#tamsyn muir you scare me

[probablynotaseaotter]

finished nona the ninth

just

leave me here to die because SHIT dude

#tamsyn muir you scare me #bookthoughts

[iridescentoracle]

bad wizards and shimmering rainbow-white robes

Someone else has probably already made this point—I'm late to the Locked Tomb party, I know—but I've been reading a whole lot of Locked Tomb posts (in between re-reading bits of the Locked Tomb books and thinking about The Lord of the Rings) recently, and if anyone else has made this point I haven't seen it yet, so, spoilers through Nona the Ninth:

Your gazes met. The other nascent Lyctor—the Third House saint, the Emperor’s bones and the Emperor’s joints, the Emperor’s fists and gestures—was clothed in a beautiful nacreous robe that glimmered all the colours of the rainbow: gauzy, iridescent white stuff that changed violently in the light.

(Chapter 4, Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir)

A mass of fabric whispered past you—you could not feel it on your body, but you felt the air upon your cheek—and then a person knelt in front of your chair. A shining, shimmering billow of pale fabric came into your field of vision, a rainbow-hued whiteness that ran through shades beneath the hot tungsten light, like the reflection of coloured glass on ice, the same stuff that now was draped around you. Then, awfully, your vision was lifted. Someone had pressed a finger lightly beneath your chin, and they were tilting it up so that you could see their face. You looked at the Lyctor. The Lyctor looked at you.

(Chapter 6, Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir)

‘“Radagast the Brown!” laughed Saruman, and he no longer concealed his scorn. “Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the wit to play the part that I set him. For you have come, and that was all the purpose of my message. And here you will stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!” ‘I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.

(“The Council of Elrond,” The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien)

I told them, This is it. We were put here to save the planet. We’re going to save the planet. We’re not going to let them run away. We’re going to fix this. And they were all, Yeah, John, because they were my friends and they loved me. But because they were also dicks and most of them had multiple tertiary degrees, they were also like, How though. We know you can do X and Y and Z. That’s still not A or B or C. We love the bone magic, but how are you going to pull this off? And it was P— of all people who said, First things first. If they’re going to let us fix the world, you’ve got to make them take us seriously. Get some leverage. If they want to make you into a bad wizard, be a bad wizard. We can write the history books to say you were a good wizard. Or at least an okay wizard. They’re not going to listen because we talk nicely, they’re going to listen because we scare the shit out of them.

(“John 5:1,” Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir)

Ironically, of course, John himself doesn’t wear the shimmering rainbow-hued robes of the Lyctors—but his crown of infant fingerbones is first described as “a wreath of ribbon and pearlescent leaves in his dark hair, rustling prismatically in the windless docking bay" (Chapter 6, Harrow the Ninth), and frankly I think rainbow pearlescent leaves each “intertwined with a match-sized infant fingerbone” sounds significantly more evil than Saruman bothered looking, so eat your heart out Curunír I guess.

Of course, there's lots of irony about John adopting the trappings of that particular evil wizard, but I think the most ironic part might be the extent to which he really should've taken notes on the rest of the passage in question:

‘“I liked white better,” I said. ‘“White!” he sneered. “It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.” ‘“In which case it is no longer white,” said I. “And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #locked tomb meta #the lord of the rings #lotr #fotr #character: saruman #character: john gaius

[lilyliveredlittlerichboy]

Harrow the Ninth

Honestly, even the cover is enough to give me feels. She looks so little, so vulnerable on it, despite the power stance and the face paint. Her face looks like she's grieving and furiously trying to go on, regardless. Am I projecting?

Let's get into it, then.

A fresh Dramatis Personae; this one has people crossed out, which is already unsettling. Oh, it's the cavaliers who are crossed out. Presumably, for the obvious reason. And the Lyctors including Cytherea, who, presumably, died.

Oh, and here's Ianthe, and Harrow. With Gideon's name scribbled out much more ferociously than the others.

Prologue

Oh, we love a second person narrator. If I hadn't already been told that Tamsyn Muir is a Homestuck fan, this would have definitely clued me in. How delightful! I have no idea what's going on. That's fine.

Oh, the "you" is Harrow? In the Prologue? The Prologue titled Emperor's Death???? This bodes. Uh. I'm scared.

Even the Emperor cautions Harrow to not be in such a hurry to die. I'm. I'm scared.

Ianthe is trying to protect Harrow? I barely know her, and this seems out of character. Narrows eyes.

“You always did think obstinacy the cardinal virtue,”

... Can't argue with that.

“Well, I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me,”

This along with "Choke me, Daddy" has me wondering if Ianthe is such a fan favourite because she speaks in memes.

Hell spat you back out. Fair enough.

<3 You go girl.

I still don't know what's going on. (That's still okay.) The Heralds of the Resurrection Beast seem to be insects, or at least function similarly to them - trying to kill whatever Harrow's in (spaceship?) and all life in it - by overheating. Like bees with hive invaders.

I have hope that even though the narrative seems hell bent on letting Harrow die here - that she won't, that the sounds of swords mean imminent rescue. Though I won't hold out too much hope.

The next chapter is a timeskip to the past - so I can't be sure at all. We will see.

#i need a tag for my own rambles #harrow the ninth liveblog #htn liveblog #htn spoilers #tlt spoilers #tlt liveblog #the locked tomb #HARROWWWWW.......... #next post next chapter

[the-z-part]

Top 10 books of 2023!

Superlatives under the cut:

Longest: Priory of the Orange Tree at 848 pages

Shortest: The Fox at 13 pages

Most Widely-Read: Sense and Sensibility at 1,170,435 readers

Most Obscure: Power to Yield at 6 readers (but it isn’t technically out yet)

Favorite 2023 release: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sasha Lamb

Favorite older title (5+ years): Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

Lived up to the hype: In the fucking Dream House deserves every good thing anyone’s ever said about it

Didn’t live up to the hype: Blanca & Roja :/

Biggest reading accomplishment: Priory of the Orange Tree!!!! I was so scared of that book

Fav couple/ship: Guinevere/Lancelot, the Camelot Rising versions specifically

Fav character: Miscellaneous “Laney” Stones from Saint Death’s Daughter

Least fav character: Dracula from Reluctant Immortals specifically

Most surprising moment: In The First Sister, when we realize that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] are [REDACTED] (iykyk)

Best prose: Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

Book you’ll be recommending: The Sleepless by Victor Manibo

Fav newly discovered author: Sam J. Miller

Fav cover: When the Angels Left the Old County by Sasha Lamb. I want to eat it. Art by Will Staehle.

