Tamsyn Muir

Her city is under siege.

The zombies are coming back.

And all Nona wants is a birthday party.

In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.

The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.

And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...

The Locked Tomb #3

Nona the Ninth

Annabelle Gauthier

She wished she had thrust herself into it- become that big seething mass of flesh and meat and tendrils-ruined her body, just melted it; come back messed up, so that nobody could want her body but her, so that it would be hers and nobody else’s.

"This is all there is to love? Simply by being in your life, I have added indelibly to its weight?"

He said, But when you're doing the whole Go, my child, your knee cartilage is fixed, you're going to get a lot of visitors. I had to tun people away because I had to eat, I had to sleep, even though I didnt want to. M– had brought in her best friend, the nun, and I was worried I was going to get the Antichrist bit from her too, but she was just like: stop doing this! Read your Bible! This was Christ's whole problem!

"Have you been eating sand again?" "I haven't eaten sand in months," Nona protested, then more truthfully: "Weeks," and more truthfully than that: "One week".

"It's hard to feel responsible for the other two people I might be," she said, knowing she sounded crabby and not knowing how not to. "I don't know them. But I feel very responsible for Hot Sauce and Honesty and Ruby and Born and even Kevin, and I've only got so much time, you know. Maybe the other two people I am would feel incredibly responsible for Hot Sauce and the others too, Cam."

horu

"Her healing mechanism's stopped. The body doesn't have enough of anything to keep going. Her brain's seizing. A couple of organs have collapsed. Massive trauma. Interesting."

"Paul," said Pyrrha, "your bedside manner is bullshit." 

"Oh my God, you're so cold. He's so cold."

"He's dead, sweetheart. It's me in here. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I love you ... I love you, I love you, I've missed you so much. Please be real."

"Oh God, Ianthe," said Crown, and her voice changed a little. "This is sick. Look at him. I hate you."

stop you can't do this to me give them back 

M— and A— were a united front, and that was scary as fuck. It was always frightening when they stood together.

"He's going to know, Hect. You're killing each other." 

"Do what you're good at," said Camilla. “Lie." 

"Hect, you're not listening. It's killing him too—" 

"It was good," said Camilla, and her eyes closed. "It was good. We were happy."

And a hilariously accurate summary of the entire book.

Liz Griffin

“I know we think they'd have the blue madness, but what we know is that we don't know anything, okay? I want you lot to make that your motto. What we know is that we don't know anything.”

Nona quite liked this motto. It was an accurate summary of her entire life.

Jacque

“Don't worry, kiddie" she said tiredly. "Ill keep loving you--my problem is I don't know how to stop. And, you know... who you are... were... you're capable of more than you think, right now. I liked you. He liked you. Gideon liked you. My necromancer and I always liked you... and hey, what's like except a love that hasn't been invited indoors?"

Tamsyn Muir's New York Times and USA Today bestselling Locked Tomb Series continues with Nona ...the Ninth? “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless emperor! Skeletons!” —Charles Stross on Gideon the Ninth “Unlike anything I've ever read.” —V.E. Schwab on Gideon the Ninth “Deft, tense and atmospheric, compellingly immersive and wildly original.” —The New York Times on Gideon the Ninth Her city is under siege. The zombies are coming back. And all Nona wants is a birthday party. In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back. The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever. And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

vinny<3

“Camilla and Palamedes were loved by Nona,” said Paul. “Pyrrha was loved by Nona. It’s finished, it’s done. You can’t take 

 away. We loved you too. Palamedes and Camilla loved you.”

"Palamedes, yes," she said. "My whole life, yes. Yes, forever, yes. Life is too short and love is too long."

we were children—playing with the reflections of stars in a pool of water … thinking it was space.”

“Won’t you look at me, Camilla Hect?”

Camilla murmured something that Nona could not hear. The body said, “I died, and you carried me. I gambled, and you covered my bet. You kept the faith, and were the instrument of both my vengeance and my grace. And now I have fought through time, and the River, and Ianthe the First—fought and bested Ianthe the First, and I hope I never fight her ever again … Will you not look at me now, Cam, and know me?”

