Gideon the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
★ Top 25 book of 2019 · #13 on Best Books of 2019
Gideon, raised among nuns and skeletons, plans to flee her servitude until her old nemesis Harrowhark offers a deal. Harrow needs a swordswoman to survive the Emperor's deadly trial, and the Ninth House's fate hangs on it.
Best for: Fans of dark science fantasy mixing swordplay, necromancy, rivalry and political intrigue
Gideon the Ninth is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 2019, out of 84 2019 books that cleared our data bar.
What Gideon the Ninth is about
Gideon Nav is eighteen and on her 87th try at escaping the Ninth House, a death cult that watches over a Locked Tomb. She wants to join the Emperor's armies, but her lifelong enemy, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, heir to the Ninth, stops her. Harrow offers a deal: serve as her cavalier in the Emperor's trials, and a place in the Cohort is Gideon's.
The two travel to Canaan House, a crumbling mansion on the First House's planet, where heirs and cavaliers from the other Houses gather to chase the secrets of Lyctorhood. When suspicious deaths begin, alliances wobble and bribery and blackmail creep in. Tamsyn Muir's debut mixes swordplay, palace-style scheming and necromancy in a tone that is gothic, irreverent and often very funny. It opens The Locked Tomb series.
Gideon the Ninth on the Best Books of 2019
Gideon the Ninth came out in 2019. Of the 84 books first published in 2019 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #13 on our Best Books of 2019 list.
Why it made the list: 488 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (72 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2019 list
- The Queen of Nothing Holly Black, #11
- Find Me André Aciman, #12
- Ultralearning Scott Young, #14
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Lori Gottlieb, #15
See all Best Books of 2019 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2018 Best Books of 2020.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 378 want to read it, 12 are reading it now and 98 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 72 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 81 | 55% |
| Reader love | 82 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 62 | 20% |
Questions about Gideon the Ninth
When was Gideon the Ninth published?
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir was first published in 2019.
Was Gideon the Ninth one of the best books of 2019?
Gideon the Ninth is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 2019, out of 84 2019 books that cleared our data bar. 488 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (72 ratings).
Why is Gideon the Ninth on the Best Books of 2019 list?
488 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (72 ratings).
More of the best books of 2019
- Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston, #1
- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder Holly Jackson, #2
- Heartstopper, Volume 2 Alice Oseman, #3
- Guts Raina Telgemeier, #4
- The Silent Patient Alex Michaelides, #5
- The Wicked King Holly Black, #6
See the full Best Books of 2019, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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