"What we know is that we don't know anything."

I had some complicated feelings coming out of this book, and while it is still phenomenally hysterical and genius, it's my least favorite of the series so far. That being said—I still gave this a 4/5 star review, so I'm being a bit melodramatic like Nona herself in describing my overhyped feelings.

"Come on, love. Guys as careful as me don't have accidents."

Hands down, Nona is the best part of this book. She has a child-like wonder with the world even amidst the chaos of impending zombies and rebellion drama. She is unlike ANY character that we’ve met before—a breath of fresh air honestly—and you’ll be questioning her and the entire cast for essentially 3/4 of the book. Whose side is anyone actually on? Who is Nona really? And most importantly—where the f**k are Harrow and Gideon?! As always, readers have to read between the lines to comprehend any of The Locked Tomb books. Although, I do think Nona is slightly easier than Harrow when it comes to comprehension. You’ll still be scratching your head and theorizing to the ends of the universe about this installment, so no worries there!

"Poor Ninth... imagine the hopes and fears of the whole universe contained in one dead little red star."

Probably the best part of this novel besides Nona is the level of history and backstory Tamsyn unfurls; it’s not completed by ANY means, but we’re starting to really understand what brought the world to this point. John takes a major role in this story through the Interludes that are sprinkled like breadcrumbs across the board. They were great glimpses into his psyche and past that only Nona herself could bring out into the open. Now this isn't a backstory point to the book, but Nona and entourage even live on a planet/ within a city that we’ve not interacted with before. The first two books center hard on the special individuals from every House or the Lyctor headquarters, so I loved getting to see a larger, regular setting. Basically, we get to see the civilians of this universe and Y'ALL I'm going to pray for their asses every night. This world is not kind to them at all! So, again, I loved the world expansion and history.

"Long time no drown. You're the one who bragged about spading my mum."

Moreover, Nona contains a plethora of surprises. A few times I had to shut the book and look around my space as if to say “did I read that right?” and “NOPE.” At one point, I even had to reread a dialogue sentence multiple times because I couldn't be reading this right; I just couldn't. The third reread of the sentence I almost threw my book against the wall too. Essentially, a lot has changed in this world with only a bit of time between books two and three, so you’ll be quite... aghast by each reveal.
"I'm Princess Kiriona Gaia the First, Her Divine Highness, First Lieutenant of the Cohort, Emperor's Life Guards, non-auxiliary—honorary title but who cares—heir to the Emperor Divine, first of the Tower Princess. And I'm mega dead."

In terms of my comment at the start of this review, Harrow the Ninth is still my favorite of the series (need to reread Gideon to be sure), and a big part of that involved me having issues with Nona the Ninth’s flow and pacing. Even when nothing action packed is going on, Harrow and Gideon’s plots felt fast paced and intense because every conversation meant a step closer to learning a new truth/ reality, very high stakes, but with Nona they’re a few points where the story slows to a lull. That’s not to say Nona’s conversations weren’t important to moving the story along, but the shift from Harrow to Nona is quite jarring in terms of pacing. I marathoned these books over the summer, so it's a unique situation to read them back to back.

"There's no skeleton like a home skeleton."

Overall, The Locked Tomb fans are going to eat this sequel up! It’s a great bridge to Alecto the Ninth, and I’m so upset that the wait begins for the finale. I just know it’s gonna be a heart wrencher!

"Get in line, thou big slut."

Thank you to Tordotcom for the finished copy. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

9/13: What the absolute f**k did I just read. Can I have Alecto the Ninth now please?!