Thank you to Tordotcom for sending me a copy of Nona the Ninth for an honest review!
Just a heads up: while this review won’t contain any spoilers for Nona, there will be references to Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth and the additional short stories set in this world.
Nona is just like anyone else. She loves dogs and walks on the beach, and spends time with her family when she isn’t working at the local school. Unlike everyone else, Nona only remembers the last six months of her life. She’s always known her body doesn’t belong to her, but the more she learns the more afraid she is to give it up when the time comes.
In the midst of all this, her city is falling apart. There’s a malevolent blue sphere floating in the sky, zombies and Blood of Eden attack and their leaders want Nona to become a weapon. And every night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face.
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Nona the Ninth is an incredibly hard book to review without spoiling literally everything. Thankfully, Tamsyn Muir does some really cool structural, big-picture things that I can draw attention to. Like Harrow the Ninth before it, Nona is completely different from its predecessor. It’s not a murder mystery like Gideon the Ninth, and it’s not as trippy as Harrow. On the contrary, Nona the Ninth is quieter and less intense than the rest of The Locked Tomb series.
Then there’s the fact that this book, like Nona herself, wasn’t supposed to exist. The Locked Tomb was originally a trilogy ending with the upcoming Alecto the Ninth, not to mention the fact that Harrow ended on a huge cliffhanger. Gideon wakes up in Harrow’s freshly murdered body, finds out she’s the child of god and possibly dies again. I, like so many others, was shocked when I heard Alecto was pushed to 2023 for this brand-new character. Rumor has it, however, that everyone loved Nona’s appearance in Alecto so much that she needed her own book. While I was nervous about an unplanned addition to the series, I totally get it now that I’ve read Nona.
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As a character, Nona differs from the other protagonists in her innocence and childlike view of the world; she is, after all, only six months old. Thanks to Muir’s skills, however, she’s never naive. Instead, her simple view of the world hides deeper meaning that’s never said outright. This book, along with the entire series, requires you to read between the lines. A lot is implied that allows you to piece together connections sooner than Nona does. Readers will leave Nona the Ninth less confused than previous installments and ready for the final book.
A few recommendations before you read Nona the Ninth: reread Gideon and Harrow if you have time. There are some great wikis that spell things out book by book if you don’t. Read Muir’s supplemental short stories as well. “The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex” is about Palamedes and my beloved Camilla Hect as children, while “As Yet Unsent” focuses on Captain Judith Deuteros’ time in captivity with Blood of Eden. Both stories help to fill in elements of the newest addition that may trip readers up at first glance.
If you’ve missed the amazingly strange world of The Locked Tomb, get ready for Nona the Ninth. As author Alix E. Harrow says in her cover blurb: “You will love Nona, and Nona loves you.” Nona the Ninth comes out on September 13 and is available for preorder from your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org.
TW: blood, body horror, death, genocide, gore, gun violence, injury, murder, violence, war
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/6-books-queer-lady-warriors/
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