The Locked Tomb (also known as lesbian necromancers IN SPACE, also known as Shakespeare with more bones and more gay)

I've about 30 pages left in Harrow, but some quick thoughts:

I liked what little we saw of Abigail and Magnus in Gideon, so I'm glad that we got to spend time with their ghosts. Or their revenants, rather. The real Dulcie and Protesilaus, too.

I also had the biggest grin the entire time Matthias Nonius was on page.

Edited by SilentColossus on Mar 1st 2024 at 7:03:11 AM

"Why am I speaking in meter?"

I would read the Noniad.

Well.

Here's hoping that Alecto remembers to go back for her "cheap mustache rides" t-shirt.

Edited by SilentColossus on Mar 8th 2024 at 9:35:06 AM

So do you think that Kiriona's behavior is due to Harrow having eaten a portion of Gideon's soul, or is it simply the fact that we're seeing Gideon from another's perspective?

I think it's both. Harrow still digested a portion of Gideon, and while it remains to be seen if that is lost forever like Prryha thinks, it's probably still with Harrow. And we don't know the effect that could have on Gideon. But we don't have Gideon's charming POV either, so a lot of her jokes and callousness just makes her seem cruel. Especially towards Nona, whom she hates for being Alecto and possessing Harrow's body.

Yeah. (For context, these are Alecto the Ninth spoilers). As far as Gideon is concerned, there's nothing else left in the world worth living for. She's in a Real Bad Place.

Maybe she can bond with Coronabeth about not being eaten by their beloved necromancer.

I imagine Gideon is going after her woman. Harrow ain’t dead yet.

As the epilogue says, a voice cried out, exceeding wroth, "Bitch, get in line."

PLACE YOUR BETS!

Alecto dragged an unconscious Harrow along while she confronts John, so I'm guessing it'll be a while before Harrow and Gideon talk. Especially since it's likely Harrow is going to Hell so she can, uh, harrow it.

I wonder if she'll run into Augustine. And maybe Silas and Colum.

…So there’s a Reddit thread that fan casts each character in the books with Muppets.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNinthHouse/s/uOW3jl4eA5

And this fan art:

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Apr 5th 2024 at 11:02:04 AM

Edited by SilentColossus on Apr 6th 2024 at 7:37:46 AM

John is pretty creepy towards Harrow.

He's more open about it in Nona, when during their final shared Alecto dream he starts drawing their initials in the sand surrounded by a heart. This is after he draws the initials for Earth, which he replaces with A for Annabel/Alecto, which he then crosses out for Harrow.

John + Earth. John + Annabel. John + Harrow.

When she asks him what it means to love God (religiously), he lowkey suggests they ought to go on a date.

Eugh.

Edited by SilentColossus on Apr 18th 2024 at 4:07:28 AM

What? That's not what I got from his answer at all. Did I miss something?

I finished Nona the Ninth, btw. I found the characters and setting generally more intersting than Harrow, but Gideon is still uncontested imo. I did figue out that Nona was Alecto ahed of time for a multitude of reasons. Someone in this thread hinted that Nona may not be Harrow, which made me go over th eother possibilities and realise that the Corpse was the one other mind in Harrow's body besides her and Gideon. I also drew some conclusions from the fact that Nona was originally just gonna be the first part of Alecto the Ninth. But even the prologue was a huge hint, with the title character having a flashback to talking with John at the ruins of Earth. Did I understand correctly that Alecta/Annabel is the soul of Earth put inside a human-looking body? The Resurrection beasts seems to be the ghosts of the other planets in the solar system, which is weird because it was explained in the second book that planets gain their souls from life living on it.

Pretty much. John stuffed the soul of Earth - she was too big for him to eat completely - inside of a human body which he modeled after his favorite Barbie doll, a "Renaissance angel," and other examples of stereotypical Western beauty. She hates it. This is after he murdered her and all of humanity, using the power she granted him to save her and life on Earth.

All planets - even ones without any life - have thalergy (life energy). That's what makes up the soul, as I understand it, and that's what became the Resurrection Beasts. Earth seems to have been much more complicated though due to the presence of life, however. And remember: John's explanation at the beginning of Harrow doesn't really make a lot of sense, but even Harrow notices that the "mathematics" are off. It's just that John is trying to ensure she is loyal to him and isn't offering a full explanation.

Yeah. If I recall right (and understand the vibes correctly), the "polarity flip" of changing planets from thalergy (life energy) to thanergy (death energy, which the necromancers can then use) creates the Resurrection Beasts. I guess it's similar to how in other settings, murder or some other violent death results in a particularly horrid and angry ghost.

As well as this setting. People that die instantly or near instantly can become revenants, due to the shock of the soul being torn from the body, while people who die more slowly tend to pass into the River more peacefully.

Edited by SilentColossus on Apr 20th 2024 at 3:49:44 PM

That piece of data came from something Harrow said, who did not have anywhere close to the full picture at the time. It would be just like John to deliberately lead her to an incorrect conclusion based on her own flawed foundation.

The impression I get is that the Nine Houses (minus the Lyctors) have an internally-consistent magic system, and like the ancient Greek philosophers they extrapolate that incorrectly and then pat themselves on the back for being so clever. Just to start with, it's clear that everyone made some major mistakes regarding exactly how the River works.

Edited by Discar on Apr 21st 2024 at 5:40:16 AM

There's also the fact that Harrow is a bone magician, so souls are outside her wheelhouse.

I'm rereading HtN, and I completely forgot about the horror and anger from Ortus when Pro reveals that he is also a talented poet. Harrow has it exactly right: not only is Pro a better poet than Ortus, he's also one of the Empire's most talented cavaliers, just like one of Ortus' heroes. Poor guy has it rough.

Two chapters later, when Harrow is trying to remember Babs: "it as though your brain formed a scab over everything that had happened to you."

Edited by SilentColossus on Apr 24th 2024 at 6:13:00 AM

With the Foghorn Leghorn meme flying about on Twitter, I just wanna hear his reaction to Harrow lobotomizing away her memories of Gideon.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Apr 26th 2024 at 12:48:21 PM

Palamades and Duclie, at least, are more supportive of Harrow's choices. Abigail and Magnus are kind and understanding, of course, but they think Harrow needs to move forward with her life and future. They think that Gideon's gone, and try to get Harrow to accept that. Magnus even compares it to him saving the last shred of a dance card.

But Dulcie and Palamades think differently, partly because they see more evidence that Gideon is still "alive": Pal sees her in his River bubble, while Dulcie is experienced enough with puppeteering to know that somebody is controlling Harrow's body after her soul was kicked out.

Harrow decides to let Gideon keep her body. After all, there is a difference between saving a dance card, and saving the last dance.

Restarted the first book. It’s so easy to forget how DETESTABLE Harrowhark started off as.

She's also completely obsessed from the outset.

Like when she tells Gideon she doesn't remember her most of the time, and then Harrow admits she stayed up all night digging a skeleton trap to kick Gideon's ass for trying to escape. And there's still more to the trap after that: it was just to get Gideon to lower her guard, and to get her hopes up that Harrow was actually going to let her leave.

Harrow's entire life has been built around tormenting Gideon, as much as it's built around her being the Reverand Daughter.

It really makes Gideon's capacity to forgive her, after finding out the truth of the creche flu and Harrow's birth, all the more meaningful.

It helps that Harrow is trying to be better at Canaan House, even if she is clearly struggling with doing so.