Camilla raised her chin. She looked at the dead face. She said quietly—

“Yes, Warden, I will always know you.”

"I'll touch you at the end of the world, but not before."

She wondered again why anything that hurt them only hurt briefly, but that anger took such a long time to go away.

"You're only boobs, hair, and talk, Crown," said the guard.

"I don't let go," said Camilla. "It's my one thing."

tazmuir dont you touch my emotional support sixth house

"He's going to know, Hect. You're killing each other."

"Do what you're good at," said Camilla. "Lie."

"Hect, you're not listening. It's killing him too—"

Nona didn't understand how the others could walk around and go through their lives only touching each other as much as was necessary.

Fenix Voliton 

literally couldn't tell you what just happened

Also confused throughout most of it(I sense a pattern) and fell in love with Nona, which, as it turns out makes sense

Sasja Koning

orwyn

crazy that the whole thing is actually just bible fanfiction but i loved it as well as the setting in a more dystopian/normal area of the universe 

Clara Gauthier

I loved Nona so much REREAD: I loved round 2 even more, upgrading to 5 stars

Joanna Laxon

Riley

this was still very good and HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING but I was a bit bored through the first like 2/3 so I did dock it a star and no spoilers but I will say I love lesbians and we stay winning

fris🐝

Being hopelessly confused never felt so good

the friendship bracelets and secret handshake were the plot twists of the book

i liked this a little bit less than harrow the ninth mostly because harrow and gideon featured a lot less in this. so that fell a little bit short for me but it was still an enjoyable book and i loved all the characters who did appear prominently in this. im hoping alecto offers a satisfying conclusion to this series.

realmente sorprende q le vuelva a poner 5 estrellas a un libro de la tumba lokita??? simplemente nona es el bebé mas mono del mundo es q la amo TANTISIMO 😭 agradeciendo q este libro sea un poco mas slice of life q los otros pq estaba ya perdiendo un poco la cabeza pero ese final ein????? o sea veniamos sabiendo q tamsyn iba a hacer un final q no entendemos del todo pero tf... en fin como voy a aguantar hasta q salga alecto sin nada de la tumba lokita me rebanaré el cerebro para no sufrir 😬

maría

Pro tip - have the hard copies of Gideon and Harrow within reach, because I referenced the Dramatis Persona lists almost every chapter.

Prepare to be confused. Accept it. Revel in it. The delightful absurdity and skill of the author’s VOICE is worth it. To have such elevated language and style while the content is gritty space opera… there’s truly nothing like this series.

Plot? We don’t know her, nor do we care. The found family vibes and unlikely yet likable characters are worth it.

TW: violence, body horror/gore, death (most of the time they’re fine), strong language

What. The. Hect.

Pro tip - have the hard copies of Gideon and Harrow within reach, because I referenced the Dramatis Persona lists almost every chapter.

Prepare to be confused. Accept it. Revel in it. The delightful absurdity and skill of the author’s VOICE is worth it. To have such elevated language and style while the content is gritty space opera… there’s truly nothing like this series.

Plot? We don’t know her, nor do we care. The found family vibes and unlikely yet likable characters are worth it.

TW: violence, body horror/gore, death (most of the time they’re fine), strong language

First of all, most of the book is fairly slow. If you're looking for the action of the first book, it's not really even in the same realm. This book is more about found family, honestly, which is an aspect I love. Nona was adorable and sweet, though the situation there was really interesting. Pyrrha Dve is my new favorite character. Camilla and Palamedes's situation was super fascinating to watch unfold. I'm not sure I vibe with "Paul" - weird name choice there. Is it another intentional biblical reference to go with John? I guess time will tell.

Speaking of biblical references, I loved that the chapters where you learn more about the origins of Necromancer society, from the mouth of God himself, are bible verses. As I said on Twitter, thank you Tamsyn Muir for making me care about bible verses for probably the first time in my life. I actually really enjoyed those chapters, though I did feel I was back to reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy with the lack of quotation marks. McCarthy claimed to have left quotation marks out of The Road due to the collapse of society. Given the nature of the chapters, it wouldn't be beyond the scope of possibility that Muir made a similar decision. Or it could have been a reference to bible verses, which don't have quotations often, depending on the bible you're reading. Both would be entirely appropriate. I was very excited to learn what went down on the Earth we're familiar with. John is an absolute sociopath though, and he is 100% responsible for all the shit he pulled.

