I agree with you, the beginning was not my favorite; however, the latter, I liked very much. I loved the fact that it made my mind fly a little about what might 've happened in Ithaca during this time, how things could' ve developed in the abscence of men. I also liked how it ended with Telemachus leaving the island to look for his father.
I’m in the love-the-Locked-Tomb camp, and I also love tragic, determined Harrow as a character, so I came to recommend Saint Death’s Daughter by CSE Cooney, which is very much Harrow, but more found family than doomed galactic domination!
The fourth book was actually written first, which is why it has a slightly different tone than the others and doesn't follow the main characters from the first three books. The other three were then written to fill in the backstory and properly build the world. Such a fun series! One of my most favorite from my early teen years that I read multiple times and am now revisiting! Loved this video and am so glad to see these stories getting a RU-vid spotlight! I must say, though, that I prefer the earlier covers over the newer ones in this video. The 4th book was written in the mid-80s, I believe, and then the other three were written and published in the late 80s/early 90s. Those paperback covers from Point Fantasy are pure nostalgia for me, though each of the subsequent cover designs for republication have their own appeal. <3
I could listen to your voice all day - thank you for the content. Love children of time. I wish he did similar layout for the others but I also understand why he didn’t.
I'm afraid of spiders, but this story helped me confront and overcome that fear to some extent. The spiders are much more sympathetic than I was expecting.
I loved Gideon the Ninth! It was a breath of fresh air for a fantasy fan, and probably my personal favourite book of the decade. But I have to say, while GtN's "Focus character who doesn't care about worldbuilding" was intruiging, by the time I got to Nona, it was exhausting. May just be me being a Worldbuilding first, Story second kinda person, I just have a different taste than the author. Another thing I personally didn't like was all the back and forth switching between narrators in HtN and Ntn. I know, it's important backstory, and I did find especially the John chapters super interesting, but it was still very distractiong. By the end of NtN, I was just really annoyed with Nona and wanted my favourite cool goth nun Harrow back. That being said, I do love the series. Like I said, Gideon is my favourite out of the three, and I did cosplay her at a con this year. Definitely waiting for when Alecto is translated into my language tho (which not even Nona is by now), simply because it'll be easier to understand and also I already dread all the different bone names in English.
Love your quick wrap-ups and thoughts no matter what you're reading. I'm currently reading This Cursed Light (book 2 of the Last Finestra), the Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima, and rereading the Way of Kings. Hope you have a great day!
I've only read Gideon and I agree that it was confusing. It didn't help that I didn't realise there was a list of characters (and which house they all belonged to) at the beginning of the book, which would have made my read-through much easier if I'd realised it was there. I deliberately haven't read Harrow or any of the others because I still don't quite understand Gideon. I will have to go find someone's explanation of the book now!
I have only read Gideon but definitely struggled with it! I’m glad it’s not just me! I liked some parts but also hated how confused I was for it all. I have wanted to go back a few times bc I’m curious but I figured I’d wait and see if it stuck the landing
I had just started Nona when I learned that the Bone Season had been re-released -- so I stopped 25% into Nona to re-read those four books. Sigh. I expect to resume Nona when I finish The Mask Falling in a week-ish or so. I thoroughly enjoyed Gideon and Harrow. I was struggling with Nona. Hoping once I really get into the book, that I will get more excited. I will most likely re-read eventually.
I don’t think its you, I think sometimes if things are purposefully convoluted that’s both a pro and con depending on a reader but it doesn’t objectively make it better or you dumb. Its like how people obsess over Malazan’s worldbuilding exposition or lack there of
For any Locked Tomb lovers who enjoy the humor, I HIGHLY recommend Alex Marshall's Crimson Empire trilogy. A Crown For Cold Silver is the first book and it follows Zosia, an old woman who led The Cobalt Company in a rebellion against the empire 25yrs ago with the help of her Five Villains (aka generals). She became queen, hated it, made a deal with the woman that came to assassinate her, and faked her death, disappearing into obscurity. Now that assassin is the queen, Zosia lives in a little village with her husband, and when the town is massacred by Crimson Cavalry, she hears that the daughter of one of her generals is reforming the Cobalt Company, and Zosia goes to join up and wage war once again. The series is the most hysterical shit I've ever read. It's just so damn funny, and I highly recommend thr audiobooks as well since Angele Masters amplifies the humor even more with her delivery. The book also has more povs that Zosia, and it's really queer too! If you like how funny Locked Tomb is, you'll def like this trilogy too.
Harrow the ninth is my favourite book ever ❤ My relationship to these books are not complicated what so ever. I don’t get all of it but I just love them. I don’t engage a lot with the fandom online and where I live (Sweden) they are not very well known so I struggle to convince my book club to read Gideon :)
With Gideon I was kinda just along for the ride but I struggled with Harrow and I'm still struggling with Nona. Regardless, I do very much like these books.
I am 100% with you about a complicated relationship with the Locked Tomb. I've listened to all of the books on audio (Moira Quirk is superb) and then eye-read Gideon. I absolutely loved Gideon the Ninth but agree with you that I want the author to make me feel smart by giving me just enough information to form good hypotheses about what's going to happen. The obfuscation got a bit old. Still, I will likely eye-read Harrow and Nona and read Alecto when it comes out. Complicated indeed!
The way the story is told kind of reminds me of the Soulsborne video games. Everything is obfuscated in a way that basically requires you to find a community to theorycraft and hypothesise wtf is happening! I think that was probably Tamsyn Muir’s intent, given her growing up in the era of Homestuck. It’s a shame, like you said, that some of the community is a bit toxic, because it’s otherwise a really fun experience to share and speculate with likeminded readers!
I love Gideon. I haven’t continued with the series because I felt so satisfied with ending the world with that book. I’ll probably eventually read the rest but I’m in no rush.
I have to admit I was a bit dissapointed. I think my biggest issue was the pace and too many POVs (9 !!!). I think Bhumika (my favorite character), Pria, Malini, Ashok and Rao's POVs would have been enogh. I hope I'll love the second volume more.
I've only read Gideon so far and i have been putting off doing a video recap because im definitely going to miss details! and i dont want to join with the fandom haha. im hesitant to start Harrow until we know when to expect Alecto because im going to forget it all by the time it comes out.
Not a thriller reader but I do always feel a twist should not make or break and experience even if you guess it early or got spoiled for it. This one just felt so *fine* and underwhelming as a result imo
This book felt like historical fiction with complex themes inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau, not leaning into the science fiction enough for me personally. P.S. I also love Mexican Gothic so much! Another slightly off-kilter retelling (as in not perfectly retold, but reimagined!) is Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai.
I loved 1, purchased 2 and was very dissapointed due to the predicatable transparent main storyline and odd character arcs that i feel are quite random. I wont buy book 3 and need something new now 🙁
Honestly, I'm thinking of DNFing at 26% because I feel just kinda meh about it and sorta forcing myself to continue on. I'm not exactly a fan of Marigold, the pacing is frustrating, the world-building is hardly there, and a large amount of the story feels surface-level. From your review, it sounds like a lot of the problems I have issues with just continue and there is no payoff. So I might just part company now.
The problem with Children of Memory is similar to the problem with Zelaznys Doorways in the sand. The big reveal was also a letdown and really made no sense. He tried to capitalize on simulation theory but failed. The prose came off feeling like a translation issue, yet Adrian speaks English. I like the ideas, but the execution was unpolished, and I just wanted it to be over.
