Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir | ARC Review

These Bones Were Made for Walking

I’m not sure why I expected anything less than a spiraling fever dream from Harrow the Ninth but that’s exactly what I got and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

I knew going into this review that it would be difficult to talk about this book without revealing too much. It’s the sort of story you simply have to experience. Through all the confusion and questions, Harrow the Ninth is a book about facing ones grief and trauma and self in such a way that brings everything you’ve ever known into the light for the world to see. There are still moments that don’t make complete sense, moments where I comprehended was happened on the page but not the bigger picture, and moments where I just wanted to hug Harrow and tell her it would be okay.

Something’s telling me she wouldn’t take too kindly to that.

What I can say is that this book may not be for everyone based on the narrative style. A significant portion of the book is written in second person point-of-view which definitely doesn’t work for every reader. Personally, I enjoyed it and am ultimately thankful for it once I finished reading.

For those looking for closure following the end of Gideon the Ninth, I’ll simply say that some questions will be answered, others that you might never have asked will be addressed, and some are still shrouded in mystery. Sorry, that’s all you’re getting from me on that front but you’ll definitely want to read Harrow.

When I first opened this book, I was STILL reeling from the ending of the first one and craving that satisfactory closure I needed (all while I held onto a single thread of hope that was likely to never be realized but hey, what can you do?). And yet… I found myself setting the book down, struggling to fall back into this world and really connect with Harrow.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Harrow. She’s been through far more than you realize initially and her approach to the world is not only far different from Gideon’s in the last book… but she’s also dealing with a LOT of emotion and it impacts her decisions as well as her perspective.

This was the fever dream, the mess of story and time and space and everything flooding the senses so what was up is down and left is backwards and you almost need a map to see the ending. But you really don’t. You might try to make sense of it all and may spend well over half the book picking through what is and what isn’t. And, for a while, I wasn’t in the book. I was watching it unfold but hadn’t grasped enough of the threads to feel the hook. I was there for Harrow but less because of this book and more because of Gideon the Ninth.

But the confusing chaos paid off.

Don’t let the first few acts of the book deter you because the payoff at the end is so worth it. Beautiful. Masterful. Stunning. Everything that Harrow was, that Harrow is, that Harrow will become, it’s all presented in a way that makes it worth the wait. All the pain and suffering and moments of joy and confusion and just this entire cluster of a book — it all comes together and it is glorious.

And of course will leaving you wanting more because what’s a Locked Tomb book without a major cliffhanger to leave you dying for the next book?

If you take anything from this, just understand that Harrow the Ninth is a book you need to experience for yourself. Describing it thoroughly would require spoilers and no one wants that. If Gideon the Ninth left you wanting more, make sure to grab a copy of Harrow because this necromancer has something to say.