The pacing of the book is pretty decent for the first part, so long as you're cool with it being about Nona and her found family. I do think this could have lost a chapter or two and been just fine. There's a lot of activities that don't really lend itself to much within the book and plots that added questions to the already complicated story but you don't really get answers to old or new questions. When the plot really picks up however, it goes a million miles a minute and explains very little. I feel like the answer to who Nona is is fairly obvious, so the twist at the end wasn't all that twisty. I do have to say I was SUPER confused about Gideon's behavior, at one point thinking perhaps John had possessed her body or even Ianthe had possessed her body. For someone who was so AVIDLY anti-establishment back in the Ninth, it seemed weird and out of character to me. Gideon isn't in much of the book as an active character until later in the book again, which may not be a popular decision considering she's the backbone of the series and the first titular character. Harrow's also very absent, but I feel like that was a necessity.

I am very interested in seeing how things play out in the next book because I have a LOT of unanswered questions. The ending introduced a lot of things that felt like they came out of the blue. I'll definitely be finishing the series, but hooo buddy, I wonder how all of this is ever gonna play out.

Kirsten Simkiss

This is a spoiler free review.

First of all, most of the book is fairly slow. If you're looking for the action of the first book, it's not really even in the same realm. This book is more about found family, honestly, which is an aspect I love. Nona was adorable and sweet, though the situation there was really interesting. Pyrrha Dve is my new favorite character. Camilla and Palamedes's situation was super fascinating to watch unfold. I'm not sure I vibe with "Paul" - weird name choice there. Is it another intentional biblical reference to go with John? I guess time will tell.

Speaking of biblical references, I loved that the chapters where you learn more about the origins of Necromancer society, from the mouth of God himself, are bible verses. As I said on Twitter, thank you Tamsyn Muir for making me care about bible verses for probably the first time in my life. I actually really enjoyed those chapters, though I did feel I was back to reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy with the lack of quotation marks. McCarthy claimed to have left quotation marks out of The Road due to the collapse of society. Given the nature of the chapters, it wouldn't be beyond the scope of possibility that Muir made a similar decision. Or it could have been a reference to bible verses, which don't have quotations often, depending on the bible you're reading. Both would be entirely appropriate. I was very excited to learn what went down on the Earth we're familiar with. John is an absolute sociopath though, and he is 100% responsible for all the shit he pulled.

The pacing of the book is pretty decent for the first part, so long as you're cool with it being about Nona and her found family. I do think this could have lost a chapter or two and been just fine. There's a lot of activities that don't really lend itself to much within the book and plots that added questions to the already complicated story but you don't really get answers to old or new questions. When the plot really picks up however, it goes a million miles a minute and explains very little. I feel like the answer to who Nona is is fairly obvious, so the twist at the end wasn't all that twisty. I do have to say I was SUPER confused about Gideon's behavior, at one point thinking perhaps John had possessed her body or even Ianthe had possessed her body. For someone who was so AVIDLY anti-establishment back in the Ninth, it seemed weird and out of character to me. Gideon isn't in much of the book as an active character until later in the book again, which may not be a popular decision considering she's the backbone of the series and the first titular character. Harrow's also very absent, but I feel like that was a necessity.

I am very interested in seeing how things play out in the next book because I have a LOT of unanswered questions. The ending introduced a lot of things that felt like they came out of the blue. I'll definitely be finishing the series, but hooo buddy, I wonder how all of this is ever gonna play out.

Aishling

”Get in line, thou big slut.”


How am I ever going to read another book (until Alecto) again

Florence

jupiter

** spoiler alert **
           “I am as one half-dead, but you would be two-halves dead, bitch” To which the first child said, My sweet, “I only die of longing for thee.” And the other child said. “Then perish.” 

just real and tru 🙏

Jay Harris

I simultaneously love this weird sci-fi/fantasy series and also have no idea how to recommend it to anyone. 

