd POV, some sort of amnesia trope was involved, and that supposedly this was supposed to be incredibly mind-boggling), and I'm afraid to admit that I had extremely high expectations. Of all the books in the series, I'd heard the most about this one, and I was the most excited about this specific book. I just feel it necessary to mention this because when I have high-expectations for books, I feel bad when they don't always meet them.
I'll go into more detail later, but the first 70% of this book is confusing. It's meant to be confusing. As someone who gets easily frustrated when she can't solve problems, the first 70% really got on my nerves. The last 30%? Way more interesting. But, also, as I mentioned before, I had extremely high expectations, which were only heightened by the first 70% because I figured if everyone was saying this book was god-tier, there had to be a really good reason. I assumed the plot twists would be insane, and they were definitely beyond what I predicted, but I didn't really get that "aha" moment. I also just want to point out (for the sake of fairness) that I have not read anything post-epilogue in either book nor have I touched the novellas/short stories yet. If that's affecting my ability to experience this series as it's supposed to be experience, I'm sorry but after 600 pages of confusion, I wasn't going to read what looks like weird worldbuilding/dictionary stuff.
For this reason, I feel it is unfair for me to rate and review this book traditionally. My expectations got in the way of the experience, so I'm blaming my mild lack of enjoyment on myself and not the book.
I'm going to "continue" with my thoughts on the book in more detail below, and they WILL include spoilers.
POVs
Let's address the elephant in the room first: the second-person POV.
I want to first put it on the record that I do enjoy 2nd-person POV books. I've read a handful (two that I can think of immediately), and they tend to be some of the most interesting, well-written books I've ever read.
And I think the 2nd-person POV really worked in favor of the book. Again, this might be biased because I was pretty sure going into this book that either Gideon or Harrow would be narrating to the other one during the 2nd-person sections. And I was right. Harrow forgot Gideon, and Gideon was kind of coaching Harrow through the narrative. I really like that idea (and not because I guessed correctly).
I also want to address the third-person POV chapters quickly.
I didn't mind the sections written in 3rd-person, despite the non-linear narrative. I assumed it was either multiverses or time travel, and while neither was correct, I think I gaslighted myself into somehow understanding what was going on in those sections...kind of...
Characters (& Worldbuilding)
The next thing I want to discuss is the characters and I want to briefly touch on the worldbuilding, especially as it pertains to half the cast.
First things first, let's talk about the 3rd-person POV cast: my friends! Except literally none of my favorites came back! Am I glad that characters were re-used? Yes, I don't think my brain could've handled any more additions to the cast. That being said, am I happy about the characters we got to see? No. For some odd reason, I've basically declared a blood feud with Abigail. I don't know if it's because we have the same name or because she gives Aunt May from Spiderman vibes, but I just don't like her. I also did not like Dulcinea. Guess which two characters returned for this section of the book. I didn't hate them nearly as much as I did in the first book, admittedly, but I still wish we'd got to see more of the even houses and not the odd ones (why can't Four, Six, and Eight be relevant :( ) Ortus, too, was okay, but dude needs a hobby that isn't poetry...
Well, Abby, you might be saying, if you didn't like the old returning cast, perhaps you liked the new one? To which I would respond, not really.
Look, usually, I'm a fan of past characters meeting present characters. I love it when history practically comes to life. And, once again, I'll take partial blame for this one because I somehow failed to actually pay attention to their introductions, and so I felt absolutely zero connection to them. I liked Mercy's name, if that counts? In hindsight, the Lyctors are all fairly complex characters that I wish I had paid more attention to (the tragedy of them all killing their friends is just so good). But I didn't. And Ianthe? I genuinely don't know how I feel about her. Sometimes, she's the most interesting part of a scene, but other times, she just grates on my nerves. Also, the Emperor sucks. I don't fall for the fatherly, "I'm protecting you" act. Go die in a hole, loser.
And just to air out one of my biggest grudges ... can Palamedes stop freaking dying? Three times is enough. Please and thank you. I'm out of tears.
Plot
Now, finally, to address my grievances with the plot.
Firstly, I want to talk about unreliable narrators, which Harrow most definitely is. I have mixed feelings about unreliable narrators because, on one hand, they're really fun to read and write about...in moderation.
But I've been burned by unreliable narrators before. My mind goes to House of Leaves, but my bigger grudge is against Henry James (yes, I'm feuding with a dead guy) and The Turn of the Screw because I absolutely despise a mystery without an answer.
I still want to enjoy Harrow as an unreliable narrator, and I think I do, but I think the sheer amount of time the reader is left in the dark is what is really bothering me. It might be just a preference of mine, but I genuinely think the first section could have been much shorter...
