Harrow the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
Tom Doherty, 2020
Harrow the Ninth is the sequel to Gideon the Ninth, and this series really, really needs to be read in order. I will write this review without spoilers, but really, you don't need to read this review unless you've read the first book.
The story follows Harrowhark, as she is taken under the wing of The Emperor of the Nine Houses and learns to be a Lyctor. The story takes place primarily on spaceships and on the Emperor's private space station, but that doesn't change the tone of the story much; they are all thousands of years old, and filled with bones. Likewise, the change in voice from Gideon to Harrow doesn't make much of a change either; Harrow swears less, but they are more alike than you might think.
The previous book was weird, and it took a while for the reader to sort out what was going on. Now the reader knows the basic rules of the universe -- more or less -- and while it is an interesting universe, another book just exploring space necromancy would be a bit much. So now, we are going to explore insanity. Harrowhark is nearly dead, and neither her body nor her mind are really working right. She often hallucinates, and reality is unusually confusing even when she's pretty sure that she's not hallucinating. It's worse for us readers, because we remember the events of the previous book, and we seem to have been dropped into the sequel to a rather different story; either Harrowhawk is very confused indeed, or we are.
Which is disorienting, but works out better than you might think. The central mystery of the story is a well-plotted puzzle, and if this chapter of the adventure leaves open more loose ends than one might hope, it also has a satisfying core. I am somewhat uncertain if the space necromancer mythology is worth the mental effort it takes to follow, and there is perhaps more cynical immortal drama than is strictly necessary, but if you liked the first book, this is an engaging sequel. If you did not like the first book, you will hate this one. It is best read as soon as possible after reading the first, as Muir keeps her cast of thousands in play, and it is a bit of a chore to keep them all straight if you leave too long between the books.
The next book in The Locked Tomb series is a bit of a mystery; it was originally planned to be Alecto the Ninth, but that has now been pushed back, and Nona the Ninth is scheduled to be released in fall of 2022.