Reviews

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

oscarwildein's review

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was the most engaged I've been during a locked tomb novel thus far. That's not to say i didn't enjoy the other ones (I mean I'm on the third one so i made it this far) but Nona as a narrator had a certain charm that i loved and made the story easy to read and easy to follow (for the most part). 

I love how tender and almost fragile everyone is portrayed to be in this, and i love how much it made me think of our own world and what it means us and how to love people when everything seems to be going to shit around you. I just really appreciate how domestic this book seems. Not to mention Noodle, who IS, in fact, the best character. 

I also loved the writing in this. As always, Tamsyn muirs writing is so phenomenal, and Jaw dropping at times. I'm in aw of her skill both on a technical aspect and on a prose aspect. And of course, I need to know what happens next, so I'll be impatiently awaiting Alecto like the rest of us.

soeffl's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

socialamoebaemily's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

They keep getting better! I loved this one! I feel like I really got to know Nona and the other characters so much better and also got to see a much wider slice of this universe and how everything, well some things, came to be. There is just to much to unpack here from the even more complicated relationship dynamics, gender fluidity, biblical comparisons smacking you in the face, souls and everything that involves and more. There's too much to say! Nona is so different from Gideon and Harrow, in structure, voice, tone, but it just fits so well as the third novel. Every one is better and better and that so rarely happens! Go read it now!

alix_sottovoce's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

deboramilitao's review

dark lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

kylegach's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

peachyningyo's review

5.0

I don’t think I have ever read anything so epic and so fucking confusing. Thanks a lot Tamsyn. Now I must stare at a wall for 24hrs and contemplate everything. 

ario_bobario's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

radiance_01's review

5.0

I will preface this by saying - this book made me irrevocably, horrifically sad.

Again, the tonal difference between the previous two books makes this a refreshing read, something familiar and something new at the same time, yet this one particularly pulled at my heartstrings. Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth focused so much on the two of them, their own struggles, their fight for survival, and then along came Nona. Nona wanted for nothing.

It was a story about a found family that was shattered, broken, and yet together. Pyrrha Dve had lost her Necromancer, a man she loved, and the woman she loved once as well. Camilla and Palamedes were two souls sharing one body, cursed to never speak to one another again and yet comforted by knowing the other was there, even if it was killing them. And Nona, who was her own, free soul, who was never destined to have her own life because she was one of two people, and yet no one knew which, and she was just her. A girl who had a family she loved and a life she treasured and a simple, lovely outlook on this world.

All of the darkness of GtN and HtN was in the background of NtN, hidden behind her childish, yet optimistic outlook. We watch her grow and the gaps in our knowledge fill out, the Blood of Eden showing themselves not entirely as a unified resistance, of God and his last Lyctor fighting for survival and control, and the stakes only grow higher as you approach the end of the book.

The last third of Nona the Ninth was enthralling. It made me cry.

Questions still remained by the end of it, ones brought up and other questions answered, and yet through it all I was still struck by Nona herself - a girl who wanted a normal life, a family, to simply be happy, and yet she was the key to everything that she knew she didn't want, and she did everything for the people she loved. Rather than the story revolving with Nona in orbit, this story was told around her, despite what she wanted. Despite knowing she was always apparently meant to be someone else, she was a whole character in herself, one who loved and was loved, and this whole book moved me to tears.

10/10 recommended to anyone who wants to read and feel like they need a cry in a hot bath at the end of it.

ksfinnerty's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5