Harrow sees things that others cannot, particularly the ghostly figure of a woman from her past. But it’s more than just her memories that don’t seem to match up with reality. Harrow’s memories have been tampered with-and while the reader can make a good guess as to why, Harrow herself is completely in the dark.

If you’ve read Gideon the Ninth, the first thing you’ll notice is that Harrow’s memories don’t quite match up with the version of events that you read in the first book.

It becomes pretty clear almost immediately that Harrow is one of those most versatile of tropes-an unreliable narrator. But perhaps more than anyone else, Harrow comes to question her faith in herself. As Harrow spends more time among the Emperor and his Lyctors, she begins to question her faith in them as the God and Saints she has worshipped all her life. Harrow must train alongside her sibling Lyctors to prepare for a fight against a Resurrection Beast-one of several massive revenants created during the Emperor’s great resurrection. But these setbacks don’t prevent her from being drafted into a war of epic proportions. Her mind is hazy, she is haunted by the ghost of a dead woman, and she has a stack of letters addressed to herself in her own handwriting that she doesn’t remember penning. But something has gone wrong in the process, leaving her only half a Lyctor and vulnerable to attack whenever she enters the spirit realm. After the traumatic ordeals at Canaan House, Harowhark has achieved Lyctorhood-she’s officially a Saint of the God Undying, with untold necromantic powers. Harrow the Ninth picks up shortly after where Gideon left off.

Well, after it pokes that wound a few times first, for good measure. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir came out last August, and is the perfect thing to soothe the wound of having your heart ripped out at the end of the first book. Our favorite lesbian necromancer is back! Gideon the Ninth was one of my favorite books that I read in 2020, so it’s only fitting that I would start off the new year by finishing the sequel. Kyla Ward on Flowers in Gothic Literature.Paula Cappa on Review of The Writing Retreat-Channeling Stories and Spirits.Spencer on Review of Piñata-Possession in Mexico.Tricia on Review of Neil Gaiman’s Trigger Warning.Review of The Writing Retreat-Channeling Stories and Spirits.Review of FINNA and DEFEKT-Retail Terror.

Harrow of the ninth