#and I completely reread the locked tomb

[theartingace]

You Promised you wouldn't do anything WIERD!

#nona the ninth #the locked tomb #I have been #SO SICK #with covid #and I completely reread the locked tomb #and I've been doodling like a fiend #and nona keeps popping up #because I love her

[oakfern]

why does consuming content destroy me. i am so bad at this. why can't i just read books and play video games like a normal person

#e #i'm sorry for this but i never make posts with essays in the tags so bear with me for once #every time i find a new Thing it eats me alive until i can forget about it #after i finished earthbound i cried for 2 days straight. u think i am exaggerating but i am not... it was scary. i could not stop bawling #when i read the locked tomb series i was literally emotionally destroyed for a whole ass month #while i had the books out from the library i just kept reading them. and rereading them. and rereading them #and i read really fast so i probably read each book like 5 times at least. and the emotional parts i read over dozens of times #anyway this time my Thing is lore olympus. i read all of lore olympus in two days and now i don't know what to do with myself #(ok to be fair i was caught up in like 2021 but it's been a while so i had to start from the beginning again) #side note: i can't wait for alecto to come out so i can be completely destroyed for the rest of my life

[sparksandstarsandstories]

So if someone who knows like. Actual advanced gender theory (all I have is like 2 gender studies classes and tumblr.com) could chime in here that would be great but

I feel like there’s potentially an argument to be made about necromancers and cavaliers as some version of a gender binary within the tlt universe?

I feel like there’s an argument to be made that necro and cav are genders

#tlt #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #the locked tomb #I need to reread the treatise on cavaliers and necromancers in the back of the gtn paperback but #something about them being treated as opposite but mutually dependent counterparts? #even as one’s power is a lot more. just. a lot more. #and in the lyctoral process the other is subsumed for the completion of the one #also just. the entrenched and traditional roles. #idk now that I think about it maybe it’s regressive to frame them in terms of the power dynamics but #idk I wasn’t kidding someone please come in here and talk about gender theory/politics as they apply to this

[procrastinationaccount]

i just. had to share this. i cannot even fathom.

I know 😭😭😭 I saw that too. I truly can't imagine.

#Every time I reread GtN they feel more obviously romantic. Like. #They're actually so in love it's crazy #Believe it or not I try to be chill about shipping bc I used to be really annoying about it #But every time I see something like this my inner 13-year-old wants to make a tearful post pulling quotes to 'prove' they're romantic #Say la vie. This person and I are approaching the relationships in tlt from completely different places. It is a funny take to me though ng #Solicited locked tomb thoughts? More likely than you think! #tiltingheartland

[a-humble-bagel]

it’s honestly insane how gideon the ninth makes so much more sense now that im rereading it 

#like it makes sense now?? #i understand what's happening? #im not completely lost??? #and i just decided to reread it #while im waiting for nona the ninth from my library #(because i have it on hold and i'm stil waiting for now) #but maybe i should reread harrow the ninth too #now i might actually understand the ending #gideon the ninth #tlt #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth

[vaguely-concerned]

in hindsight, and if the crown of baby parts wasn’t already a clue, some stuff about jod should probably have occurred to me a lot earlier just from the simple fact that when he sees the ruinous effect it has on harrow to hear her cavalier’s name spoken aloud... his first reaction isn’t to be worried, or to help her up, or try to help her make sense of what’s happening to her or in any way ease her suffering -- it’s to keep saying it with the idle morbid curiosity of a scientist checking a hypothesis as she collapses and starts bleeding from every hole in her head fhdskjfhasd

I didn’t really think about it the first time around, but truly one of those ‘what the ACTUAL FUCK is wrong with you, john?????’ moments on the reread

#harrow the ninth #the locked tomb #john gaius #every time I read htn the depth of how vulnerable harrow is and how completely shitty the adults around her are sinks in more lol #I've been unenthusiastically picking away at some other fiction books but I'm not feeling it so I'm rereading htn instead

[nobodymitskigabriel]

Chewing on glass

#i just finished my reread of the locked tomb #CAN SOMEBODY GIVE GIDEON NAV A BREAK #the corpse prince of no bodily autonomy #how did i completely forget how deranged john is in the ntn dreams #i miss mercymorn and augustine 😭😭 #tlt

