Nona the Ninth

You are always in for a wild ride with Tamsyn Muir and the third entry into her Locked Tomb series is no exception. Each of the books in this series have been utterly distinct and different in their writing techniques and styles, yet also utterly and unambiguously Tamsin Muir. Gideon gave us a gothic haunted house/murder mystery full of snark, Harrow gave us second person space opera with an unreliable narrator. Nona goes full on post apocalyptic dystopia with a childish sunny disposition. The way that the inherent contradictions somehow enhance the overall story arc is nothing short of glorious. I am left in awe of Muir's writing abilities.

Thats not to say that these are easy reads. These are dense, complex and confusing books, layered with hints and clever cross references, obscured behind their different narrators personalities and flaws. Even placing them next to each other in the overall series timeline is challenging at times.

In Nona we do get some nice world building, linking back to the early rise of John Gaius. We return to some familiar characters in Camilla and Palamedes, even if they are presented in a new way. We get Corona from a different perspective. We get to see Gideon as others see her. And we are confronted with the mystery of who is Nona. All this against the strangely gentle background of a school teaching in a city undergoing lockdown in some dystopian post-apocalyptic planet.

The Locked Tomb is probably the most clever, dense and insane current speculative fiction series out there. I cannot wait for the conclusion in Alecto!