Fav sequel: The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro (Charlotte Holmes #3)

Made you cry: Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour

Made you laugh: Princess Floralinda and the Fifty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir

Fav reread: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Most surprising 5 star: Naomi Teitelbaum Ends the World (I don’t generally think of myself as loving middle grade)

Least fav overall: I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid

Cool Reading Moments

Reading 20 books in 10 days for Reads of Awe

Announcing Bogi Takács’s new book cover

Finishing Priory after four full months

Saying out loud “If Guinevere and Lancelot don’t end up together I riot” and suddenly being viscerally connected to dozens of generations of readers

Every review of That Inevitable Victorian Thing being SO negative but being sure I’d like it anyway and then reading it and BEING RIGHT

#books

[mercyisms]

Niche Nona liveblogging: John 20:8 - Day Three

For fun and my own future reference, and to contain as many spoilers as possible, I am liveblogging NTN but consolidating my thoughts and some lines that especially jump out at me. Yes, there will be utterly too much attention to old Lyctor lore. I am what I am. I’m consolidating these roughly into thirds + scheduling them in intervals. I am not sure how interesting this will be but!! If you want to see me scream at every passing mention of Mercymorn, this is the place. Also apologies in advance for not editing. Spoilers up until page 129 in the hardcover, or the Day Three divider. 

“It was me and A—and M—at the start.” I know we’ve already got these first two chapters in the previews, but from this initial moment, I, and my Augustine&Mercymorn (and Augustine/Mercymorn) was sated and thanked Tamsyn Muir infinitely for sustenance. I was extremely vindicated to learn Mercy was medical and extremely thrown but delighted to hear Augustine was also a scientist, but of course “handled the shareholders.” God. “You know the worst part? She cried. She and A—both cried. In each other’s arms, like babies. They were so fucking scared.” At which point I was overwhelmed because of course, of course, they repeat and repeat and the potential that Augustine and Mercymorn lived and died as A—and M—died? I must sit down. Things that I obviously think and will state here, once, but assume it is happening over and over again: Nona, I love you, I love you, I love you. Pyrrha Dve, I love you, I am free on Monday, I am free on Tuesday, I am free on whatever days I am not promising to Camilla Hect, whom I love and am free on Monday, on Tuesday, on—and Palamedes, you are nice too. Also let’s quickly discuss these 10ish chapters in whole. I have always been team Nona is Alecto in whomever’s body. And we stake out, here, that I’ll be assuming it is Harrow’s body and Alecto’s soul. This assumption driven a) contextually, we know this was supposed to a blip in Alecto initially and frankly it being Alecto’s soul makes the most sense, sorry to meta-game, but b) that John is talking to ‘Harrow’ but clearly reciting Alecto’s history, or his history with Alecto and c) the end of John 5:20/start of Chapter 7 demonstrates that we only get John-to-‘Harrow’ when Nona is asleep, suggesting a tie (ingenious btw) and d) Nona being mistaken for a fourteen year old reads much more strongly of Harrow’s body (angry gothic shrimp) than Gideon’s (which, at last update, was perfectly preserved, with we assume muscle intact). I further subscribe to the Resurrection Beasts are the souls of the planets and Alecto is the RB of earth. We’ll pivot from these assumptions as necessary, but here’s where I’ve hedged my bets! Okay. “It was no fun, my child.” Take a shot every time Pyrrha is parental and then flashback to when Pyrrha just wanted to know why Wake had brought the baby and think very deeply about, I believe, Pyrrha’s longing to be parental. Pyrrha Dve, adopt me. “Nine million, Pyrrha. That’s the equivalent to the whole of the Seventh and Eighth put together.” This figure genuinely shocked me & I did not realize the scale of the empire and also that Silas was truly in charge of over a million people?? Props to that anemic teen. That is a big cult. (I am once again begging someone to show me the Eighth.) “You should… Gideon used to think about running away there. I know how to farm.” Previously stated, but I cannot believe Em and I called Gideon farming vibes (close enough!), Cassy lawyer vibes, and Mercy pre-med vibes. That’s almost a full bingo row! Anyway, eating up every detail about Gideon and signs of agency with a fork. “One of the reasons that they called her Nona was that the first thing she ahd said, when they saved her and brought her was ‘No, no.’” Having also participated in Nabokov brainrot rummer (shoutout @gothicenjoyer​) I am deeply intrigued by this thread of a character’s professed lack of consent becoming the basis for her name. There is something very tasty here. To be unpacked later? When Nona tells you all of Pyrrha’s code words and you’re like “this will almost certainly be deeply relevant to the plot later, but it’s also, like, chapter one so I’m not going to remember it.” Flagged p38 (page numbers in hardcover), and Nona’s burgeoning lessons on, for simplicity, “being human” to later compare with Mercy’s assertion that Alecto could never fake being human, was fundamentally inhuman – if Nona = Alecto. We’ll come back to this. We’ll also see if “Nona [felt] a little bit offended on the planet’s part” has any secondary payoff.   “Nona longed to lie, but didn’t know how to stop her body from telling the truth.” (47) I think I’ll want this quote later. Understanding all languages + body language + honesty. “… the pride of having Pyrrha, the familiarity of seeing someone and knowing they belonged to you.” (54) Kevin is a visionary. The Angel being referred to as sir. The Gender is beginning. Also really important having a crush on your teacher representation, huh? I see you Hot Sauce. Speaking of Gender, obligatory joke about using a sword or magicking bones being The Two Genders, but of course, ave has already written the essay on it. “Nice to nibble at, boring otherwise.” “She’s used to people loving her anyway,” I will also eat all of the Coronabeth content with a spoon. We are assuming based on the names and that The Captain is, obviously, Judith. “She was made to be immune to blue light.” I hope this book will help me resolve whether Mercy actually inadvertently looked at RB7 or what?? Or what???? Said the only person in the world who is still caught on that blip from HTN. “Making the same shape as his mouth had done like she did when speaking languages.” I’mmmm well, frankly, I cannot believe the way to fully invest me in Palamedes was to put him in Camilla’s body. This situation remains delicious and tragic. I will sit down in the bath now. “C—was panicking because… she was getting recalled to England” God I cannot believe Cassiopeia is British #representation, but I am very listening. Pyrrha being a cop. Checks out! “Oh my God, you’re drinking, aren’t you. You’re on anphetamines, Youa re on coke. You are on amphetamines and coke. I was all like Yeah. . . Coke Zero.” I cannot believe this. I cannot believe this, and I love you Mercymorn Nolastname. “G—always thought anything I did or said was fine. Not necessarily right, but fine.” Once again eating the G1deon content. “…all the ones I touched, all the ones I loved…” (76)