[jesse-is-inarguably-purple]

do you think gideon the first and matthias nonius ever explored each other’s bodies

#im rereading harrow to prepare for nona and I COMPLETELY forgot that they knew each other #John said gideon original flavor was only ever attracted to his Enemies #i simply have Questions #also no nona spoilers in the notes pls I haven’t started it yet #harrow the ninth #mattias nonius #gideon the first #tlt #the locked tomb #original

[aldercaps]

Now that I'm aware there is more Gideon in Nona the ninth I might have to read it. Harrow the ninth had such a disappointing lack of Gideon that I never finished it despite buying it well over a year ago

#Tlt #Tlt spoilers #The locked tomb #Gideon the ninth #I read gtn in like a day and then immediately reread it and then got to Harrow and was like. What the hell #This post is completely UNRELATED to the fact that I got Harrow in a uquiz BTW. Just so you know #Homepost

[m1ndf4ng]

Giggling and kicking my feet rereading Gideon the ninth

#specifically the part where gideon says because I completely fucking hate you. no offense. and then when harrow SAYS IT BACK LATER #I’m losing my mind over them they are everything to me #gideon the ninth #the locked tomb #gtn reread #tlt

[daydreamsinthemoonlight]

i apologize to my professors but i will not be doing any work on nona release day

#i will be completely checked out until i have finished that book in its entirety #and then reread it for clarity #tlt #the locked tomb

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

I've noticed something very interesting about the structure of The Locked Tomb series recently, in that it is a series that is immeasurably more than the sum of its parts. Not that that's an uncommon thing for serialized media, it's literally the point of the format to tell a deeper story as a whole than is told in any one installment, but I think tlt is a particularly extreme example.

Like, gtn is the only book in the series that works at all as a standalone story. In most series, if you skip a book, you'll be confused about specifics and backstories and what have you, but you'll probably be able to follow along and get the gist of the theming, even if you miss some details and subtleties.

With this series, though, the subsequent books (especially HtN but also NtN) are essentially incomprehensible if you've skipped the previous books. They don't follow a predictable trajectory from the previous books that can be back-extrapolated from their stand alone contents. Like, genuinely try to imagine what you would think the previous books must have been about if you just read Nona. Imagine what you'd think the themes were. It's completely out of wack.

This is because each new book in the series isn't just a continuation of the previous books - it is in dialogue with the previous books. Each new book is a commentary on what came before, a reinterpretation that forces you to rethink or even reread the previous books with a different perspective that draws more layers of meaning to the surface. It makes the series feel like a knot that you're slowly unpicking - each new thread that is revealed to you changes how you perceive the weave of the previous threads.

I fucking love this. It makes the series incredibly rereadable, and it rewards spending a lot of time contemplating and theorizing about what you've read, which is excellent because the books are written in such a way that they invite you to ask questions without giving you answers. It make you feel ecstatic when you achieve a new level of understanding of a story you had thought you already understood.

There's a drawback to this, though, in that it makes the first read-through of a new book in the series the worst read-through. Again, HtN is infamous for this, verging on incomprehensible on a first pass but bristling with rich meaning and evocative prose on a second, but it's a trait that applies to all three books released so far. On a first read, lacking the context of the later series, GtN's story feels straightforward, sometimes juvenile, full of relatively simple but evocative characters, and burdened with what seems to be needlessly obtuse and obscure worldbuilding that only exists to slow down the reader's attempts to solve the murder mystery and to act as a backdrop to be cut through by Gideon's harshly modern and irreverent quips. (Sidenote, but as much as that is a thing that a lot of the fandom really enjoys, I know a few people who found that choice extremely jarring and unpleasant. It is a polarizing structural choice, it just doesn't seem like it because people who don't like it don't often stick with the series long enough to get invested in the deeper themes and plot of the series).

NtN too follows this format, although we don't yet have the added context of it's sequel, so a lot of what it has to say remains maddeningly out of reach. It certainly enriches rereads of the previous books, though; a lot of people have gone into great detail about how Nona's perspective on Kiriona reframes our perception of Gideon as a narrator. And John's accounting of the end of the world and the Resurrection adds so many more layers to all the interactions we witness in HtN.

