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lucy is currently reading

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

by Tamsyn Muir (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: favorites, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in July 2025

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lucy said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" “Too many words. How about these: One flesh, one end, bitch.”

Finding the words for this book is incredibly challenging, as it is with all perfect books, but something about Gideon the Ninth specifically makes this one of the more difficult reviews I “Too many words. How about these: One flesh, one end, bitch.”

Finding the words for this book is incredibly challenging, as it is with all perfect books, but something about Gideon the Ninth specifically makes this one of the more difficult reviews I've written. So be prepared for a wholeeee bunch of nothing LMAO

Tamsyn Muir is a damn genius. She makes such bold choices and they alwaysssss hit the mark. I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeves for Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth. (But maybe I can wait. I am so scared. plz be kind to my Harrow.) I learned that Muir is fearless in terms of her writing, and once I realized this, I was terrified of her every move. Every time I started a new chapter, I felt like I was the one in a freaky, run-down, murder mystery castle with a bunch of weirdos. My anxiety was through. the. roof. And damn does she know how to feed the reader information in a way that feels like a jumpscare. (The line "Tell me what you did with Dulicena Septimus" was nightmare fuel. Literally have never been so scared by a book.)

Ok, now into the niche.
THERE IS NOTHING I LOVE LIKE A COMPLEX SYMBOL OF DEVOTION,
And the way Muir wrote the cavalier and necromancer dynamic just DOES IT FOR MEEEEEE. Details and understanding of the typical necromancer and cavalier dynamic slowly unfold throughout the story, and it wasn't until the latter half of the book that I fully understood the weight of that devotion. It is intense and fervent, and I ate it up the whole time.

AND GIDEON AND HARROW! Gideon and Harrow!!!! Gideon Nav and Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Oh my god, I have never loved a character dynamic like I love theirs. I couldn't even sum it up in a way that accurately and coherently describes the way I feel about them.
The complicated dynamic that comes from their shared traumatic childhoods. Gideon's devotion to Harrow, despite whether or not Harrow wanted OR deserved it. Harrow's pent-up guilt for Gideon's quality of life. 'You know I don't give a damn about the Locked Tomb, right? You know I only care about you,' she said in a brokenhearted rush.'I'm no good at this duty thing. I'm just me. I can't do this without you.” AND “I have tried to dismantle you, Gideon Nav! The Ninth House poisoned you, we trod you underfoot—I took you to this killing field as my slave—you refuse to die, and you pity me! Strike me down. You’ve won. I’ve lived my whole wretched life at your mercy, yours alone, and God knows I deserve to die at your hand. You are my only friend. I am undone without you.” I CANNOT. HANDLE. IT. MIGHT AS WELL STAB ME AT THIS POINT?!?!?!

I love Gideon with my ENTIRE soul. Harrow is the light of my life. They are the coolest book characters I have ever read. I love them, I love them, I love them.

Thank you, Tamsyn Muir, I say with tears in my eyes and fists full of my own hair.

"Gideon the Ninth, first flower of my House," she said hoarsely, "you are the greatest cavalier we have ever produced. You are our triumph, the best of all of us. It has been my privilege to be your necromancer.” ...more "

progress:

(page 374 of 448)
— Jul 11, 2026 02:44PM

Jul 12, 2025 08:29PM · see review

lucy is currently reading

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)

by Maggie Stiefvater (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in February 2025

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lucy said: " “She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness.”

I don't even know how to start this review because there is SOOOO much to ...more "

progress:

(page 181 of 409)
— Jun 01, 2026 12:35PM

Feb 16, 2025 11:06PM · see review

lucy is currently reading

Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016

by Frank Bidart

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progress:

(page 37 of 736)
— Feb 12, 2026 02:41PM

Feb 02, 2026 05:12PM

lucy’s Notes & Highlights

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

11 highlights

the Constant Lady does not have a saint for her, no Vengeful Saint or Starving Saint.

lucy’s Quotes

“Okay.” Hai nodded, but his mind was somewhere else. “Hey. Do you think a life you can’t remember is still a good life?” The question sounded almost silly aloud. “I mean, like—” “Yes,” said Sony. “Why’s that?” “Because someone else will remember it.”
― Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness

34 likes

“You’ve got two scientists and an engineer and a nun and a lawyer and a banker and a cop and an artist. That’s not a defence force, that’s a cop and six different kinds of nerd.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth

66 likes

“I want to take care of our planet because I need a beautiful graveyard.”
― Ocean Vuong, Time Is a Mother

52 likes

“It was worse when I was a kid. I remember the time you caught me telling her, "I love you,' and I can't even remember what you said, but I remember that I had you on your back - I put you straight on the fucking ground. I was always so much bigger and so much stronger. I got on top of you and choked you till your eyes bugged out. I told you that my mother had probably loved me a lot more than yours loved you. You clawed my face so bad that my blood ran down your hands; my face was under your fucking fingernails. When I let you go you couldn't even stand, you just crawled away and threw up. Were you ten, Harrow? Was I eleven?
Was that the day you decided you wanted to die?
You remember how the fuck-off great-aunts always used to say, 'Suffer and learn'?
If they were right, Nonagesimus, how much more can we take until you and me achieve omniscience?”
― Tamsyn Muir, Harrow the Ninth

13 likes

“If I forget you, let my right hand be forgotten,” her mouth was saying. “Add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.” And, unsteadily: “Griddle.” The hands must have withdrawn; she found herself facedown on the mattress, sobbing as she had not sobbed since she was a child. Someone said, “Everybody out. Go—” But this was more than she could take stock of. Harrow was too amazed by her body’s expanding capacity for despair. It was as though her feeling doubled even as she looked at it, unfolding, like falling down an endless flight of stairs. She dug her hands into the mattress and she cried for Gideon Nav.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Harrow the Ninth

8 likes

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