As I'm writing this "review," I'm discovering that what my grudge with this book really boils down to is a lack of satisfaction with the plot twists.
More specifically, I think my issue is Harrow's "self-prescribed lobotomy." I like the idea. I really do. But when 70% of the book - told entirely through non-linear, mismatched POVs that contradict each other and the previous book - is that confusing...I think I was expecting a bigger reason. Again, this goes back to my extremely high expectations, but I just feel like for as big of a "puzzle" as the first 2/3 of the book felt like, the solution was so simple that it doesn't feel adequate. I'm sure if I went back and reread the first half, it wouldn't be a whole lot clearer to me, even knowing what I do now.
And I think this is true (at least for me) for a lot of the other plot twists.
Harrow's 3rd-person POV chapters are actually happening in a weird bubble in the River that is populated by the ghosts of the first cast of characters? It wasn't the answer I was expecting, but it didn't seem too crazy to me.
The ghost that's haunting Harrow is actually Wake, who is actually an Edenite, and all that crap? I still don't entirely understand what's going on. Maybe that's why I'm not too surprised by it.
Gideon's mom is Wake, and her dad is God? Cool. I knew her parents would be relevant eventually.
Looking back on it now, it almost feels like the issue with me being "underwhelmed" by these plot twists is that the stuff with God and Mercy and Wake...it's all connected. It doesn't feel like a series of plot twists so much as one long, connected history that was withheld from the reader. And I think that's the reason I was frustrated; I couldn't predict anything because the piece missing from the puzzle was so large that it was like I had the edges and the entire middle of the puzzle was missing.
Conclusion
I'm going to apologize one last time. I'm sorry I couldn't be blown away by this book like everyone else. It's a combination of the circumstances and my own personality that messed with my experience of it. Maybe someday I'll read it again and hopefully get a nicer opinion, but right now, I'm ready to take a break from this series, at least temporarily.
Will I continue? Yes, and not just because I saw Palamedes is in the next one. I genuinely am enjoying the series, this book is just a huge sticking point for me. Sorry for the long review/rant, but I didn't want to review this traditionally given...everything.
(Anyway, enjoy me referencing literally a dozen other books in my Kindle highlights)
And just to put it out there before I continue: I have some very strong feelings about this book, so if you're willing to suffer through me ranting and rambling, buckle up.
My General Opinion
I'm going to be brutally honest here: I'm kind of underwhelmed. Let me explain.
Gideon the Ninth is a locked-room murder mystery of sorts with, quite frankly, one of the most epic endings to a book that I've ever read. Going into Harrow the Ninth, I knew a few pieces of information from scattered reviews I read (the most notable being that this would be written in 2nd POV, some sort of amnesia trope was involved, and that supposedly this was supposed to be incredibly mind-boggling), and I'm afraid to admit that I had extremely high expectations. Of all the books in the series, I'd heard the most about this one, and I was the most excited about this specific book. I just feel it necessary to mention this because when I have high-expectations for books, I feel bad when they don't always meet them.
I'll go into more detail later, but the first 70% of this book is confusing. It's meant to be confusing. As someone who gets easily frustrated when she can't solve problems, the first 70% really got on my nerves. The last 30%? Way more interesting. But, also, as I mentioned before, I had extremely high expectations, which were only heightened by the first 70% because I figured if everyone was saying this book was god-tier, there had to be a really good reason. I assumed the plot twists would be insane, and they were definitely beyond what I predicted, but I didn't really get that "aha" moment. I also just want to point out (for the sake of fairness) that I have not read anything post-epilogue in either book nor have I touched the novellas/short stories yet. If that's affecting my ability to experience this series as it's supposed to be experience, I'm sorry but after 600 pages of confusion, I wasn't going to read what looks like weird worldbuilding/dictionary stuff.
For this reason, I feel it is unfair for me to rate and review this book traditionally. My expectations got in the way of the experience, so I'm blaming my mild lack of enjoyment on myself and not the book.
I'm going to "continue" with my thoughts on the book in more detail below, and they WILL include spoilers.
POVs
Let's address the elephant in the room first: the second-person POV.
I want to first put it on the record that I do enjoy 2nd-person POV books. I've read a handful (two that I can think of immediately), and they tend to be some of the most interesting, well-written books I've ever read.
And I think the 2nd-person POV really worked in favor of the book. Again, this might be biased because I was pretty sure going into this book that either Gideon or Harrow would be narrating to the other one during the 2nd-person sections. And I was right. Harrow forgot Gideon, and Gideon was kind of coaching Harrow through the narrative. I really like that idea (and not because I guessed correctly).
I also want to address the third-person POV chapters quickly.
I didn't mind the sections written in 3rd-person, despite the non-linear narrative. I assumed it was either multiverses or time travel, and while neither was correct, I think I gaslighted myself into somehow understanding what was going on in those sections...kind of...