It's just a very unique way to build a story, to start with something fairly simple and self-contained and then spend the next two books layering more and more meaning on those events. For me, it's not the characters (much as I love them) but the structure of the series that keeps me so fucking obsessed with these books.

#the locked tomb #tlt #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #nona spoilers

[electrificata]

Im not the person whos gonna tell you that fanfic influence is a disease that needs to be cured in modern genre fiction but fanfic is a style of writing that serves a very specific purpose and has very specific priorities. Its purpose is to fill in gaps (emotional, plot-based, whatever) in an unsatisfying work, and its top priority is "giving fans of that work what they want" with everything else at a distant second. Sure diff fandoms have diff characters but i think those two things kind of underpin most of them.

A standalone work that does not have a direct fan relationahip with another work but uses the plot beats and characters and cues of fanfic just isnt going the be satisfying in the way fanfic can be OR satisfying in the way original fiction can be. For a while after fanfic authors started filing serial numbers off their long fic and publishing novels, you could get kind of a thrill from recognizing a fanfic trope taken seriously in a "real book" but honestly the longer it goes on the less exciting it gets, and theres not always something underneath to sustain you.

I got really into the locked tomb for a couple years but i couldnt get through the latest release and im just not interested in rereading the first two books. I dont really care about predictability in plots, most plots are predictable, but when the pattern of emotions im going to feel is completely mappable. When a sharp plot turn cant mean anything because i know im going to get exactly what i want, when the characters feel like those posts where people demonstrate their favorite ship with blank colorful paper doll people and speech bubbles. Theres just nothing to chew on.

[carica-ficus]

Review: Harrow the Ninth

Author: Tamsyn Muir

Date: 24/02/2024

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

________________________________________________________

My February has been very hectic (to say the least), but at least I finally managed to get my hands on "Harrow the Ninth" thanks to my wonderful boyfriend who ordered it for me. <3 And just in time too because I was in a mood to get back to The Locked Tomb. This series completely won me over.

"Harrow the Ninth" picks up sometime after the ending of "Gideon the Ninth", and follows Harrow as she tries to adapt to her new life as a Lyctor. Her powers are immeasurably stronger, but in comparison to the older Lyctors she is seen as feeble and incompetent. Even worse, she is seen as a liability to the Emperor. She needs to learn to defend herself and prove to be a valuable soldier to her God, but this all seems a menial task in comparison to more dire matters - the indescribable grief and significant vulnerability which render her useless.

The first thing that stands out in this book is the switch in narration. "Harrow the Ninth" is mostly narrated through a 2nd person singular and is only switched to 3rd person singular when referring to the events which happen at the Canaan house. It's certainly an interesting writing choice which might prove to be slightly confusing at first, but Muir's beautiful style and fantastic storytelling quickly compel the reader to simply accept the fact that this is how "Harrow the Ninth" will be told. If something, Muir has proven numerous times that her writing decisions are always made with a specific intention, so it's best to just accept them and enjoy her work as it is presented.

Even though the story is a bit convoluted at first, things slowly start falling into place. New characters are introduced and old characters are given enough space to grow and expand. Muir incredibly utilizes her universe and the story in order to create a completely new experience of the series, but also provides many scenes where it pays homage to the first book and its events. "Harrow the Ninth" is truly an upgrade from "Gideon the Ninth" in tension, emotion, depth and story.

On the other hand, I'd argue that its pace is slower than that of "Gideon the Ninth". Harrow is actively preparing for the most difficult fight of her life, but the process of it is relatively passive. There's a lot of things happening at the same time, but it feels like the plot isn't moving forward at all. This book focuses more on other elements, than on its story, up until the very end where it builds up to a thrilling finale. Taking into consideration the aforementioned switch in narration and unresolved questions, it is easy to understand why some readers find it all difficult to grasp. However, "Harrow the Ninth" is absolutely worth the time.

There's a lot of things to adore about this sequel, but the portrayal of Harrow's grief, feeling of inadequacy, and utter helplessness take the crown. "Harrow the Ninth" is a story about loss and about love, it's about desperately clinging to that which doesn't exist anymore - a home she cannot go back to and which will never be the same, a person who gave their life for hers, and to a version of herself that she no longer is. It is about change and the inability to finally accept it.

