i like to call gideon a locked room murder mystery but make it sci-fi with necromancy and harrow an exploration of madness and grief, because man is it even harder to describe harrow. your ianthe is so awesome!! i love how many people cosplay her.
I feel like I need you to know that Tamsyn Muir is a former Homestuck, and that just explains so much. It explains much of the prose-dissonance, the mad mashing together of tropes/genres, the way the story just veers off into the middle distance to talk about characters we know barely or not at all, and eventually returns, wholly changed. It also explains the second person POV, to a certain extent, and the way that pronoun use indicates and obscures identity.
Coming from a bookseller, I adored your description of the reading experience of HtN being like the driver is trying to push you out of the still moving car (I will be using that). I always say that with this series Tamsyn throws you into the deep end of confusion and is like "I dunno, swim or something?" and now that Nona the Ninth is out, I can say with confidence that while I can swim, I still have absolutely no idea where the shore is. And I Love It.
This is the series that is getting me into cosplay, finally. After years of thinking 'yeah cosplay is really cool, I'd kinda like to do that', it's the lesbian necromancers from space giving me the final push, and I've now started my own Harrow cosplay. I don't have enough words for the madness this series instils in me. I am so grateful it exists and for the crazy community it has created.
I just want to say i would absolutely sit through a 4 part 6 hour video about why any given person loves these books so much if i had that many words i would make one of my own
I read Harrow the Ninth on holiday for a Pride Festival in a foreign country and BOY WAS I ENTIRELY CONSTANTLY CONFUSED ALWAYS and I loved every second of it and I'd do it again. I didn't know where I was, I didn't know where Harrow was, I was in one country one day and lost deep in space the next. Highly recommend.
1. I am loving your videos and annoyed you dont have more views and subs. 2. After your initial description of this book, I messaged my transfemme lesbian spouse about it and she came into the room ALREADY HOLDING IT saying she bought it 3 months ago because it says Lesbian Necromancers in Space on it. They haven't started it yet but say they will soon. 3. After how delightful this video is and being SLAPPED by my young adult suppressed love for Draco in Leather Pants, I'll also be reading this once I finish my current read. 4. I loved this video and your process! You made such cool choices and sourced amazing fabric! I love watching someone make something they're just clearly really in love with.
THANK YOU SO MUCH 😭 it's definitely a long haul growing a channel, and it really means SO much to hear from people that they enjoy these humble vids haha! Also I genuinely love these books so much, and I hope you and your spouse just adore them! 💜
my sister has been bothering me for months to read Gideon the Ninth, and you have finally convinced me to pick it up! very excited to see what all the hype is about
These books are a whole vibe and a half. So cool to see them embraced by their target audience: Space Lesbians! ahahah. Your Ianthe was so good, you portrayed the vibe so well in the mannerisms and face expressions!
Seeing your joy for these books brought me joy too. I'm a Harrow baby (mostly because of the second book). Omg and Nona??? Harrows body being adorable? Gideon's reaction??? Could've died
So I DID read this book because of this video, it was on my to-read list but that list is about 250 books long. Now I have to wait TEN WEEKS for the next one to come in at the library!! Torture!! It was tough to get into because the world is SO strange, but I’m obsessed and I love it.
I was vaguely aware of these books, and then I watched this and decided to read them, and my brain chemistry is fundamentally changed. I’m rewatching this before diving into Nona the Ninth and I’m so hype
"If I had to describe Ianthe in one word it would be... terrible. She just totally sucks in a way that makes me go, 'that one right there that's the character I love.'" This is the best most all encompassing description for her I have ever seen and i love it, esp because she's my favorite >.>
GOD your "bare bones ...... :| " moment was so good. I'm so amped to see how this cosplay changes over time, and I have the book! I just have to start reading it!!! Ahhh!
God, I would love to figure out outfits for the book Night Circus. Everything is black n white with dashes of red in colors; even more ambiguous in terms of shapes, silhouettes, or genre of clothes. Just feel like my design skills haven't hit there yet. But I really hope you're doing better!! Always cheering you on from Tx💜💜💜💜
So glad I stumbled upon your channel in my hunger for Locked Tomb content! I am impressed by the quality of your videos. You are so good at explaining things and easy to listen to, the editing is also flawless. I only know how to do simple hand sewing and don't know how to use a sewing machine, so this was far out of the realm of things I could relate to, but you made it easy to follow along and enjoy the ride anyway. You absolutely killed the cosplay of (terrible) Ianthe.
Thank you so so much!! I'm so glad this video is making the rounds again after Nona came out, there isn't a ton of TLT content on youtube and I am honored to fill that niche!💜
I am SO profoundly glad this video started going around again after Nona came out, I'm genuinely absolutely delighted that so many TLT fans have found other TLT fans!! These books are just absolutely everything to me.