“Because I remind her that her God was just a human being who could get tired and fuck up.” We are nibbling on the Pyrrha/Wake content, but also relevant, relevant. “I’ve got a broken heart and I’ll never love again.” Again, nibbling. Big bite of them. Thank you, TM. “Of course they were apart, separated forever by a matter of minutes” I am experiencing an emotion over the tragedy but also “but Nona knew they talked to each other in pages of letters and letters and letters” cf. their relationship to Dulcinea? The inherent epistolary form of the Sixth house? “When Gideon and I designed that trial, I used to crack his skull and sieve it myself, just as a control variable… The only other people I put through that damn trial were Mercy and Cris, because only Cris didn’t mind being trepanned on the regular.” Cristabel Oct I love you, I am obsessed with you, I want to put you in a jar and carry you forever. I am also deeply interested in how hands on this suggests the ‘cavaliers’ were + collaborative with the research (vs. ‘contemporary’ necro/cav relations) and also… Pyrrha and Mercy… collaborators… h*t. “On the first day, A—believed… A—said I looked cool. He was the only one.” At which point I began frothing at the mouth because man, Augustine (and Mercymorn, and everyone, but especially) really was fully in your corner, and you killed that guy. You really killed that guy. You killed your two+ best friends.  “A—and M—moved in with me.” We are also HIGHLY attuned to how often A/M are referred to and operate as a unit. I’m obsessed. I’m fed. “A—was trying so hard to bring me back down to earth… He’d swapped with M--.” At what point are they truly divorcees? You know? “…squabbled with A--. At least that made me feel normal. That was their usual double act. It was only when they felt the same thing that I knew it was serious.” Lmao, fuck me up. “make time go away” is of note re: theories that John can stop time. OBSESSED that Ulysses and Titania were ‘shells’?? WHERE are their souls and how does that square with, iirc, Augustine or John calling Ulysses “that madman.” SOMEONE tell me more. (Also “They weren’t around to say yes or no. I was starting to really care about that.” Casually tracking when/where John cares about autonomy and consent.) “still as a statue in the park, only her head was still on of course” “swim in salt water for hours” to me, this is further Alecto/Earth evidence, but I am too livid that Tamsyn worked in a JANDALS. Although, truly, Nona deserves them. But “salt water made her feel… she would suddenly know the words to tell them everything.” Cf. a reverse-engineered Ninth House tradition of saltwater and honesty? Are these related?? “or hearing the door open when you were really lonely” Noting Nona’s atonement to loneliness. Also it is very beautiful and all the more so for its framing as a human essential. (107)

Merv Wing. Someone called the Angel. Are we getting a hint of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Merv. Nerv. Merv. Nerv. Hm……. Feasting on Pyrrha’s caution and condemnation of the Eightfold. (115) Oh, I forgot but Pyrrha saying she’d have an easier time pimping out Augustine and Alfred… Augustine Quinque, seen murdered in the streets. But also. God, tell me more. “That’s a feeling,” said Pyrrha brutally. “Kill it.” A line to power many a Pyrrha Dve fic, to be sure. Noting that Nona can “hear [Varun/RB7] sing.” “I don’t let go,” said Camilla. “It’s my one thing.” “M—dry-retching in the corner.” I love youuu. I cannot believe all of these fuckers were varying degrees of Christian and am simply begging for Nigella, should she be (re)named after Nigella Lawson, to have some Jewish energy. Alas. I know. We are in the Christian book zone. “M—had been a hard atheist since she was twelve. But she got over it. She was a walking contradiction anyway. Her best friend in the whole world was a nun. Also at some point A—gave her a benzo and a shot of whiskey, so that helped.” A/M strikes again, but, like, come on. Come on. We’re not introducing a nun and not having that be Cristabel… I said, vibrating into the next dimension. Come onnn. Show me this nun and also tell me more. What kind of nun? Is this a Prime of Miss Jean Brodie situation or what? A Sister Act vibe? Is ther any Maggie Smith energy is what I’m asking. These are the totality of my nun references. “So of course, what do M—and A—do, they go raid a fucking graveyard.” FRANKLY the number of times these two go off and plot and execute things together on their own… Anyway, I will write this fic and I hope everyone else writes this fic too. I want 100 comedies of grave digging errors with M + A. Also, I feel gratified for spoofing that Hamlet grave digging scene (lightly) in my one Augustine/Mercymorn fic. I really, really do. “See, I did make a utopia.” He is joking, of course, but fascinating potential implications if John really does consider his project utopian and cf. Augustine’s analysis that the entirety of his empire is all for “symbolic retribution.” In the way that this series has constantly fisheyed outwards, from a competition between the elites of the empire (representatives of the internal politics of the empire) to the emperor’s inner circle (the external politics of the empire and its equally external threats), I think it is incredibly smart to take us outside the empire and into a contested place under occupation. I also think it is, thus far, really well rendered. And what an efficient way of fully re-orientating every assumption we may have abt John’s empire and how it operates. Good stuff. I’m sure there will be much more to say here in time. Future installments will be in this tag xoxo. Treat yourself to a Coke Zero is you did read this all the way through. God bless.

#nona the ninth #ntnspoilers #nona spoilers #the locked tomb #m: nona liveblogging

[readtilyoudie]

“Put me in there,” said Gideon.

That brought Harrow up short, and her eyebrows shot to the top of her hairline. She fretted at the veil around her neck, and she said slowly: “Why?”

