I accidentally started two trilogies at the same time, one of which changed mid-trilogy from a trilogy to a series. Both have turned out to be the kinds of books I keep wanting to get back to, instead of doing what I am supposed to be doing.
First I read The Book of Koli, by M.R. Carey, but my library doesn’t own the second and third books so I had to order them from another library.
While I was waiting, I started reading Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir—a book I didn’t expect to like or finish, because it looked very Y.A. and the cover reviews mentioned bones and violence and “grotesque horror.” I thought I would just get it out of the way while I was waiting for the rest of the Koli books.
(image from Amazon.com)
Why, you may wonder, was I trying the book at all. It was because Paul had, in one of those internet rabbit-hole situations that started, if you can fathom it, with the “none pizza left beef” meme, found the book’s Wikipedia page and thought the “Style” section sounded like maybe we should get it for Henry for Christmas. But we already had enough books for Henry for Christmas so I got it out of the library for him, and he wasn’t interested but I thought I’d try it and see if I wanted to recommend he change his mind.
![Gideon the Ninth is notable for its writing, which mixes gothic horror with contemporary humor. Muir acknowledges that her writing "includes useless memes and jokes for the reader that nobody in my universe would get."[5] In her review for Vox, Constance Grady commended Muir's ability to slide her "voice seamlessly from Lovecraftian gothic mode into a slangy contemporary mode without ever undercutting one or the other for cheap comedy."[6] Adam Rowe in Forbes also commented on Muir's incorporation of "2019 language tics." In Rowe's interview with Muir, Muir said that the "irreverent tone" was intended "to balance out the horror aspect and some of the heavier, more Gormenghastian stylings."[7] Jason Sheehan's NPR review said of the novel's genre: "Gideon the Ninth is too funny to be horror, too gooey to be science fiction, has too many spaceships and autodoors to be fantasy, and has far more bloody dismemberings than your average parlor romance."](https://www.swistle.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-16-at-8.56.44-AM.png)
(screenshot from Wikipedia.org)
I DID like it, despite all the things I generally do NOT like, such as being thrown into a world where nothing makes sense, and where there is a lot of violence, and where fights are described blow-by-blow. Also, almost no one has a normal eye color. There is violet of course, and at least three kinds of grey, and golden, and something called “hurricane” (maybe that’s one of the greys?) and I just can’t adequately express how much I hate that—but it didn’t start until I was over 100 pages in and it was too late for me, and no one looked at themselves in the mirror to muse about their own eye color, so even that was well-handled as far as I was concerned. Like, if we MUST have purple and amber and storm-grey eyes, then let’s at least do it the right way. Also-also, it was in some cases necessary to the plot, so fine, FINE. But seriously, is there any universe in which we can just stop with the eyes.
There is no denying this is a book that includes violence, and confusing world-building, and annoying eye colors. But this is also VERY MUCH a book about characters and relationships and dialogue. For those who would find it relevant to their interests: this book contains the hate-to-love trope, and I felt it was done well rather than stupidly, and that it felt earned rather than contrived. Things never get explicit, and I’m not even 100% sure anything ever Happened In That Way. I have a nibling who likes to read but does not want to read sex stuff, and I would recommend this book to them. I think it would be fully possible to read this book and see only intense emotion and friendship. I think it is likely the author deliberately left some options in there for various kinds of readers.
The cover design amazes me, because while reading the book I went from deeply disliking the cover to LOVING it, and even spending time gazing at it affectionately. Think on THAT! I LOVE to look at that weird skull-faced person now!!
So there we were: I had finished Gideon the Ninth. By then the other two Koli books had come in for me; but also one of my coworkers, upon hearing I was reading Gideon the Ninth, said “If you’re liking it, I recommend getting the next two books right now: the people I know who liked this series REALLY REALLY LIKED IT.” So I’d brought home the next two books. And instead of returning to the first trilogy I’d started, I continued with the second. I read Harrow the Ninth and loved it, and loved the cover. Then I read Nona the Ninth, and learned to love the cover as I’d learned to love the cover of Gideon the Ninth.
