Gideon the Ninth is an intense, complex, mysterious and sometimes confusing book, but omg did I have such a good time reading this!

Tamsyn Muir puts so much thought into building this world and creating a dense but interesting story where you never really know what’s happening next. The complexity of the plot makes you never get bored at any point of the book, Gideon and Harrow’s (and the other Houses) journey starts with one objective, but so much happens in such different circumstances . You don’t know how invested you are in this story until you’re already deep into it.

I can’t say that I understood everything that was going on at first and what the characters had to deal with, but I also don’t think that’s the true purpose of the book. You just have to let it take you through the story and enjoy the ride, catch bits of information that will later play a bigger part and make sense to why it was given at that time and fall in love with the characters on the way. A true definition of trust the process.

The characters are just as important as the plot, and I think that’s a big reason why I enjoyed it so much. Each of them had a strong personality, but they were all unique in their own way. There’s a lot of them, and it may take a while to get a grasp of each one and who’s who, but I still found that each of them stood out enough to make you feel a different way to each of them and how they acted with other characters.

Gideon and Harrow are forever engraved in my heart. There’s so much complexity to their characters and the bond between them, and I love how their relationship almost works like a slow burn, where you get a first impression of them that will slowly change the more you learn about their past and why they feel the way they feel about each other, while also making you feel empathy and understanding for both. They also have such different personalities that bring different emotions to the story, with Gideon always joking and looking for the fun in serious situations, and Harrow keeping a more straight face and thinking more logically. I loved their dynamic and learning more about them.