This was just okay, but it just mainly fell flat for me. Everything that I liked about it just didn’t go far enough for me to really sink my teeth into. 

I liked Tamsyn Muir’s writing style for the most part; she is skilled at writing complex passages and her use of language and literary devices are top notch. I also felt it was a weakness for her; sometimes it felt like she got too swept up in beautifying the descriptions of everything, to the point that some passages ran on for far too long and completely upended the immersion in the story. Because of her tendency to describe everything to the fullest detail, she has a bad habit of “telling” rather than “showing”, and it became a crutch for her more than it boosted the overall narrative. 

The pacing was super off. The first half of the book is genuinely a slog to get through, and the reveals of the second half were not enough to make it pay off. There were just no stakes. Even after the mystery element of the book picks up, it doesn’t hit like it should. There isn’t a feeling of tension and anxiety; a story like this with a locked setting and unraveling mystery should feel almost claustrophobic. Instead, because we’re in Gideon’s head, it’s just like, “so what?”. Gideon genuinely has no clue what’s going on. This is a really cool idea, to make Gideon something of an unreliable narrator who solves the mystery alongside the reader. It didn’t pay off for me though. Once the plot gets going, it’s entertaining enough to keep you engaged, but man it’s a lot of work to get there. 

The world-building was just okay, with a really cool magic system. The introduction into the Ninth House was so mysterious and interesting, and I was really disappointed that we immediately left and the majority of the story took place on what is essentially Earth. There wasn’t anything special about the world of the First House and the setting was completely locked to what seemed to be a sprawling mansion in the middle of nowhere. The setting is nebulously “in space”, but it doesn’t have any impact at all, except for vague references to “The Empire” and “The Emperor”. The magic system of necromancy also works super well in the gothic, haunted mansion setting. But, I don’t agree that the world-building is confusing. The world itself is easy to understand, and the magic system is straightforward. It’s just that the choices that Tamsyn Muir makes tend to be unnecessarily convoluted. 

The characters were just blank to me. I could not care less about any of them. We spend the entire first half of the book getting to know them, and I still left feeling like I didn’t know anything about them. It’s a shame because I think Tamsyn Muir does show some moments of great characterization, but most of the time she relied too much on her descriptive prose rather than creating fully fleshed-out characters. My inability to connect with the characters pretty much ruined the whole book, because the reveals at the end were entirely hinged on the hope that you would connect with the characters and be completely shocked; instead I was still trying to figure out who was who, because they spend the majority of the book going by numbers rather than names. I even kept notes on the characters as I read and it still took me a minute to realize the difference between the two “P” guys. 

And Gideon herself… I have a love-hate relationship with her as a character. In some ways, she’s so cool and has potential to be interesting and engaging. In other ways, she gets completely drowned out by her sardonic narration and quippy one-liners. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total anti-fun scrooge, and I definitely laughed here and there at her wry comments, but there were times that went over the line for me. At times it broke the immersion as she pulled out a pop-culture reference or a middle-school insult. I like that she’s goofy and doesn’t take herself seriously, and I understand it’s a coping mechanism for her to be super edgy and invulnerable, but it really took me out of the story and ruined the final story beats for me. If sarcastic banter is something you really like, it will definitely work for you. It’s well done, and woven into the story well, just didn’t work for me. I will say Harrow’s story is incredibly interesting and I have hope for a story that focuses on her instead of Gideon. 

Interestingly enough I found the horror elements to be the best part of this. Tamsyn Muir’s descriptive writing can really shine as she describes the horrific creatures our cast encounters. Where she fails at inserting tension in the calmer parts of the book, she is able to inject darkness and heart-pounding anxiety in the more intense scenes. She can choreograph scenes really well and is able to describe complex magic, without holding the reader’s hand, but also without making it completely overwhelmingly confusing either. The big fight scene at the end was really well done, and I appreciated that it pulled from previous scenes to really drive home that the characters had learned from their experiences and grew in power naturally. 

The themes are done really well too, especially around life and death, friendship and what it means to love and be loved. 

The one thing that really saves this for me is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s got some great moments of horror, some thrills and chills, but it never tries to position itself as a life-changing experience unmatched by no other. It sort of tongue-in-cheek recognizes its ridiculousness, and that makes it fun. It also keeps me from being more harsh in tearing it apart, as I’ve read much worse novels by much worse writers who take themselves way more seriously than Tamsyn Muir. I’m disappointed that the heavier-hitting scenes didn’t really hit for me, especially the ending. It’s like, I get it, and I understand why this worked so well for others, but it didn’t for me. And that sucks because I really wanted to love these characters as much as everyone else, and weep at the ending too, but instead I just feel meh. But that’s okay. 

I still have hope for Tamsyn Muir as a writer, especially since this is her debut novel. I think she is a gifted writer, and she has some really smart ideas. I’m not put off from continuing this series (especially because I still find Harrow immensely interesting), but I think I’ve had my fill of sarcastic dick jokes at the minute. 

I think this book should be pitched as a mystery with sci-fi elements, not the other way around. It’s definitely a gothic horror vibe. It’s a fun mix of genres but it definitely leans heavily on the whodunnit aspect, which is fine, but not what I expected. It feels a lot like Clue. Again, fun, but not really what I wanted. I still think this is worth a shot if you are new to sci-fi and want to ease in a bit to larger sci-fi concepts.