I’ll be honest, I don’t even know how to summarize this book. I don’t even know how to review this book. All I know is that Gideon the Ninth may just be my favorite book in 2019, maybe ever since Strange the Dreamer. This book took me by complete surprise, especially as I was originally put off by the beginning few chapters.

This book kind of just drops you in this large, extensive world without a guide, and while I was originally quite lost, you very quickly learn to just go along with the characters and plot and trust the author to give you the pieces as you need them. Even after finishing I don’t have a clear picture of the world and how it’s set up, but I believe the intrigue is quite important to the story and how it will develop later on. There was also a lot of in depth necromancy talk, which was sometimes like reading a science textbook too high above your level, but it was understandable enough to get the story + it wasn’t necessary to fully get it either, as the character you’re following doesn’t get it all either.

The characters were also all quite well-rounded and haunting in how real they felt, you came to understand all of their motivations (even if you don’t agree with them all), and you come to feel for their pain and their mistakes. Almost every single character was explored and given an in depth background, meaning you were always aware of the people at play in scenes and situations. It all also tied well into their actions and emotions, making the story feel overall consistent. Our two main characters, Gideon and Harrowhark, also had such an interesting relationship, and the exploration of that alone made this book fantastic.

The prose, while being something to get used to, was also beautiful in a quite unique way. It was quite dense prose, describing almost everything and using long chains of large paragraphs and stretching sentences, but was constantly broken up by Gideon’s trademark sarcasm. While snarky and sarcastic characters are very quickly getting old, Gideon was her own brand of witty, and there were many serious moments made hilarious by a small snide comment on her end. It was just fantastic.

The plot was also fantastic, as it kept winding and twisting throughout the entire novel, never truly settling in any one place. It was a journey both for the characters and the reader, even as they stayed in one place. It was also just an extremely well-constructed plot, the answers to every question hidden in every part of the storyline. While some reveals were shocking, none were pulled from nothing and everything had more than enough build up and time to truly form. It was also just an extremely thrilling and gripping plot. From page 200 onwards I couldn’t stop reading, and I was on the literal edge of my seat at points, rushing through to see what would happen next.

Gideon the Ninth, while gruesome and full of skeletons and death and the ghosts of the past, was also just a beautiful book. It explored the relationships of the living through these ghosts and through death while also just constructing a lyrical and moving story. I couldn’t get enough of it, I still can’t, and I’m honestly debating reading it already.