Characters (& Worldbuilding)
The next thing I want to discuss is the characters and I want to briefly touch on the worldbuilding, especially as it pertains to half the cast.
First things first, let's talk about the 3rd-person POV cast: my friends! Except literally none of my favorites came back! Am I glad that characters were re-used? Yes, I don't think my brain could've handled any more additions to the cast. That being said, am I happy about the characters we got to see? No. For some odd reason, I've basically declared a blood feud with Abigail. I don't know if it's because we have the same name or because she gives Aunt May from Spiderman vibes, but I just don't like her. I also did not like Dulcinea. Guess which two characters returned for this section of the book. I didn't hate them nearly as much as I did in the first book, admittedly, but I still wish we'd got to see more of the even houses and not the odd ones (why can't Four, Six, and Eight be relevant :( ) Ortus, too, was okay, but dude needs a hobby that isn't poetry...
Well, Abby, you might be saying, if you didn't like the old returning cast, perhaps you liked the new one? To which I would respond, not really.
Look, usually, I'm a fan of past characters meeting present characters. I love it when history practically comes to life. And, once again, I'll take partial blame for this one because I somehow failed to actually pay attention to their introductions, and so I felt absolutely zero connection to them. I liked Mercy's name, if that counts? In hindsight, the Lyctors are all fairly complex characters that I wish I had paid more attention to (the tragedy of them all killing their friends is just so good). But I didn't. And Ianthe? I genuinely don't know how I feel about her. Sometimes, she's the most interesting part of a scene, but other times, she just grates on my nerves. Also, the Emperor sucks. I don't fall for the fatherly, "I'm protecting you" act. Go die in a hole, loser.
And just to air out one of my biggest grudges ... can Palamedes stop freaking dying? Three times is enough. Please and thank you. I'm out of tears.
Plot
Now, finally, to address my grievances with the plot.
Firstly, I want to talk about unreliable narrators, which Harrow most definitely is. I have mixed feelings about unreliable narrators because, on one hand, they're really fun to read and write about...in moderation.
But I've been burned by unreliable narrators before. My mind goes to House of Leaves, but my bigger grudge is against Henry James (yes, I'm feuding with a dead guy) and The Turn of the Screw because I absolutely despise a mystery without an answer.
I still want to enjoy Harrow as an unreliable narrator, and I think I do, but I think the sheer amount of time the reader is left in the dark is what is really bothering me. It might be just a preference of mine, but I genuinely think the first section could have been much shorter...
As I'm writing this "review," I'm discovering that what my grudge with this book really boils down to is a lack of satisfaction with the plot twists.
More specifically, I think my issue is Harrow's "self-prescribed lobotomy." I like the idea. I really do. But when 70% of the book - told entirely through non-linear, mismatched POVs that contradict each other and the previous book - is that confusing...I think I was expecting a bigger reason. Again, this goes back to my extremely high expectations, but I just feel like for as big of a "puzzle" as the first 2/3 of the book felt like, the solution was so simple that it doesn't feel adequate. I'm sure if I went back and reread the first half, it wouldn't be a whole lot clearer to me, even knowing what I do now.
And I think this is true (at least for me) for a lot of the other plot twists.
Harrow's 3rd-person POV chapters are actually happening in a weird bubble in the River that is populated by the ghosts of the first cast of characters? It wasn't the answer I was expecting, but it didn't seem too crazy to me.
The ghost that's haunting Harrow is actually Wake, who is actually an Edenite, and all that crap? I still don't entirely understand what's going on. Maybe that's why I'm not too surprised by it.
Gideon's mom is Wake, and her dad is God? Cool. I knew her parents would be relevant eventually.
Looking back on it now, it almost feels like the issue with me being "underwhelmed" by these plot twists is that the stuff with God and Mercy and Wake...it's all connected. It doesn't feel like a series of plot twists so much as one long, connected history that was withheld from the reader. And I think that's the reason I was frustrated; I couldn't predict anything because the piece missing from the puzzle was so large that it was like I had the edges and the entire middle of the puzzle was missing.
Conclusion
I'm going to apologize one last time. I'm sorry I couldn't be blown away by this book like everyone else. It's a combination of the circumstances and my own personality that messed with my experience of it. Maybe someday I'll read it again and hopefully get a nicer opinion, but right now, I'm ready to take a break from this series, at least temporarily.
Will I continue? Yes, and not just because I saw Palamedes is in the next one. I genuinely am enjoying the series, this book is just a huge sticking point for me. Sorry for the long review/rant, but I didn't want to review this traditionally given...everything.
(Anyway, enjoy me referencing literally a dozen other books in my Kindle highlights)