She highlights the quote “life is too short and love is too long” - a line I also cried at. Harrow when she writes that the book is about love. Unfolding piece by piece, with dreamlike flashbacks to a world like our own - or what our own could be - John’s story shows how a fatal combination of power and very real love can lead to ten thousand years of embittered, vengeful conquest. One of climate catastrophe, hubris, desperation and grief. What emerges is a tragedy of biblical proportions. In Nona the Ninth, Muir explores his true motives - the blood price of his and Alecto’s shared past. In the tradition of science-fiction god-emperors like those of Herbert’s Dune and the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, John Gaius begins the series as an enigmatic, vaguely benign figure whose ruthlessness is only revealed through the course of Harrow the Ninth. Perhaps surprisingly, one character Nona develops most is the Locked Tomb universe’s God, also known as John. Even in a setting rife with war, death, loss and horror, Muir’s characterization shines through - her characters are memorable as distinct individuals, capable both of shouldering immense trauma and trading “saucy quips” with each other. What Nona does retain is Muir’s sharp, captivating prose and irreverent, freewheeling sense of humor.

Instead, fan-favorite characters Camilla Hect, Palamedes Sextus and Pyrrha Dve play far more central roles. Gideon and Harrow themselves feature less prominently than in their eponymous books. An amnesiac of ambiguous identity who woke up only six months ago, her carefree innocence and all-loving nature contrast with the last two protagonists - from Gideon’s bravado to Harrow’s dour desolation. Nona herself also represents a departure. There were no animals or pets, either, or fried food stands or shitty upstairs neighbors… But Nona is positively bursting with life, from kids to rebels to six-legged dogs.” Harrow puts in her review, “There were no children in the previous two books. While Gideon and Harrow are set, respectively, in an isolated mansion on post-apocalyptic Earth and God’s personal space station, Nona takes place in the bustling, gritty backstreets of a planet caught between empire and rebellion.

Nona the Ninth answers many questions about the series - especially on the mysterious Alecto, whose body resides in the titular tomb - yet raises new ones as well.įor those who have followed the previous novels, Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, one of the biggest shocks about Nona might be its departure in scope.

13, the much-anticipated third installment of Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series finally released.

Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir