Book review by Corey
Harrow the Ninth
Harrow the Ninth picks up after Gideon the Ninth, but almost immediately makes you question what you remember about the first book. Harrow is now serving the Emperor as a Lyctor, surrounded by powerful necromancers, ancient enemies, and memories that do not seem to fit together the way they should.
The book is much stranger and more difficult than the first one, but that is also what makes it so interesting. It plays with memory, grief, identity, and perspective in a way that can be genuinely confusing until the pieces finally start locking into place. Harrow’s emotional state drives everything, and the payoff is much stronger because the book makes you work for it.
The Goods
- Harrow gets incredible character depth
- Very clever use of memory and perspective
- Strong gothic atmosphere
- The mystery rewards patience
- Excellent emotional payoff
The Bads
- Very confusing at first
- Much denser than the first book
- The structure takes time to understand
- Some sections feel deliberately frustrating
- Definitely not an easy casual read
My Recommendation
This is best for readers who loved Gideon the Ninth and are willing to follow Tamsyn Muir into something much stranger, darker, and more complicated. Harrow’s story is deeply tied to grief, memory, and identity, and the lesbian and sapphic elements remain important even when they are not always presented in a straightforward way. If you enjoy LGBTQ+ science fantasy that rewards rereading, trusts you to sit with confusion, and eventually delivers a huge emotional payoff, Harrow the Ninth is a fantastic second book in the Locked Tomb series.