Gideon knew at this point that some really intelligent answer was the way to go; something that would have impressed the Reverend Daughter with her mechanical insight and cunning. A necromantic answer, with some shadowy magical interpretation of what she had just seen. But her brain had only seen the one thing, and her palms were damp with the sweat that came when you were both scared and dying of anticipation. So she said, “The arms kind of looked like swords. I want to fight it.”

“You want to fight it.”

“Yep.”

“Because it looked … a little like swords.”

“Yop.”

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) by Tamsyn Muir

#book quote #gideon the ninth #gideon the 9th #tamsyn muir #the locked tomb #mystery #horror #quote #quotes #booklr #bookblr

[socialfauxpa]

2022 book wrap up

I got a couple messages about what i was reading in 2022 and thought the Storygraph Wrap up feature might be a good chance to post about it.

If anyone is interested in adding me on storygraph, my account username is socialfauxpas

I read a total 36 books and graphic novels this year! I was aiming to read 22 books in 2022 and overshot that goal. Most of the graphic novels were re-reads of Saga catching up for the new issues this year (i am completely caught up as of yesterday). And yes Harrow the ninth is on here twice, i read it twice this year. Also nothing but love for Martha Wells's Murder bot diaries those six books slay.

I'll post some detailed thoughts about my 5 star reads under the cut below.

My 5 Star Reads

Last night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Listed under books that made me lose my mind. I read this in January 2022 and its discussions of discovering and belonging to queer community and acceptance of butchness had me legit sobbing at times. And all that is being paralleled with 1950's Red-Scare paranoia ! Malinda Lo was insane for this and I recommenced it to everyone interested in historical queer fiction because it has been rattling around my head for literally a year.

The Starless Sea By Erin Morgenstern

I Love Erin Morgenstern, her novel the Night Circus is one of my all-time favourite love stories ever. Starless sea is a banger too. It comes out swinging with her beautiful prose fantastic protagonists and a novel about the nature of stories and storytellers? Insane. Her wold building and interweaving of timelines is so incredible. I also listened to this as an audio book and the reader was so good at the different characters voices and delivery of the stories it really added a lot of depth to an already rich story.

The Priory of the Orange Tree By Samantha Shannon

Talk about a win for the High fantasy gays, this ones got it all. Dragons, romance, magic, RICH world building. It's what i wish game of thrones was-> a entire cast of characters and interconnected storylines across continents that 1) made sense to its own story and 2) no homophobia lol. I literally couldn't put this brick of a 850+ page novel down and read it in exactly 10 days according to storygrpah.

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

The review on the cover says something like" this book wil grab you by the collar, break your heart over its knee, then mend it" and Yeah.jpeg. It does that. I love Touraine and Luca, their dynamic is incredible. Adele voice "Its about the devotion babes, devotion".I found this book through a Tordotcom article about The Butch Martyr in SFF, where it talked about 2 of my other favourite queer fantasy series (Gideon the Ninth and The Traitor Baru Cormorant) and i figured anything that is mentioned in the same breath as those two must be a banger, and BOy howdy is it. And ill tell you if i had nickle for every book I've read that features heavy themes of colonialism, of dealing with the grief of a love lost, and loving a culture that will never see you as one of its own, id have about 15cents. Which isn't a lot but it was the hot new trend for books i read in 2022 (2021 was lobotomy).

She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan

Another one i could not put down. I listened to this one as an audio book as well and i was plugged the fuck in. Absolute banger of historical fiction and an incredible GNC protagonist. I feel like ive seen this book mentioned a lot along side Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow (which i also read and liked a lot this year) because these authors have taken real people from Chinese history are playing around with them like dolls. But the way this book talked about fate and how the life you live is an active choice really hit. And talk about a book that is gender, JESUS. You know how sometimes you read something and you can just tell it was written by someone who GETS it, Shelly Parker-Chan gets gender in a way that i haven't seen in a long time.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Can't talk about books that are so gender without talking about Nona. Yall know my love for the locked tomb series and this torch is still being carried. I've been thinking about the "It’s finished, it’s done. You can’t take loved away." line for uhhhhhh 5 months straight. I can not say enough good things about this series, I could talk about it for literally years (and i have).

#my posts #books #nona the ninth #the priory of the orange tree #she who became the sun #the unbroken #the starless sea #last night at the telegraph club

[undetectorist]

for the book asks -- 2, 4, 9, 15 and 20 por favor!

2. top 5 books of all time?

please know this was absolute agony for me!!!!! i'm going to restrict it to fiction to make it marginally more bearable:

wolf hall by hilary mantel the left hand of darkness by ursula k. le guin harrow the ninth by tamsyn muir i hotel by karen tei yamashita the shipping news by annie proulx

4. what sections of a bookstore do you browse?

i like looking at anything that's been curated by the bookstore employees tbh, but generally i'll go to fiction/classics!

9. when do you tend to read most?

my sacred reading time is over breakfast! i also read a lot on public transport, if i don't have a book on a bus/train i feel naked

15. recommend and review a book.

ohh so i just read nothing to see here by kevin wilson which i picked up from a charity shop when i had a couple of hours to kill. i really wasn't expecting anything from it but i liked it so much and was actually incredibly moved by it. it felt like the perfect book for me at that moment in time, you know? the book is narrated by lillian, who receives a proposal from her oldest, semi-estranged friend madison: that lillian come to live with her and her husband to take care of madison's step-children. the catch is that the step-children are semi-feral, abandoned by their father and traumatised by their mother—and they spontaneously catch on fire when they’re overwhelmed or upset. even though lillian knows nothing about children or childcare, she accepts. i know this sounds like a bizarre and, frankly, unbelievable sequence of events to rest a novel on but somehow it works so well, probably because it hinges on lillian and madison's complex history and relationship, which unfolds throughout the course of the novel and makes you understand both why madison wanted lillian to look after the children and why lillian accepts. i loved lillian's voice: exactly the right balance of humour, self-awareness, sharpness and tenderness. and the children are written perfectly: scared but defiant, innocent but angry, strange and silly and vulnerable and smart. it’s easy to see how lillian comes to care for them fiercely. but what i liked most of all is how the narrative doesn’t shy away from how hard it is to care for people, when you’re messed up, when they’re messed up. it’s difficult and sad and scary to put so much of yourself into caring. but being alone is far worse, and that's why we do it. big heart, sharp edges!!

