If you have heard of this book, you’ve also either seen or heard the line “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” That I think is what ultimately sells a lot of people. It sold me. But, while I liked this book and will *definitely* read the second (more on that), I think I would have liked it more if that hadn’t been my first impression going in.

The thing is, the book, to me, felt like a sleeper agent. It starts pretty slow. Muir builds the world, and a lot of it is gaps that you just have to fill in, which is the kind of world-building I enjoy, and it definitely helps build the mysterious ambience of the book. We also meet Harrowhark and Gideon, and figure out we are supposed to like them or loathe them. 

When they get called away to this “haunted gothic palace in space”, thing start to pick up, but I *almost* DNF’d it in this part. Like |-| close. But Instagram told me to hold on, so I did, and the action picked up, and the mystery picked up, and some of these weird gaps in the world start getting filled in (and many don’t). However, 50 pages from the end, I was thinking “this was fun, but I might not rush to read the sequel”. Then the last 50 pages happened and HOLY MOLY I would have picked up Harrow the Ninth then and there if I could have. So if you’re reading it and not sure, keep going. 

Now why would I have liked it better without that opening line?  It's hard to say without running out my caption limit, but generally it's that the book is actually a lot different than what I assumed based on that line -- maybe a fun, sexy adventure with dark humour. Instead I thought it was more a mysterious, tense thriller full of suspicion and antagonism. Only Gideon has any humour, but admittedly she is good at it! 

Now as I said, I ended up really enjoying the book, so my main message is if you read Gideon the Ninth, give it time and maybe adjust your expectations from what is on the dust jacket. It is definitely worth it!