Interestingly, the third book was supposed to be a different book. The author describes the actual third book as having “sucker punched” those plans. So now there will be a fourth book in the trilogy! Maybe more!
I should mention that after reading three books in the Locked Tomb series (that’s what the Tamsyn Muir series is called), I still have no idea what the hell is going on. This is what I mean about it being character/relationship-based, deep-down. If I were reading to understand what is going on with the world-building, I would have noped out, and long since. But I have GOT to know what happens with these PEOPLE. And I guess I would like to know what is happening with the war / revolution / deities??? / planetary soul energy???? / etc.
Reluctantly (because I wanted to start reading the next Locked Tomb book instead, which I can’t yet do), I went back to The Rampart trilogy, which is what the M.R. Carey series is called.
(image from Amazon.com)
Within about 15 minutes I was fully back into it. I finished the second book and have started the third, and basically that is my plan for this long weekend, which celebrates nothing I want to celebrate right now.
The Rampart trilogy is post-apocalyptic, where the apocalypse happened in a future one or two big steps ahead of our time—like, more-advanced technology and weapons and science had been developed than when we have now, and then most but not all of the human world fell to ruin. But aside from the better tech, the basic gist is familiar: the world ended because of climate change (described as the cities gradually going underwater inch by inch while politicians stood around and argued with each other about whether or not it was happening) and violence/war, and also by certain scientific advancements that were well-intentioned but turned against humanity (e.g., making trees more resistant to climate change accidentally made them evolve to consume humans and other animals by killing them and mashing their nutrients into the soil around their trunks).
People live in small villages again. There is a problem with villages dying out because their populations are too small for successful continued reproduction. There are diseases that no one knows how to treat anymore. The forests are alive with dangerous genetically-altered vegetation. People find old technology but they don’t know what it’s for and how it works; sometimes someone figures a piece of technology out, and that person is treated like a monarch/godlet. There are new religions that seem based on old religions, but in a way that makes all religion seem freshly strange. Things like that. I’m really enjoying it.
As with the Locked Tomb series, there is plenty of violence and death and hardship and scary things, but there is also a lot of character development and relationships and dialogue. There is a quest, and there is found-family, and there is a lot of stuff that feels PRETTY RELEVANT to our own times and our own issues.
I Loved Gideon the ninth the same way you described. I’m not a gothic person, a horror person, but it was so good. And then I read harrow and hated it because I was all WTF is going on for most of that book. So I haven’t picked up Nona yet. If I do I need to reread Gideon and Harrow (and hopefully will like harrow more because this time I will be prepared for not knowing wtf is going on, even if I don’t remember why).
Yes, Harrow the Ninth was…heavy-going. I was trying to explain to Paul how different the type of confusion was from the first book to the second, and he looked up some reviews, finding one not for Harrow the Ninth but for Nona the Ninth, which said something about Nona the Ninth being a relief after Harrow the Ninth’s “extended metaphor for grief.” Which I would agree with. Though also, if anything the confusion DOUBLES DOWN in the third book.
My book club just read the first two books of the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (there are currently 8, the author is writing more). I just finished the third and bought the whole series, which is very uncommon for me. I thought they were truly delightful, and they reminded me a little bit of you in your writing style. A short summary – “witty, historical fiction series set in 1883 London, following the life of the unconventional Emma M. Lion as she navigates eccentric relatives, odd neighbors, and financial troubles through her personal journal entries”. It is a true escape for me during these wild and scary times. It sounds like you have found some books that are a great fit for you right now (thanks for sharing- I am checking them out), but I encourage you to check these out next time you are in a reading slump!
I just went to look for the first book in my library system—and there is only ONE copy in the whole system, and NINE people are on the wait list for it! Which is very surprising for a book that came out in 2019! I wonder if it was recently mentioned by a celebrity!
I believe Read Aloud Revival (Sarah Mackenzie) did this series as…something, summer reading pick, perhaps? Lots of people in my area read it for that.
