Nona the Ninth The Locked Tomb #3
Reviews
i don't know much but i know i sure do love nona
Still far “too much plot” in this series, and the more it goes, the more plot threads to keep track of. It’s exhausting if you try to think about it. But luckily, Muir keeps the characters interesting, the tension high, and the surprises rushing at you.
I can’t knock someone swinging for the fences like this. I want more authors to be this amibitious, this outlandish, this grand! Muir has Tone and Voice for days, something very few popular authors have.
Very looking forward to the next (and last?) of the series. And after that, would happily read whatever else Muir writes.
i dont know why i expected to understand this book any better after finishing htn but like. where is alecto the ninth hello
Still an unusual series; the plot continues to be compelling and keeps you guessing, but the writing quality/dialogue has not improved (despite somehow being endearing at times?). The series thus far is definitely worth a read.
R u freaking kidding me
Where the first two books of this series grounded me in Muir's twisty turny narratives and prose, this book somehow felt familiar and a complete switch-up to Gideon and Harrow the Ninth. Shifting us to a completely new character of sorts with Nona leaves so much of the weight on the reader to read between the lines, remember bits and pieces from the first two books, and uncover the clues that are breadcrumbed throughout Nona's story. It's a huge risk, but one that paid off so well. I was entranced by Nona, the family she built, and her adventures through this post-apocalyptic world in the first half of the novel. The second half returns more to the style that Muir has prepared us for, gets a whole lot darker, and raises the stakes for everyone involved. At its core, this book is full of love and grief, and the way those two intersect with each other, a fitting continuation of Harrow the Ninth, and if this is any precursor to Alecto the Ninth, I can only assume we're in for another bumpy, emotional, and fulfilling ride. Hoping for ATN news soon...
I’m ill
i love you nona
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
damn..tamsyn did it again
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
I loved Nona so much REREAD: I loved round 2 even more, upgrading to 5 stars ANOTHER REREAD: I’d give it 6 if I could it gets better every time
these books are so insane dude
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
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 😬
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
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.
Highlights
"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."
"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."
"How could you? How could you?"
"Please touch me. I'll die."
"I love you ... I love you, I love you, I've missed you so much. Please be real."
"I'm real—we're real..."
"Oh God, Ianthe," said Crown, and her voice changed a little. "This is sick. Look at him. I hate you."
M— and A— were a united front, and that was scary as fuck. It was always frightening when they stood together.
stop you can't do this to me give them back
"Don't tell him I was weak."
"He's going to know, Hect. You're killing each other."
"It's our choice."
"He's going to ask."
"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."
“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.
And a hilariously accurate summary of the entire book.
we were children—playing with the reflections of stars in a pool of water … thinking it was space.”
"I'll touch you at the end of the world, but not before."
She said, "I don't remember."
He said, "I can't forget."
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.
"No," said Crown. "I'm boobs and hair and talk and a hell of a sword hand."
"I don't let go," said Camilla. "It's my one thing."
Nona didn't understand how the others could walk around and go through their lives only touching each other as much as was necessary.