It’s like nothing you’ve ever read before! You’ll have no idea what’s going on for the first 400 pages of each book! But you’ll love it!

🤷‍♂️

Taylor

Listen, I read this book in 24 hours. I liked it a lot. Does that mean I understand a single goddamn thing that happened in the end? Absolutely not. I need a wiki and several diagrams and so many TikTok explainer videos. But boy is it a fun ride and made me so excited for Alecto.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

This way of storytelling reminds me of the Assassin's Creed games. If you haven't played them (I've only played the first couple), the way the plot works is that most of the game is set in some period in the past. There are interludes - mostly at the end of the game - in the future, where some overarching plot is happening. This future story takes place at the speed of what feels like about 5 minutes per game, and the characters in the past don't remember the future story.

This isn't the same, but it's similar. Each book so far we've had:

1. A central plot that is tangential to the 'real' main plot.

2. A main character who doesn't know what is going on because Harrow has done something clever.

4. Lots of characters with multiple fun names, often sharing a first initial, which is a big clue I guess?

5. An ending where a bunch of the overarching plot happens in a rush.

6. Zero jeopardy, because nobody ever dies if they are interesting enough (I suppose it is a series about necromancers).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4882947978">my

 review of Harrow the Ninth</a>, because I feel basically the same about this one. The writing is good, and it's often very funny! But I feel like I'm just being given the same basic template three times over. I assume this can't happen in the last book, at least.

Sean

This way of storytelling reminds me of the Assassin's Creed games. If you haven't played them (I've only played the first couple), the way the plot works is that most of the game is set in some period in the past. There are interludes - mostly at the end of the game - in the future, where some overarching plot is happening. This future story takes place at the speed of what feels like about 5 minutes per game, and the characters in the past don't remember the future story.

This isn't the same, but it's similar. Each book so far we've had:

1. A central plot that is tangential to the 'real' main plot.

2. A main character who doesn't know what is going on because Harrow has done something clever.

3. Lots of characters with fun names.

4. Lots of characters with multiple fun names, often sharing a first initial, which is a big clue I guess?

5. An ending where a bunch of the overarching plot happens in a rush.

6. Zero jeopardy, because nobody ever dies if they are interesting enough (I suppose it is a series about necromancers).

This is largely what I said in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4882947978">my review of Harrow the Ninth</a>, because I feel basically the same about this one. The writing is good, and it's often very funny! But I feel like I'm just being given the same basic template three times over. I assume this can't happen in the last book, at least.

renee badenoch

This book was definitely a filler book in the series, where a lot of stuff happened to set up a finale. But the book was written by Tamsyn Muir, so the filler was fun and enjoyable and I loved all my little queer necromancers so much. 

The gender fuckery in this book is chef's kiss The whole book's attitude toward gender and sexuality was ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ all like "Gender? I don't even know 'er" 

Hot Sauce was a cool, but ultimately unnecessary character. 

Not enough Gideon and Harrow content >:( 

Not enough Gideon Content in general >:(

Nona is perhaps the perfect tonic to the angst of Harrow. I laughed, I cried, I perished and I need Alecto now. 

Kate

"I've carried you, Warden. And I've carried your memory... I'd rather carry you."

Revisiting my highlights for this book is so funny like they're almost all Camilla and Palamedes... It was good... We were happy... Life is too short and love is too long... We did it right, didn't we? We had something very nearly perfect... Go loud... We are the love that is perfected by death. Like, ok, damn. 

I did love Nona, and everyone, and again I found myself totally fine with being taken along for the ride, but turns out I really miss Harrow when she's not around lol :( 

Anyway... "It's finished, it's done. You can't take loved away. We loved you too."

lina

"I've carried you, Warden. And I've carried your memory... I'd rather carry you."

Revisiting my highlights for this book is so funny like they're almost all Camilla and Palamedes... It was good... We were happy... Life is too short and love is too long... We did it right, didn't we? We had something very nearly perfect... Go loud... We are the love that is perfected by death. Like, ok, damn. 