(I don’t follow much of what Read Aloud Revival does usually, but can I just say that I’ve been choosing books from her elementary and picture-books-of-the-month booklists to put on hold at the library, and they’ve been really fun to get in and read to the kids. Something about getting holds in at the library has a Christmas morning quality for me…)
Everyday Reading has mentioned it extensively in the last couple months.
I forgot to mention that I listened to the audiobooks via Libby and they are wonderful too.
It was mentioned on the blog Cup of Jo as well. I love when books get a buzz a few years down the road!
I bought it (had to order it in from an independent store as my library system didn’t have a copy) but haven’t read it yet!
The Locked Tomb series is one that I never would have picked up on my own, but my sister recommended it and I’m soooo glad she did. I read it voraciously 3 years ago, just gobbled all three books up. Lesbian necromancers in space – definitely unlike any other book I’ve read before! But I just absolutely love the characters, and every once in a while I try to figure out when the next book is coming out – whenever it is, I plan to re-read the first 3. Can’t wait! Glad you loved them too.
The Girl With All the Gifts is one of my favourite books ever, and Once Was Willem was in my five-star reads this year, so I’m wondering how I haven’t come across the Koli books. I have heard of the others, and wondered in a desultory manner about why each book is ‘someone the ninth’ rather than being ‘Gideon the tenth and eleventh’ or ‘someone else the tenth and eleventh’. I know what you mean about loving a book even when you’re not sure what the hell is going on even by the end. Clearly I am going to have to add these to my book cellar.
How I love the idea of a book cellar!!! Is it actually underground?
I read Gideon expecting to hate (but it was gift and my friend really wanted me to read it…) and I loved it, but I really loved Harrow more. I think as you say, you have to lean into the not having any idea of what is happening right now vibes of the series, and if you can and just let it work, it really works, or at least it did for me. I am not even planning on rereading when (if??) Alecto comes out. I am excited to add the other trilogy to my TBR list.
I also read Gideon because a friend whose reading tastes are usually very similar to mine heavily recommended it. I noped out three times early on because I didn’t know wtf was going on, and I thought I needed to understand all the names and roles. But when I finally settled in the fourth time it was because I realized that I didn’t have to know, I could trust that the characters understood it, and that I would get it eventually. That outlook served me well, and I’m so glad I kept going because I absolutely loved ALL the books, and I can’t wait for Alecto!
I really enjoyed The Girl with all the Gifts so I am excited to try the Book of Koli.
It took me several tries to get through Gideon the Ninth; I did enjoy it in the end and then had the same problem with Harrow the Ninth and never got through it. I keep wanting to try again because I have a nibling who is obsessed with the series and it would be good to be able to discuss it with them, but I was thinking that I would have to reread the first one because I don’t remember a thing about it. But from your review and everyones comments maybe I can just lean into the cluelessness.
Every time there’s a book discussion I want to recommend my favourite book, The Goblin Emperor. The main character unexpectedly becomes emperor and spends the book trying to do the right thing with that power so perhaps a satisfying fantasy in these trying times?
“Too gooey to be science fiction” is making me laugh so much right now.
Have you watched Fallout? It’s extremely gory but in a cartoonish way (it’s based on the video game series Fallout). It’s also really (darkly) funny and SUPER apropos of our current USA circumstances. I love it, but I played a couple of the games back in the day, so I’m not sure if it’s palatable to someone who hasn’t.
It’s on prime, which is also just so very on the nose.
I had to scroll back to see if I had read the book where people have weird eye colors because I know I have read one like that, but it was a different book. I guess it’s a thing.
The post climate apocalypse one appeals.
The Locked Tomb series is so fun! I’m buying Gideon the Ninth for a friend’s birthday right now. Adding the Rampart series to the to-read list! A book that it reminds me of a bit, and that friends that liked the Locked Tomb have enjoyed: The Traitor Baru Cormorant, which may be a little too dark but fascinating.
I just finished “The tainted cup” by RJ Bennett. It’s a fantasy murder mystery, strong female characters, a bit of LGBT representation, a satisfying ending (mostly). I thought maybe you would enjoy it as well.
I’ve read the Locked Tomb series three times and I still have no idea what’s going on. All vibes, baby.