Best Blurred Boundary - Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Publisher – Tor

Published – Out Now

Price - £19.99 Hardback £7.91 Kindle eBook

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more times for undead nonsense.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She picks up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone with extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heroes to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wit and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

In science fiction fantasy the concept of armour is very technology based – the finest magical steel or the super strength battle-tech. But in real life armour can be much more subtle it’s the clothes and make up we wear; that announce who we are and where we belong – or who we want to to be. Be that the right T-shirt, hair style or womble suit our exteriors help people see us for what we want to be (and help us be that person too). In Tamsyn Muir’s inventive blend of space opera and fantasy Gideon the Ninth we meet two necromancers summoned into a deadly competition with the other eight major houses – to keep them alive they need their necromancy, skeleton face paint, sunglasses and attitude.

The immortal emperor of a vast empire needs another Lyctor – powerful necromancer aide. To find one he goes to the eight Houses of the empire to provide a necromancer and their warrior bodyguard – a cavalier. All Houses have powers connected in some way to life and death – the Ninth House is known for its ability to make the dead walk. Create bone servants and animate the corpses of the dead; saves on servants and gives them a certain unsettling reputation. Harrowhark Nonagesimus has waited for this chance for years and as her parents are reanimated corpses that she powers she has no need to ask for permission. What she does need is a new Cavalier as the previous occupant was useless and didn’t get his mum’s support so has fled. That leaves Gideon Nav. Gideon however a) hates Harrowhark who feels the same back b) keeps trying to escape her necromancer home c) hates authority and d) really doesn’t care. Somehow the two need to find the secrets of the Empire and achieve Lyctor status without joining the increasing number of corpses in the strange palace they’re now trapped on.

As you may gather from my summary of the plot – this is not your standard space opera fantasy quest. While we get the traditional premise of Emperors, powerful families and a blurred boundary of Science fiction and fantasy we get here a deliciously snarky take on the genre. Space fantasy tends to be a little po-faced so the delight here is Muir’s voice – a snarky third person adding commentary to the houses that does make you double take. Added to that mix is the duo of Gideon and Harrow. Its not your standard faithful companion tale. The two don’t like each other and Harrow has trapped Gideon into choosing the role of her protector. These are the standout characters and I love both of them. The tale is focused on Gideon – snarky and likely to say the wrong thing she is sensibly forced to initially take a vow of silence; but we get all her reactions to seeing these weird other Houses and personalities. Dressed in black, skull face make-up and some alarming sunglasses she just in look makes an impact and Harrow matches the look. Add in a necromancer reputation the two get viewed with a mix of awe, fear and disgust. What I enjoyed was we slowly unpeel the two personalities and understand where they come from – and slowly each other gets to understand the other. They’re the smart kids that don’t fit in with the wider world but have to fight hard to get respect and noticed. Delicious banter insults between the two and just a hint of something more developing between the two enemies…you’ll want to watch them and see where they’re going plus ensure nothing happens to these precious darlings.

But although I loved the first third of the book, I found the setting the two thrown into didn’t quite work as much as I was hoping for. I liked the juxtaposition of these two misfits trying to match the skills of seven upper class often strange pairs. Muir paints unusual pictures of strange twins, dying magicians and smart detectives. I was hoping a lot more examination of these other cultures but around the muddle act I felt the story slightly went flat. Although Harrow and Gideon get involved, they are peripheral to what ultimately becomes a murder mystery with 16 characters stuck in a house and a killer amongst them. There are some interesting challenges that Harrow and Gideon work on to solve in their quest for winning the prize, but it slows down a lot in these sections. Happily pulling together to a taut, emotional and powerful finale hinting at the adventures to come in future volumes.

For me in this category a mix of characters I loved getting to know with an interesting premise but just not quite enough plot to match it. The characters swing it for me every time though. I think this is a really promising debut and the kind of book I would recommend people buy and stay with the tale because I would hope now the groundwork has been done the next time we meet necromancers in space they will bring the House down.