Steve Lopez’s Reviews > Gideon the Ninth > Status Update

Utterly fabulous, I love seeing the slow burn of friendship beginning between Harrow and Gideon. I love that I can’t figure out who’s friend and who is foe in this book either.

I have not been able to put this book down. I still don’t know the responsibilities of each house however, the symbiotic relationship of Gideon and Harris has me so invested. I love that this is now a mystery and the language and word choice is so good. I have had to at least pause and look up 20-25 different words!

I have never encountered characters who loathe each other more. Each time I get an answer 6 more questions arise.

In: Gideon doing everything possible to piss people off and Harrow pushing her agenda through ambiguity

Out: The necessity to mention Harrow playing and praying with the knuckles every other paragraph.

I am so confused, there’s a key to the 9 Houses but most of the names are Latin. On top of that, there’s no explanation of what exactly is going on or how the houses/story comes to be. I’m hoping this gets explained later on or have to do some research for context. The book is heavily worded, but there are brief tête-à-têtes between Harrow and Gideon I find extremely amusing.