I’m rereading Harrow the Ninth at the moment so this video comes with perfect timing to readjust my mental picture of Ianthe to your incredible version! 💀Watching your sewing progress was super fascinating too - I am so amazed by how neatly and carefully you work! When I sew it’s just an explosion of fabric and pins and chaos…
I'm so glad I found your channel! I was just looking for Locked tomb content after finishing Nona and up popped your totally friggin amazing video. First off your sewing skills and like detail and design work is incredible??? Secondly, I think you've convinced me how cool Ianthe is, and I already Adored her.
thank you so much!!! and yeah oh man, this video has been getting a LOT more views since Nona came out, which I'm delighted by (and makes me realize I really should prioritize making those upgrades to this build!!)
Well if your thoughts about these books aren't the biggest mood ever 😂 they're so amazing and I was so hyped when I saw that you, Ginny and Noor were going to cosplay from them!! Absolutely loved the breakdown, those metallic fabrics are so cool!! And I love the modularity of all of this, especially with the option to add on later, that's such a smart move. Also wow, you put so much thought into every little detail!! Amazing work, and I'm super excited to see what you'll do with this in the future :)
I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing of this book series. I just ordered the box set to add to my library. I can't wait to read them. Totally my vibe.
Wow didn't even realize that Ginny Di would show up! Small world!! This cosplay is fucking amazing, and I honestly hated Ianthe at first, but now?? Love her
I am the type of person to read books I like ten billion times (usually- I recently realized something that’s on my favorite list I haven’t read since 5th grade) and this is really inspiring me to read the locked tomb books again The mix of genres and writing styles are both really cool to my author brain and I love how this cosplay makes that concept feel physical and tangible
stumbled on this lovely video as I'm literally working on my own Harrow costume! I absolutely adore Ianthe "incredibly problematic fave" Tridentarius and your costume turned out fantastic, I can't wait to see how each iteration of it comes together!
the fact that i took a break from reading harrow the ninth to find locked tomb cosplay videos shows how much I've suddenly fallen in love with these books!
about halfway through HtN (for a non native speaker, it's so confusing so i'm taking my time to really try to understand it) and holy shit! Muir surprises me with every page, she is a genius when it comes to prose! I loved GtN, but HtN is on another level!
So I watched this video a while back and was like “huh, this series sounds interesting, I should try it someday”. Flash forward to now, after I binged all three books in two months, rewatching this video and seeing you say “oh, tell me if this video inspired you to read the books!”. So this is me, commenting that you inspired me to read these books, and now I’m HOOKED on the Locked Tomb! So thanks for that! 😂
I haven't read these books but I'm four minutes into the video and you've already talked me into buying them 🤣🤣 thanks so much for showing us your process with this cosplay and I'm excited for more videos!
I love these books. Gideon reminds me of my wife. Also love how Tamsyn Muir made this horrible goblin of a woman, who is also the twin of a radiant beauty and the internet just fell in love with her full on. I see just as much Ianthe fanart as I do on Gideon and Harrow.
I just finished listening/reading (I snatched the audiobook and ebook) the first book with only your passion for the series and your Ianthe on the brain. And good god, it was a fun bout! I have the next two on hold (since I'm just going through my library system). When I say it took me **way too long** to realize the last names were all related to their House, I mean it took 13 hours listening to her say "Sextus" and "Septimus" a lot in that instance to go, "huh.... WAIT" I completely forgot that the photo shoot was with a group and it was a fun surprise to see the others and actually know who they were dressed as! 💀
This was such a comforting video to watch. There is so much love and detail put into every part. Just like your sewing projects. Can’t wait to see more!
This process video is amazing!!! It would be so cool to get a look around your sewing office and see how you organize everything because from the small look we get I'm already getting ideas for my own space 👀
Ive been obsessed with the locked tomb series for 2 years now, ive beeneaming to do a harrow cosplay for q while now. I think watching this is gonna be the push to making it finally. Your Ianthe cosplay is so perfect its awesome.
This is so sweet and reminds me of what I enjoyed when I did cosplay! It makes me want to read these books even more, and I’m excited to see more of what you create here in your own space 💗
holy shit the level of detail in this is INSANE. i'm mostly lurking here from the booktube side of things (massive Locked Tomb fan) and am blown away by your talent and how well you explain everything! the finished look is simply amazing - and so are the looks of your friends!