#thank you so much lovely!! #asks

[gidianthe]

yknow how tamsyn muir said that in alecto the ninth the griddlehark fucked up power dynamic is gonna be turned on its head. do you know how badly that scares me

#i judt want them to be hapoy and i know its not that easy and not realistic to ask for that but its just my feelings ok... i care them

[nona-la-nona]

Gideon the Ninth re-read part three:

- Once again, I am always struck by how emotionally small Harrow is with the added context of Harrow the Ninth. Like she is constantly afraid, constantly conspiring, constantly stressed to no ends. She is constantly trying to make a sacrifice of two-hundred dead children mean something, anything. Because if the Ninth House is absorbed by another house, then why was she even created? 

- This becomes abundantly clear during the first trial. Harrow is constantly asking why she can’t just do it alone. 

- It’s so fucking funny to me that Harrow is actually really really threatened by Palamedes. 

- Harrow being terrified of the party. Gideon not understanding why she’s scared when all Gideon has ever seen Harrow as up until these trials and these moments as all powerful, cruel, and in her element. 

- Harrow really is Terezi from Tamsyn’s The Serendipity Gospels. 

- The Third and Sixth Houses had arrived all at once, the drab moth of Palamedes making the golden butterfly of Coronabeth Tridentarius all the more aureate and fair. They were sizing each other up like prize fighters. Do I think this is Nona foreshadowing? Absolutely. I am a big believer in Coronabeth as being a contender for a primary antagonist (in the same way Ianthe constantly is shocking the plot and audience) and that’s why I think she is complacent in some way in everything that is happening to the Sixth House in Nona the Ninth.

- Dulcinea, opposite, kissed her hand to Gideon twice before Gideon had even sat down. PALAMEDES IS SITTING RIGHT THERE NEXT TO GIDEON WHEN THIS HAPPENS. HE IS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE. He literally thinks that one of his best friends of a decade, the woman he proposed to and fought to preserve her life, is not only ghosting him, but also flirting with another person RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. This is why these books are still so good on a second read. Moments like this hit even harder with the context. I am screaming, Pal that’s not her!!!! Pal!!!! She wanted to marry you too!!! Palamedes the real Dulcinea loved you!!! aaaaaaaaaa.

- Cytherea talking to Abigail at the dinner, realizing that she’s going to have to kill her. I am- oh my god. This is a train wreck. This whole dinner is a foreshadowing train wreck. 

- “They’re [Sixth house records] kept in a box full of helium so they’ll outlast the heat death of Dominicus, Lady Pent.” Hey so, foreshadowing is a bitch and Tamsyn Muir is evil and I hate everything. But also, I cannot for the life of me really believe Tamsyn had all of this planned out, from the beginning. I am losing it. 

- I HAD FORGOTTEN THAT CORONABETH HAD TRIED TO KILL IANTHE IN THE WOMB. 

- “I liked that dinner. It was useful.” - Cytherea on that second re-read is really out here looking Gideon right in the eye and saying: ‘I’m a villain :D’ and Gideon cannot hear it. 

- Palamedes look of affection for what he believes to be the love of his life gets me every time. Every. Single. Time. 

- What’s so fascinating to me, though, is that Gideon is able to pick up on the look, but Cytherea doesn’t. And that’s her downfall. 

#gtn spoilers #htn spoilers #ntn spoilers

[nialltlynch]

kk 2022 reading roundup

total books read this year: 41!! (which is a lot. to me)

my goal, as it has been the past couple years, is at least two books per month. and. dear reader, in the interest of being truthful and fair, I did not meet my goal. july wasnt a great month for both for interpersonal reasons and also because I was coming down the high of having read the gideon the ninth and harrow the ninth. so like. everything kinda tasted like dirt yknow what I mean? I read ZERO books that month. other than that, I did read a bit more than I did last year so it's a win all around

overall I do feel like this was a bit weaker. the majority of the books were fine. interesting enough to finish but not really memorable once closed. not as many of them hit quite very hard BUT the ones that did were INSANEEEEEEEE which! fine! okay! not all books are going to be mind blowers but I think it made reading this year feel a little bit more like a slog than previous. blah. you win some you lose some.

that being said, im only counting books that ive finished but I did start far more books that I ended up not finishing. I mayyyyy come back to some because I might not have been in the right place but idk. im still a very picky reader I think.

random observations:

i overwhelmingly read women writers. this is not by design. kinda neat i guess

i purposely try to read a variety of authors instead of delving into one author's bibliography (except shirley jackson, who has my heart). maybe next year I'll try to read more deeply into author's I enjoy??? we shall see

im surprised that apparently my top genre for the year is horror? i think the bulk of that is because shirley jackson is labeled horror which i suppose i have to agree with though i never considered myself a horror enjoyer. I think id like to delve more into the genre next year but ummmm im squeamish and I get scared and start shaking all over very easy ((:

i should read longer books. ill admit seeing an ebook with 300+ pages and preemptively mentally checking out....... this habit will probably follow me into the new year unfortunately )):

anyway. here are my rambling nothing thoughts on my top 10 reads this year!

top 10:

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir | easily one of the most succulent, juicy, mind searingly delicious things I've consumed in..... I don't even know how long. possibly ever. all my thoughts can be summed up as: ooga booga

Hangsaman - Shirley Jackson | ive read a lot of shirley jackson this year and I think ive read all her novels excepts one (the road through the wall). anyway. this fucking book. no one understands the tragedy of being a young woman quite like shirley jackson.

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield | this is one of those rare books where a confluence of things I love all come together AND it actually works out. just off the top of my head this book has (and executes WELL): floaty yet vivid prose. sea monsters. a healthy fear of the ocean. lesbians. mundane yet sublime body horror. unanswered mysteries. it's just!!! one of those things you hear about and you're like. there's no way this is actually that good right??? and true it has issues but I personally find the blemishes forgivable. I think my biggest problem is that it feels a bit drawn out but the vibes were so pitch perfect i can barely fault it for that. anyway. absolutely had a wonderful time reading this book. I went into it with relatively high expectations (especially for me) and left delighted and fed.

