Well holy shit. A masterpiece tbh, but also....wow what the fuck?

So satisfying to have my theories confirmed. I expected to be confused the entire time, but in reality it was only 60% of the time :) But it wasn't bewildering, I trust Tamsyn Muir more than most other authors at this point. Eventually things started clicking into place and the payoff was absolutely magnificent. The use of second person POV, the transition to first and then the implications of that...just holy shit. So incredibly rewarding. Especially when you go back and reread to pick up all the foreshadowing. Or even just parts where Muir is straight up telling us something that went over our heads the first time. I've really never come across an author that can weave together everything her books are trying to do so seamlessly. And give me the best enemies to lovers f/f relationship ever. Tamsyn Muir, I am forever in your debt.

Plotwise, we get loads more detail about the true nature of God and his empire, and it's honestly way more than I was expecting. I expect much of it will be unravelled in Alecto the Ninth.  final book. Even more of a treat was getting to see more of the characters from the first book, who I didn't expect to meet again due to circumstances.

I suppose I should have expected it in a series about necromancy. The stars for me were Abigail, Ortus and Dulcie. The conversation Ortus has with Harrow in particular - seeing him acknowledge the fucked-up conditions that Harrow and Gideon grew up in, and the fact that the adults around them totally neglected them and allowed the rivalry between them to fester?  Then Harrow suddenly screaming that she "let Gideon die"? Just fuck me up.

But Harrow though. Gosh. She's really come a long way. What a fascinating journey into her mind.

She's does still have some way to go though, and it's a slow burn series so I'm happy with her progress so far. Harrow is now able to recognise what happened between her and Gideon on the Ninth, but she absolutely despises herself for it, and therefore Gideon's death. And while we get some level of insight into The Body (who I strongly suspect is Alecto), there's still a lot of mystery there. My hopes for Harrow in the last book would be to recognise that her infatuation with Alecto is indeed just that, and at least start to forgive herself for everything that's happened so far. She needs a fuck tonne of therapy, but I guess she has all the time in the world for that now! And of course, I need "Harrowhark-and-Gideon, Gideon-and-Harrowhark at last." Perfect lyctorhood, right? Why else has Tamsyn dropped that bombshell, if not to hint at how these two finally get their happy ending...right?! ;_;

Just...wow. My words will never be able to truly express how much I adore this series. Thank you Tamsyn for giving me this wonderful character and this 500 page book about her grief and loneliness. She's the ultimate disaster lesbian lbr.

I read the ebook version first (signed hardback arrived later) so I made a lot of notes. So many beautiful, heartbreaking quotes...and so many, many memes. I mean this as a compliment but even from the first book I could tell Tamsyn Muir is a Homestuck fan, and I'm so glad because I absolutely adore that style of humour.

I listened to the audiobook when I reread this shortly after release, which was amazing. Oops I already own three copies of this book...and it'll be four once the paperback is released! Usually I'm not a fan of them, but this (and the one for Gideon, it's the same narrator) was truly excellent. While I did imagine some of the voices differently, it's clear the narrator put a lot of thought into the different tones and accents she uses. Her delivery of Harrow's more emotional lines in particular was heartbreaking.

After spending some time considering the mindfuck of what happened in this book, I have some hopes and ideas for what we'll see in Alecto. But it's mostly about the larger plot and our main characters. There's a lot of secondary characters that I care about too, but I really have no idea what's going to happen with them. We shall see. I'm just super excited to read a book about a character we barely know anything about lol.

I hope the cover is released soon, can't wait to see Alecto in all her monstrous glory!

This book's ending was somewhat abrupt and the epilogue was confusing as hell. I expect no less from Muir at this point, but I have faith that the wait for Alecto the Ninth will be worth it in the end! It's going to be tough since it's been delayed to 2022, but I'm not nervous at all with getting my hopes up.

12.08.2022
How is it possible to love this book even more? How have I managed to amass more notes? Not just lore/plot related notes, but more beautiful or hilarious quotes.

My favourite one this time around is probably...hmm this one: If you had been a kernel less paranoid, a trifle less disturbed, you might have given Ianthe Tridentarius the pleasure of opening the note labelled Upon the death of Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Your only hope for that note was that it contained a single sentence along the lines of, Get what joy you can from my corpse, you devious bitch, but it was written by a previous self and you could not risk a guess.

Augustine and Mercy are, somehow, even more horribly delightful. Especially Mercy, she's now one of my favourite characters. Every line of her dialogue is pure excellence. "It's a Resurrection Beast, honey! Thank you! Next!!" I'm really going to miss her and those double exclamation marks.