I did love Nona, and everyone, and again I found myself totally fine with being taken along for the ride, but turns out I really miss Harrow when she's not around lol :( 

Anyway... "It's finished, it's done. You can't take loved away. We loved you too."

i am going to be honest, this was a bit of an uphill battle for me - more so than 'harrow' which was just disorienting. after 'harrow', i really found myself reluctant to tackle the near 18h long audiobook but i made it through.

there is little objection that tamsyn muir is an incredibly talented and creative author. she clearly has a very expansive, very grand idea, and 'the locked tomb' project would be no easy job for anyone. writing her way through it, there is no doubt that she is doing an excellent job at it. (moira quirk, too, does an amazing job narrating the series; truly commendable work).

there is something so cool-feeling about 'the locked tomb' books. muir instantly draws you in and not for a second does it not feel like you are having a blast with a cast of colourful characters.

however, much like 'harrow', 'nona' has one particular weakness and it is the heavy worldbuilding. this is simply the kind of book that would be much easier to process if read as a physical copy where one could easily refer to previous pages and glossaries. otherwise, about the first half of it feels like being dropped in the middle of a whole new world. (especially if - like myself - you are the type of reader who selectively obsesses over books. with the amount i read, not every book i come into contact with gets equal amount of my attention or retention. as much as a i loved 'gideon', it has simply been too long ago for me to remember much of its worldbuilding and 'harrow' did not help.)

of course, the best approach to this - other than religiously studying the text - would be to nearly treat the book as a standalone or first in a series. the issue with this being that when a lot of the names and characters seem familiar there is a gnawing feeling that you 

 know more than what is being shown to you. this is, in itself, very distracting.

either way, should you be unsuccessful in achieving this, the enjoyment of the book can be greatly impeded. the messy pacing in this instalment would not help either.

thankfully, that was not the case for myself. i managed to immerse myself into the story and let it guide me in the direction it chose. as such, it is still as fun as any of the other instalments. i still had a satisfactory feeling for having read it by the end of it, which is why i am happy to bump the rating up even though i do not have all that much to say about it.

i am going to be honest, this was a bit of an uphill battle for me - more so than 'harrow' which was just disorienting. after 'harrow', i really found myself reluctant to tackle the near 18h long audiobook but i made it through.

there is little objection that tamsyn muir is an incredibly talented and creative author. she clearly has a very expansive, very grand idea, and 'the locked tomb' project would be no easy job for anyone. writing her way through it, there is no doubt that she is doing an excellent job at it. (moira quirk, too, does an amazing job narrating the series; truly commendable work).

there is something so cool-feeling about 'the locked tomb' books. muir instantly draws you in and not for a second does it not feel like you are having a blast with a cast of colourful characters.

however, much like 'harrow', 'nona' has one particular weakness and it is the heavy worldbuilding. this is simply the kind of book that would be much easier to process if read as a physical copy where one could easily refer to previous pages and glossaries. otherwise, about the first half of it feels like being dropped in the middle of a whole new world. (especially if - like myself - you are the type of reader who selectively obsesses over books. with the amount i read, not every book i come into contact with gets equal amount of my attention or retention. as much as a i loved 'gideon', it has simply been too long ago for me to remember much of its worldbuilding and 'harrow' did not help.)

of course, the best approach to this - other than religiously studying the text - would be to nearly treat the book as a standalone or first in a series. the issue with this being that when a lot of the names and characters seem familiar there is a gnawing feeling that you should know more than what is being shown to you. this is, in itself, very distracting.

either way, should you be unsuccessful in achieving this, the enjoyment of the book can be greatly impeded. the messy pacing in this instalment would not help either.

thankfully, that was not the case for myself. i managed to immerse myself into the story and let it guide me in the direction it chose. as such, it is still as fun as any of the other instalments. i still had a satisfactory feeling for having read it by the end of it, which is why i am happy to bump the rating up even though i do not have all that much to say about it.

Nona the Ninth The Locked Tomb #3

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