The Bird's Nest - Shirley Jackson | i went back and forth a lot about which jackson book was my favorite this year and it was really difficult because 1) they're all insanely good and exactly to my tastes and 2) this was the year i read the locked tomb so...... dsjkdsjkfd decisions man. ANYWAY the vibes in this book are off the charts

The Sundial - Shirley Jackson | ms jackson does it again!!! you would think that a book about a house that becomes a prison that symbolizes some form of control inhabited by a collection of delusional rich assholes would rank a lot higher since its so so so painfully quintessentially made for kk. it's also funny! I laughed out loud a few times and it was all in good fun. let me tell you. the only times I was laughing during her other books - say, idk, hill house - was at the absurdity of it all. the sundial was legitimately good fun.

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir | DO NOT get it twisted. just because this is number 5 does NOT mean this book didnt make me absolutely insane feral. the difference between gtn and htn as far as my love is thin. razor silk spider web fucking thin. but theyre also completely different books so ughfdhfdjh okay. im not going to get into comparisons because who knows how we'll be at it. tamsyn muir is insane (affectionate with a twinge of awe.) i, a guy who sidestepped getting into A Certain Webcomic, have had a tab open for months now with fanfic for previously mentioned Webcomic (that i know next to nothing about) because im just so hungry for more tamsyn. gimme hands waaaarabslkdsb

Salt Slow - Julia Armfield | i read this before our wives under the sea and let me tell you... it set such high expectations. i obviously like her better when she's exploring subdued terror that slowly grows and grows and grows over time but she's very good at the fanciful and the deranged. she's contemplatively imaginative and the fact that she seems to also have a love for the ocean is just gravy for me. she wrote a fun little piece called the ocean is a lesbian. it was nice.

The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward | this book is like one of those old timey anatomy diagrams to me in that i feel that really sums up the overall mood of the book AND also my feelings AND also conveniently describes how i read this book. this is an S-class concept with A-class writing which is delicious and delightful because it's both wonderful as a reader AND a writer. i was unnerved from the very first page and it was equally fun to luxuriate in that slow panic as a reader and to also unravel it through scrutiny as a writer. do you get what im trying to say? (i do feel presumptious referring to myself as a writer but this book really did make me remember why i love writing. so fuck it. I am a guy who writes aka writer)

Calling a Wolf a Wolf - Kaveh Akbar | im still very wet behind the ears insofar as my poetry knowledge goes and ill admit to not really. hmm. well, "getting it" sometimes. im learning! however. that being said. this collection. ooooof. i didn't feel like i had to stretch to grasp the concept. it ate my brain though thats for sure.

Devil House - John Darnielle | this book came to me at a very opportune time because I've been putting a lot of thought into the whole. true crime thing. still chewing tbh (got caught up in other stuff) but it definitely had a lasting effect

#kk books #i can out out the full ranked list too if anyone wants to take a gander #ill also take any book recs for stuff to read next year #love me a good book rec

[the-isopodcalypse]

