Gideon the Ninth

"Unlike anything I've ever read. " -V.E. Schwab"Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!" -Charles StrossThe Emperor needs necromancers.The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service. The emperor has called his necromancers to action, and Harrowhark is set on Gideon attending her as bodyguard. If Gideon survives, she'll be a hero, and a free woman. If not, she can look forward to eternity as a shambling bone-servant.

“"Unlike anything I've ever read. Muir's writing is as sharp as a broken tooth, and just as unsettling. This book is visceral, vivid, and downright violent. In short, absolutely marvelous." --V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author "Warm and cold; goofy and gleaming; campy and epic; a profane Daria in space." --Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore "This crackling, inventive and riotous book from an original voice is a genuine pleasure. Also the author is clearly insane." --Warren Ellis, author of Transmetropolitan and Gun Machine "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless emperor! Skeletons!" --Charles Stross, author of The Laundry Files and Empire Games "Punchy, crunchy, gooey and gore-smeared, Gideon the Ninth is a pulpy science-fantasy romp that will delight and horrify you to the bitter end." --Kameron Hurley, author of The Stars Are Legion and the Worldbreaker Saga "By turns a slasher movie and a sorcerous slugfest, with a snarky protagonist and a deep, complicated relationship at its heart." --Django Wexler, author of The Shadow Campaigns "Necromancers! Dueling! Mayhem! Gideon the Ninth is disturbing and delightful in equal measure--I loved it to pieces." --Yoon Ha Lee, author of the Hexarchate series and Dragon Pearl "Muir effortlessly compiles macabre humor, body horror, secrets, and tenderness into the stitched-together corpse of a dark universe, then brings it to life with a delightfully chaotic, crackling cast of characters and the connective tissue of their relationships." -- Publishers Weekly starred review "Gonzo fantasy. If Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, and Ray Harryhausen collaborated on a novel on Reddit, the results might be half as mad and a quarter as entertaining as Tamsyn Muir's necro-maniacal debut." --Joel Cunningham, The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog "A brilliant and original mash-up of genres, the story is brimming with memorable characters, acerbic dark humor, a unique magic system, space travel, decaying technology and layers upon layers of mystery. It is the Gothic space adventure I didn't know I needed." --Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning " Gideon the Ninth knocked me out. If you like snotty swordswomen, reanimated skeletons, porn zines, crumbling interplanetary empires, and angry lady necromancers, then shut up and get reading." --Richard Kadrey, author of the Sandman Slim series "Tasmyn Muir's prose is delicious enough to eat. Add in a sarcastic heroine with a knack for trouble, necromancy, cut-throat politics, and a hell of a lot of murders, and this is a novel every fantasy lover will savor." --Rin Chupeco, author of The Bone Witch "Festooned with skeletons, aglitter with technonecromantic delights, both middle fingers raised to the galaxy, Gideon the Ninth is a gothy Tank Girl-Meets-Utena-Meets-Gormenghast dueling wildcard mashup that has me positively giddy for the future of the genre." --Max Gladstone, author of The Empress of Forever "Muir has always, always had a sorcerously powerful way with voice, and I am positively giddy to announce that Gideon the Ninth is the ultimate culmination of her preternatural talents, a necromantic, calcium-rich delight that says "get in, nerd" on page 1, hits the gas with a disconcerting cackle, and doesn't let you out no matter how hard you howl. Gideon the Ninth is a bone-afied classic of the genre." --Brooke Bolander, author of The Only Harmless Great Thing”

"Deft, tense and atmospheric, compellingly immersive and wildly original." --The New York Times

"Unlike anything I've ever read. Muir's writing is as sharp as a broken tooth, and just as unsettling." --V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

"With a snorting laugh and two middle fingers, the whole thing burns end-to-end. It is deep when you expect shallow, raucous when you expect dignity and, in the end, absolutely heartbreaking when you least expect it." --NPR

"Warm and cold; goofy and gleaming; campy and epic; a profane Daria in space." --Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

"I can't remember the last time I was so delightedly baffled by a book. An astonishing, genre-defying, hilarious-violent-tragic-horrifying-thrilling wonder of a novel." --Kiersten White, NYT Bestselling Author of And I Darken

"Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless emperor! Skeletons!" --Charles Stross, author of The Laundry Files and Empire Games

"I started this book chuckling at the outrageous premise. I finished it crying, because the ending punched me straight in the gut." --Vox

"Space opera, murder mystery, comedy, grotesque horror, and fantastic necromancy spin together in a book like no other." --BuzzFeed

And Five Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, BookList, and BookPage

Tamsyn Muir is a horror, fantasy and sci-fi author whose short fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Eugie Foster Memorial Award. A Kiwi, she has spent most of her life in Howick, New Zealand, with time living in Waiuku and central Wellington. She currently lives and works in Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Gideon the Ninth is her first novel.

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