Heyyy I think I recall seeing you blog about Gideon the Ninth and I'm considering whether to get into it. What're your thoughts on it?
Yes, I have been blogging about Gideon the Ninth (and its sequel, Harrow the Ninth) and I really enjoyed it! However, it can sometimes be pretty absurd, especially Harrow the Ninth, and so it's not for everyone. But the story and the worldbuilding are both really fascinating and I've enjoyed reading how both of those unfold.
The basic story is that Gideon Nav, indentured servant to the Ninth House of the Empire, is asked to pretend to be the cavalier primary (swordsman) to Harrowhark Nonagesimus, daughter of the leaders of the Ninth House and an absolute genius at necromancy, while Harrow visits the Emperor's House in order to try and become a Lyctor, aka a necromancer saint. Gideon and Harrow have a very fucked up but close relationship, so there's a lot of interesting stuff about hate and devotion intertwined under a pretty strict imperial system.
Although the books deal with necromancy, there's also stuff like space travel technology, so it's this weird mix of magic and futuristic stuff, which personally I find fun to read about but I also know it's everyone's cup of tea. It's definitely more on the magic side, though.
There are also a lot of wlw in the series, though it's not super present or playing a big part of the story. Gideon is a little horny sometimes, but there's no on-screen sex, or really romance, in the books. It's a little weird because the relationships exist under different contexts from our world and also everyone in these books is kinda fucked up, so make of that what you will.
Anyway, I read both of the books twice this summer because I enjoyed them so much, so I highly recommend them if you're looking for something good but weird and a bit fucked up.