✨ 2022 recap ✨

~~~~~

@etheltheblog tagged me for this thingy and I will now attempt to recall the media I consumed this year.

Top 3 films/shows

1899 (2022) dir. Baran bo Odar

Immigrants on a steamship travelling from London to New York get caught up in a mysterious riddle after finding a second vessel adrift on the open sea.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) dir. Rian Johnson

Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Courage The Cowardly Dog (1996) Program creator: John Dilworth

Courage is a timid pink dog with paranoia problems. His owners are an old couple living on a farm full of bizarre adversaries. Courage must overcome his fear and help save his owners, Eustace and Muriel, from ghosts and paranormal spirits living on the farm. Although Muriel loves Courage, Eustace loves to tease him and scare him.

Top 3 books

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

Top 3 biggest improvements

Started HRT

Got some medical shit done I was terrified of getting done for years

Got a cool jean jacket and put some pins on it

Top 3 resolutions

Get shit that’s wrong with my house fixed so I can start planning on moving

Save for a bigger tank for Meat Loaf

Get stronk

Favorite song

Kalahari Down- Orville Peck

Favorite quote

"And the first child asked: Dost thou oppose me, and thou half-dead?

And the second child said, I am as one half-dead, but you would be two-halves dead, bitch.

To which the first child said, My sweet, I only die of longing for thee.

And the other child said, Then perish.” (from Nona The Ninth)

@intricatecakes @bumblybeemika @alvangs Do this if u wanna

#tag meme #god I really didn't watch that much tv or movies this year

[emmalovesdilemmas]

5 movies, 4 songs, 3 essentials, 2 fave books, 1 quote

🎬

kiki’s delivery service - my go-to movie when i’m feeling sad, i’ve been watching this at least once a year since i was 5

candyman (the original one) - one of the things that i love is stories about stories and this movie makes me lose my mind. tony todd as candyman (that outfit and that voice...) can kill me any day he wants, and it would be such an honor

the descent - this scared the shit out of me, made me cry, and also made me fall in love with horror

billy elliot - another go-to comfort movie, this soundtrack slaps and i am a sucker for coming of age movies 

everything, everywhere, all at once - i just saw this a few days ago for the first time, but i already know its going to be one of my favorite movies for a long time. i cannot stop thinking about it, there’s just so much that is so good about this one and i’m never going to be over it 

🎧

aubergine by lady lamb - honestly any song from lady lamb’s early discography, this one just happens to be the one i’ve listened to most. i got to see her live and gave her a hug after the show and i am still chasing that high

wreath by perfume genius - this song is very Gender

be sweet by japanese breakfast - this whole album was all i listened to last summer 

water from the same source by rachel’s - an incredible instrumental song that builds slowly and fairly often gets me tearing up by the end of it 

❤️

huge fun dangly earrings 

dessert

friends

📖 (that thing that happens where someone asks you what your favorite book is and you’re like “i’ve never read a book in my life actually” is happening to me right now so i’m not sure if these are actually right. i’m just going to pick one book i loved growing up and one i loved recently)

deep wizardry by diane duane - (loved this whole series) i was obsessed with these books growing up and read this series so many times, but this one was my favorite out of all of them. hmmm maybe this is where my fascination with death began?

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir - (again, loved this whole series) one of those books where i had to put it down and walk around my house for a few minutes at several points just to calm down, i also love re-reading things and this book has such great re-read value

🗣

“This is how they survive. You must know this. You're too smart not to know this. They paint the world full of shadows... and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgments. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn't true. We can prove that it isn't true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it. And who has been so close to doing it as we are right now?” -- Black Sails, XXXVIII

there are many quotes from black sails that make me lose my mind, this is just one of them

thanks for the tag @oknowkiss! i’ll no pressure tag @babooshkart and @softlystarstruck if y’all haven’t already done this and would like to! 

#tag game

[chayscribbles]

chayscribbles’ monthly writing update ☆ january 2022

☆ STATISTICS.

words written: 9681. about half of this comes from the last 4 days oops

projects worked on: Andromeda Rising

proudest accomplishment: honestly the fact that i wrote anything at all this month is a feat lmao

☆ GENERAL COMMENTS.

january has been a Month

i started drafting AR3 on january 1st with very little planned, very quickly ran into a wall, got nerfed by work getting super busy & burned out from everything for about 2 weeks. then, in the last 4 days, i decided to restart AR3 and also spontaneously move blogs and start crocheting a sweater. (hello where has that energy been all month???)

and that’s what you missed on glee!

more specific wip-related comments + featured excerpt below.

☆ COMMENTS: ANDROMEDA RISING

so as i mentioned earlier i started AR3 a second time. well not as much restarting as restructuring. i think i went into it a little too quickly the first time, without really knowing what i wanted to do or being completely sold on what i had. taking a break to step back certainly helped.

AR3 is turning out to be... something. i’d been starting to get scared AR in general was too marketable so i’m really trying to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. also i think reading the locked tomb books specifically encouraged me to try making my writing weirder so thanks, Tamsyn Muir!

here’s some of what you can expect in AR3:

astral projection into dreams!

long-distance psychic links!

body switching!

magic plant-based psychotherapy (with questionable results)!

very bad decisions being made!

star deities??? maybe??? (still working on that)

the power of love and friendship!

somehow Azami is the most adjusted one in the gang at this point?

and whatever else my brain throws at me!

☆ FEATURED EXCERPT.

have some Nenazami! this is from Nena’s POV.

Azami herself trod beside [Nena] as they made their way through the temple, wearing the traditional clothes worshippers wore to the temple, which vendors were selling for cheap in the stalls that lined the gates— a long, flowy robe of deep green that concealed her curves, paired with a matching headscarf under which her long black hair was hidden, and gold embroidered leaves adorned the garments’ edges. It wasn’t mandatory to wear, but the most devout worshippers wore it anyway when visiting the temple, especially during the festival. And it had the bonus effect of hiding her identity.

“I look ridiculous,” Azami had huffed once she had put on the outfit.

“You look just fine,” Nena had reassured her. “You make it actually look good.”

Azami huffed again and turned her face away, but not before Nena caught a shade of red creeping across her freckled nose. It was too easy and too amusing to get her flustered.

☆ TAGLISTS. let me know if you want to be added/removed to either. also i restarted my taglists so if you haven’t reconfirmed that you want to be tagged pls do so!

general taglist

@chaotic-queer-disaster @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @stormharbors @quilloftheclouds @ashen-crest @writeblrfantasy @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @extra-magichours @avi-why @lefttigerobservation @chazzawrites

andromeda trilogy taglist:

@bebewrites @chaotic-queer-disaster @magnoliaash @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @stormharbors @akindofmagictoo @quilloftheclouds @nora-theteawriter @ashen-crest @c4nnibal @writeblrfantasy @toboldlywrite @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @cheerfulmelancholies @extra-magichours @writeouswriter @cilly-the-writer @lefttigerobservation

#chayscribbles writing update #wip andromeda trilogy #wip andromeda rising

[gatheringbones]

really interesting reading your thoughts on gideon the ninth, esp "For all of muir’s vocabulary and ability to construct a searing and powerful image, there’s clearly a barrier in place that says that this topic (lesbian love and attraction) cannot receive the same level of focus." i read an interview with muir where she talks about how scared she was growing up as a lesbian, "I grew up in a fairly conservative community with the shadows of lesbian family deaths and trauma hanging over me"

[continued) i'd link the interview but tumblr doesn't let me (look for threecrowsmagazine + tamsyn muir if you're interested). anyway yeah i'm thinking about that a lot, the fear that influences things even in a story where queerness is no big deal.]

oh thanks for telling me about that, I had to look it up on the spot.

