The Wings That Bind (Deluxe Edition)
Briar Boleyn
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Gideon the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
A wisecracking swordswoman, a brilliant bone-witch rival, and a locked-house murder mystery in a decaying gothic palace make this one of the most distinctive science fantasy debuts in years.
What It's About
Gideon Nav has spent her whole life trapped on the Ninth House, a grim planet of black-robed devotees, crumbling crypts, and skeleton servants. Just as she tries to escape, she is pressed into service as cavalier to Harrowhark Nonagesimus, the Ninth's young necromancer heir and Gideon's lifelong enemy. The two travel to a vast, half-ruined palace where heirs from the Emperor's other Houses compete to become immortal Lyctors. Then the competitors start dying.
The book blends several things that shouldn't fit together: baroque gothic horror, space-empire politics, a closed-circle mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie, and a voice full of internet-age snark and crude jokes. Muir's prose is dense and ornate in description and then suddenly flippant in dialogue. There is a large cast with elaborate names, much necromantic jargon, and very little hand-holding. The first act can feel disorienting.
Once the competitors are gathered in the palace, though, the puzzle-box structure pulls hard. The real engine of the novel is the prickly, hostile, slowly shifting relationship between Gideon and Harrow, which grows more complicated and more moving than the banter first suggests. It is funny, gory, and stranger than most fantasy. It is also the first book of the Locked Tomb series, and it rewards rereading once you know where it is going.
Read this if you…
- want fantasy with a genuinely original voice and a sense of humor
- enjoy locked-room mysteries and puzzle-driven plots
- love complicated rival relationships with real emotional payoff
Skip it if you…
- dislike being dropped into a world with lots of unexplained terms and names
- find snarky, meme-laden humor grating in a serious setting
Key Ideas
- 1
Rivals bound by duty and history
Gideon and Harrow loathe each other for reasons rooted in a shared, lonely childhood, yet the trial forces them to depend on each other completely. Their antagonism is the emotional core of the book. Muir lets the relationship evolve through grudging cooperation and painful revelation rather than easy reconciliation, which is why it lands with such weight.
- 2
A gothic murder mystery in space
Beneath the swords and skeletons is a classic closed-house whodunit. Isolated heirs explore a decaying palace, solve necromantic puzzles, and grow suspicious as bodies pile up. The structure gives the sprawling worldbuilding a tight frame, and readers who enjoy piecing together clues will find the setup unusually satisfying for a fantasy novel.
- 3
Irreverent voice against grim worldbuilding
Gideon narrates in close third person with jokes, memes, and crude asides that clash deliberately with the solemn bone-cult world around her. That tonal collision is the book's signature. It keeps the darkness from becoming oppressive, and it makes the sincere moments hit harder when the humor drops away.
- 4
Necromancy as science and sacrifice
Each House practices a different flavor of death magic, treated almost like an academic discipline with theory, specialties, and costs. The question of what ascending to Lyctorhood demands becomes a moral question about power, loyalty, and what people owe one another, not just a contest of skill.
Limitations
Many readers find the opening chapters confusing, with a large cast, ornate vocabulary, and minimal exposition. Some secondary characters blur together until late. The irreverent humor divides readers: for some it is the main draw, for others it undercuts the gothic mood. The world's larger politics and the Emperor's empire are mostly sketched here, as the sequels expand them, so readers wanting thorough worldbuilding up front may feel shortchanged. Its romance elements are more slow-burn tension than central plot.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is Gideon the Ninth a standalone?
- It tells a complete mystery with a real climax, but it is the first book of the Locked Tomb series, followed by Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth. The ending resolves the trial while opening larger questions, so most readers who enjoy it continue on.
- Is Gideon the Ninth hard to get into?
- Often, yes. The first portion throws many names, Houses, and necromantic terms at you with little explanation. Most readers report it clicks once the heirs arrive at the palace and the mystery begins. A character list at the front helps, and pushing past the early disorientation is usually worth it.
- Is it a romance?
- Not primarily. It is a mystery and science fantasy with a fraught, evolving relationship between two women at its heart. There is queer attraction and emotional intensity, but readers expecting a romance-led plot should know the focus is on rivalry, loyalty, and survival.
- Published
- 2019
- ISBN
- 9781250313195
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Category
- Fiction
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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