Heh, fun fact, I did in fact read the books because of this video. I'm 5 hours into Harrow, and hooboy you were not exaggerating! It's a wild but wonderful ride
I loved getting to see your design process for this!! Going through the books looking for ~*clues*~ was maybe my fave part of making my Ygritte cosplay. Also BIG SAME in regards to modular cosplay, once I started thinking about how to make costumes transform to represent different parts of the character's story, I COULD NOT STOP
Right!! Omg it’s SO fun to plan for things to be worn different ways, it’s truly SUCH a rabbithole!! I kept running into the problem of every time I’d go back for research, I’d end up just… wanting to reread the book all over again 😭
This is lots of fun I was also recently reminded about loving reading I hadn't read a physical published book start to finish in years And then almost exactly a month ago I read Red White and Royal Blue in (from the time I bought it, till the time I finished the last line) 29 hours and 16 minutes I will be keeping my eye out in my local bookshops for these, your passion about them makes it exciting Also I love the editing style of this channel it makes these videos feel so dynamic
I really appreciate the kind comment about the editing style!! These edits take a lot of time but I genuinely find them really fun to do, and I'm just glad other people find them fun to watch!
The start is such a good summary of the books/world! It’s such a tricky one to do without spoiling it so well done! Speaking of convention based- a friend of mine is working to instigate more Locked Tomb cosplay at Dragon* 2022 😊 *well more than Darth Rachel and Moffena who are the only peeps I know of to bring lesbian necromancy to DragonCon 🤣
Ahh yes more Locked Tomb cosplays in 2022!! I'm really hoping I can wear Ianthe more places next year for sure, and I hope I see more cosplayers from this SERIES!
me coming back to this video having just finished all of TLT series - Y E S. also as soon as i figure out a character who inspires me most cosplay-wise and feels the most gender, i *am* going to make a cosplay about it
OMG I STARTED READING THIS SERIES BECAUSE OF THIS VIDEO AND I. AM. OBSESSED!!!!!!!!!!!! Listened to the Locked Tomb Podcast all the way through and am rereading the books again! Thank you for recommending this series, I can’t wait for Alecto!!!!!!
The sidebar recs brought me here and I'm very happy it did. As you started describing it the shirt I started getting deja vu and by the time I saw the shoot I knew I had seen your cosplay on Twitter, so that's cool. I have ask, now that we have Nona, and since you already have Babs' hair, any thoughts on a Prince Ianthe?
Wow, so impressed by this... I've been following you on IG a few months but had no idea you were also a Locked Tomb stan, freaking love seeing your Ianthe here. I'm so curious to see you design one of the rainbow cloaks they wear, I'm endlessly trying to visualize them.
I’ve been doing the same digging for Coronabeth clues in the text XD and also like The Sheer Power (pun intentional) of this shirt is off the charts and I’m love it
I just got the first book for Christmas and read it in like 2 days and now I'm waiting on the 2nd book and OH MY GOSH I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! It was a series I had as an eventual read, but it was because of this video that I put it on my Christmas list.
oh my GOSH this makes me SO HAPPY!!! this series is such a journey ahaha, I'm so glad you've been loving them, and I'm so honored this video helped that!!
I finished the second book like a week ago, and I have two things: 1. I need the third book immediately, and 2. I'm moderately mad at Harrow, is that just me?
I would absolutely patronize the shit out of a shop that does professional buttonholes. Sheesh. Buttonholes SUCK and I would do ANYTHING to save myself from suffering w/ my machine and/or doing them by hand with buttonhole twist.
Reading the first two Locked Tomb books, I couldn’t help but mentally picture the cavaliers (except for Gideon) as the smartly-suited duelists from Utena and extra extra mentally pictured the Utena aesthetic in Nona the Ninth. Non-spoiler: There was even a sword sheathed in a body in Nona!
I read the title and now I need to find out about these books so I can read them! Edit: my library has them and I put a hold on them so I can read them!
Do you have a video already about how you started sewing for cosplay? Interested on how it all began... Perhaps I'd learn something more as someone who's only sewn a belt out of faux leather once.
Glad I found this video I actually got these books recommended by a friend who is coincidentally a non-binary lesbian & cosplayer too! 😆 They made a costume from this book as well.
these books aren't like anything you've ever read before....................unless you wanna talk about homestuck in the year of our (necro)lord 2021 lol (but even then it's not *that* similar, it's just if you know homestuck and you know that Tamsyn Muir was pretty big in the fandom back in the day, you can find the similarities if you look) i ordered gideon aviators before i even finished Harrow so i could do a costest ASAP and now my friends make fun of me for owning Dave glasses. RIP.
also, i finally got my first bit of inspiration for what i want to do for Gideon- a guy i've known since 1st grade got married on halloween weekend and they did a full costume wedding, and his coat was a gorgeous fabric i need to find the name of (sorta like brocade pattern but it was all matte almost like quilted but not really), the back laced up to be extra fitted, and he had SKELETON HANDS AS EPAULETTES. idk if gideon would wear that last bit but it was very good either way lol
It’s so true!! I love that Muir was such an active homestuck fan, you can REALLY see the way she leans into the complex/disjointed narrative and strong ensemble cast as influences coming from homestuck!