the first thing I thought after reading about her background was how incredibly brave she was to try and write a lesbian story in the first place, and why she wrote that lesbian story. It immediately reminded me of that Dorothy Allison quote— “The way I grew up, lesbians were women who got killed; you know, women who drank themselves to death, women who were objects of ridicule.” These were both lesbians who grew up surrounded by stories that painted lesbians as ridiculous, shameful, and doomed. That has an enormous, lasting psychic effect on you. It’s corrosive, and it takes years to realize just how far the damage reaches and how much of your thinking it has rearranged. It’s why the lesbians can’t and won’t die in the Locked Tomb series, which I’ve always greatly admired them for. Even if Gideon didn’t work for me, I cackled when I realized that the tragic ending wasn’t and that there would be no such thing as a dead lesbian in these books.

and Tamsyn gets into how long it took her to get here, and I want to emphasize just how much bravery that took—

[“What this has to do with being a creative lesbian woman is that I was not creative in public, is what I am saying. I wrote a bit of public-consumption poetry for the school magazine. I went online and I wrote, a lot, and I wasn’t even queer there. I was terribly frightened. I only wrote lesbian stories in a coven of other queer girls behind locked Livejournal walls. It would be years before I wrote f/f publicly in fanfiction, and it took me until 2015 to submit an actual lesbian story for publication.”]

She did the same thing I did, that a lot of lesbian writers I know did. She avoided writing anything queer or lesbian-specific for years. It took her years to even think about writing an f/f fanfic let alone something for publication. I know exactly how that feels and exactly where that paralysis comes from. You can’t look at certain things too hard because all the old conditioning kicks in and you feel so ashamed of yourself you can’t handle it. But she did handle it, and her books blew up, and I’m thrilled for her. I’m thrilled for all the kids who got to have anime power fantasies about them. I’m thrilled she’s injecting her own weird energy into the cosmos and she’s got some confidence from it. She’s going places.

[darlingofdots]

Which is a list of reasons that I believe Harrow and Gideon will get a Happy For Now, at least:

it’s thematically set up this way. GtN was about the two of them figuring out how not to hate each other, HtN is Harrow rejecting a world without Gideon with every fibre of her being and starting to learn that love is not acquisitive, as Ianthe says, and that sacrificing herself for Gideon the way Gideon did for her isn’t the right way, either. HtN was not Harrow’s journey through the stages of grief, culminating in acceptance, it is Harrow refusing to accept that the choice presented to them at the end of GtN – the choice of Lyctorhood or death – was the only choice available. HtN is all about choices, from the false one God gives her when he says she can be his Saint or return to the Ninth despite the latter being impossible, the choice to lock her memory of Gideon away to protect her soul, to the final decision whether to stay in the River and fade or return to her body and complete the Lyctoral process. In her letter to herself, pre-homebrew lobotomy Harrow says ‘Look upon me as a Harrowhark who was handed the first genuine choice of our lives’. Gideon didn’t think she had a choice when she died for Harrow and Harrow didn’t think she had a choice when she consumed Gideon’s soul, because the universe/God/the narrative did not present an option other than Death. Everything in GtN said ‘this is how it has to be’ and HtN is Harrow saying ‘not if I get a say’. Thematically, the only way this story can be concluded is by the two of them getting to decide what the options are, and I don’t see either of them not choosing to be with the other.

The bubble sequences in HtN allow characters who were wronged in GtN to make their voice heard. The reader comes out of GtN sad, and frustrated, and probably finding it all quite unfair, and then we get to see some of the characters who were unfairly killed again and this time, they have agency and power over their situation. I’d say Dulcie is the strongest example of this: she was killed off without a thought, off-screen, but in HtN she gets to be a person who gets to actively participates in her own narrative. I choose to read this as a continuation of the theme about choices and inevitability; just because the narrative/the universe/God treated you unfairly before doesn’t mean you won’t get to have your say.  

The pieces are all there. I would say at this point it’s established that there is a way to achieve perfect Lyctorhood in which the cavalier doesn’t have to be consumed, namely because:

a) in chapter 33 of HtN, Camilla’s previously dark brown eyes are ‘neither grey nor brown but both’, a mixture of her own and Palamedes’ eye colours, which we have established is a ‘symptom’ of the bond between souls that occurs in Lyctorhood, and Palamedes’ reaction to Harrow showing up in his bubble suggests he’d figured out how to do it, made provisions for him and Camilla to do it, and fully expected Harrow to do the same

b) the whole Gideon Prime/Pyrrha situation which suggests an albeit imperfect version of the Lyctoral process can occur in which both souls survive (this is most like what Harrow ended up doing to herself, I’d say)

c) Augustine and Mercy’s theories about God’s connection with Alecto, including the eye switcheroo, sounds very plausible to me, and God pretty much admitted that the reason he killed Samael was that Anastasia was too close to achieving perfect Lyctorhood and he couldn’t risk the others either finding out that it would have been an option and resenting him for the deaths of their cavaliers (fair) or figuring out where he actually got his power from

So here’s a way for Harrow and Gideon to both be alive, fuelling each other’s power (I’d say for the final showdown against God but that’s mostly unfounded). It has also been established that Gideon’s really hard to kill: she didn’t die of the nerve gas on the Ninth and the siphoning challenge, which Palamedes calculated would leave most cavs who weren’t bred to be human batteries with brain damage at least, just knocked her out for a couple of hours. And on top of that, we know for a fact that Blood of Eden took Gideon’s body from Canaan House because it wasn’t there when the Cohort arrived and Mercy saw it. If you put all these pieces together, that looks to me like it’s setting up Gideon returning to her own body and achieving perfect Lyctorhood (which I would say symbolises perfect cooperation, perfect togetherness, perfect partnership) with Harrow. Camilla’s actions in HtN also indicate to me that she is confident she can somehow restore Palamedes in some capacity, as long as the bone she restored has his soul attached to it, and the fact that Harrow transforms the bit of skull into a hand because ‘he specifically requested movement’ suggests that there’s something to it. Admittedly Palamedes is a revenant at this point and we’ve been told they don’t really tend to stick around for too long and usually lose cohesion of spirit eventually, but I’m willing to discard that in this instance because Harrow also said he’d be mad already after eight months in the river, and she was clearly impressed by the way he’d ‘preserved’ himself in the bubble on the Riverbank. The parallels to Gideon’s soul being stored away in a kind of bubble in Harrow’s memory are, in my opinion, too strong to ignore.

Tamsyn Muir does not strike me as the kind of person who writer spend two books setting up the bond, the relationship between two characters the way Gideon and Harrow have been set up only to go ‘lol no’ at the end of it.

Bringing all of this together – obviously most of what I’ve said is ‘just’ foreshadowing and doesn’t mean it’ll actually happen this way. But there’s an awful lot of foreshadowing in both GtN and HtN, ranging from subtle to fiendishly subtle, and it’s the kind where the reader gets to a big reveal and either goes ‘oooh I was right, I knew x would happen because of y and z’ or, alternatively, spends their first reread gleefully pointing at bits of dialogue and cackling ‘Tamsyn Muir, you legend, I should have known’. It is not the kind of foreshadowing that leads the reader down one path only to go ‘ha, idiot, you really thought you knew where this was going’. Of course, sometimes you don’t know where she’s going (especially if you’re like me and just accept the wildest shit on face value the first time around), but it’s still all there if you know where to look. I think when people say they’re scared of Gideon and Harrow not being endgame or the whole trilogy just leading up to tragedy, it’s because the ‘ha, gotcha’ attitude to foreshadowing has become more prevalent in the last couple of years despite being really frustrating for audiences and, in my own opinion, not really Good Writing. Yes, the ending of GtN was a punch in the stomach, and I understand that people might not be so ready to trust the series after that. But you can’t really read HtN, which, again, is a complete and utter rejection of the ending of GtN and instead sees Harrow accepting help and care and advice from others and starting to grow into a more whole person who does not try to do everything by herself because that’s the only life she knows, and not see that bleak tragedy is not where this is going.

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #harrow the ninth spoilers #jo rambles #the people's tomb #i was going to put a readmore after the first point but i can't figure out how to anymore? #anyway #have 1.3k of my Thoughts #i want to say 'this is baseless speculation' #but actually i almost have a masters degree in this stuff so i will not #because we're confident in our abilities this years kids