"Harrow the Ninth" is a worthy sequel to a riveting book such as "Gideon the Ninth" and provides a compelling foundation for the rest of the series. Although the novel might seem a little slow and complicated, my honest advice is to just leave all your expectations behind, keep reading, and accept everything as it is written. The book is highly rewarding and offers something new and different. Reading through it has been a beautiful experience and I cannot wait to continue with the series and to, one day, reread it and appreciate it even more.

#harrow the ninth #harrowhark nonagesimus #tamsyn muir #the locked tomb #locked tomb #reading #book #recenzija #moja recenzija #čitanje #science fiction #horror

[c0sm0butch]

Please somebody tell me I'm not crazy for this but I just reread The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex for the millionth time just to take another look at the "letter" and my heart almost stopped.

Every time I've read this before I was like oh god, a letter from a doomed cavalier to their necromancer before they're about to die the next day, how heartwrenching. But now I suddenly see this in a completely different light.

First of all, "darling girl" - so this is addressed either to Mercymorn, Cassiopeia or Cytherea. We know that the letter is stored in a wooden sphere as a keepsake, in the Sixth House, at the time of its opening locked away for at least 460 years at the time Pal and Cam solve it.

Now what are the odds that either Mercymorn or Cytherea, who are both truly PAINFULLY attached to their dead cavaliers would somehow lose or give away ANYTHING given to them by Cristabel or Loveday? None.

It makes sense that the letter addressed to the founder of the Sixth House somehow finds itself in the Sixth House after the alleged death of Cassiopeia, then. So upon the first several readings, I was like "oh Nigella wrote this to Cassiopeia" (especially because it's said that nobody could "get a look at" Nigella with Cassiopeia around, which I always thought pointed at the possibility of them being romantic).

However, when we look at the bits of information sprinkled through HtN, we learn that Cassiopeia worked closely with Anastasia to figure out the perfect Lyctorhood, that Anastasia "failed" because she had "researched it too much" which was apparently "classic Anastasia". The Ninth House also didn't exist before she founded it upon the Tomb, which also begs the question where she is originally from. My suspicion is that Anastasia and Samael were Sixth, just as Cassiopeia and Nigella, which is why they worked so methodically and closely together.

I always thought the phrase "when you are far away" was purely metaphorical, because a cavalier is merged with the necromancer in the lytoral process. Their soul doesn't even go the River, it is perpetually inside the lyctor, they become one, an integral part of one another. But what if this was meant literally? And the choice of words in the phrase "one thing that never stays entombed", as if they already know there's something that IS to be entombed and stay that way?

Anastasia is the one who can't follow where the lyctors go. She is the only one from the group left behind, who will literally be far away from them because she is sent to build the Tomb while the lyctors leave the system aboard the Mithraeum.

Is this a bloody love/farewell letter from Anastasia to Cassiopeia when she learns that she's leaving to build the Locked Tomb while the lyctors head to space? I'm going insane here.

#please tell me this isn't totally irrational #the mysterious study of doctor sex #gideon the ninth #tlt #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #cassiopeia the first #nigella shodash #anastasia the first #anastasia the ninth #samael novenary #sixth house #ninth house #tlt theories #the locked tomb theories #lyctors #Lyctorhood

[milliebobbyflay]

something i love that makes the locked tomb books so rewarding to reread is how each one carefully gives you enough description of at least one enigmatic character that, once you've read more and know them better, you can totally follow what they're thinking and feeling throughout the book

harrow seems erratic and mysterious from gideon's perspective, but once you know what makes her tick GtN gives you just enough to totally track her arc throughout the entire story. my first reread of it post-HtN felt like i'd unlocked a whole second book with harrow as the protagonist, a lot of scenes hit completely differently being keyed into her emotions just as much as gideon's

it's why muir always follows a protagonist who's a bit out of their depth, it gives a more casual first time reader something to anchor themselves to amid all the noise without having to sacrifice density, makes for a very rewarding series to get invested in

#the locked tomb #tlt #harrowhark nonagesimus #gideon nav #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #tlt analysis