Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir follows Nona as she tries to figure out who she is in a post-apocalyptic world. This novel has a lot of world building between Nona’s amnesia and God’s backstory, which really puts everything into perspective. We see in Harrow the Ninth that God isn’t as benign as he claims and this is thoroughly explored in his backstory in the third novel in The Locked Tomb series. I enjoyed this novel almost as much as I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth. It’s refreshing reading how optimistic Nona is compared to, well, basically any other character we have met so far.

Nona is such a sweet, fun, enjoyable character and I love being able to see the world through her eyes. It’s sweet seeing how childlike she is, but it’s also heartbreaking to see children thrown into a world that they could never understand. It makes you think about how young so many of the characters are and all of the trauma that they have been through.

While I absolutely LOVE this series, it can be confusing at times. I thought this novel was less confusing than the others, but I was a little lost reading the ending because there was just so much going on. Either way, this is a beautifully written series, despite being so heartbreaking. I highly recommend this series and I can’t wait for Alecto the Ninth! Overall, I’d rate this a 4/5.

Quotes

• Page 115
•  "It was good," said Camilla, and her eyes closed. "It was good. We were happy."
• Page 230
• “God, I wish I could see your face.’
• Clack. Pause. “Look in the mirror.”
• Pause. “It’s not you. It’s me wearing you. I keep turning around to find you, and there’s nobody there.”
• Clack. “I know the feeling.”
• Pause. “Of course you know. Of course I’m telling you what you already, intimately, know. I have spent three-quarters of my life telling you what you already knew and one-sixth telling you what you didn't. And now here I am, installed in your body, mere minutes from chewing up your soul .. . Camilla, I can’t bear this. I’m eating your life”
• Clack. Pause. “I'd carry you with me either way.’
• Pause. “What do you mean?”
• Pause. Clack. “I’ve carried you, Warden. And I've carried your memory ...I'd rather carry you.”
• Clack. “What about carrying nothing? What about Camilla Hect, the independent entity? Free to live her life outside the shadow of her necromancer? Free from his agenda dictating hers?”
• Pause.
• “You thought it was your agenda? Huh.” Clack. “I cannot bear the thought of using you.” Pause. “Love and freedom don’t coexist, Warden.” Clack. “This is all there is to love? Simply by being in your life, I have added indelibly to its weight?” Pause. “Yes.” Clack, “Camilla, I mean it” Pause. “I meant it too. You used to say it to me.”
• “We are one flesh.” Clack.
• “l am your end”
• Page 231
• “I hope you know that I adore you, Scholar.”
• Clack. “Indubitably, Warden.”
• Page 254
• “You were born my enemy,” said the Angel, very sadly and very tiredly now, “or, worse, you became my enemy…in the last five minutes. By doing the thing you can't walk back from.”
• Page 262
• “Hect, let's get one thing straight: I'm giving the orders and if you don't say Yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir, I shoot your kneecaps and use you as a meat shield,” said Pash.
• “Three bags full of what?” said Camilla.
• “Fucking whoop-ass if you don't do what I say, comedian.”
• Page 269
• “You're out of the gang,” said Hot Sauce, and squeezed the trigger.
• Page 292
• “I haven't been able to save many people in my life, I'm afraid, but I am intent on saving you.”
• Page 422
• “I cannot imagine reaching the end of this life and having any regrets, so long as I had been allowed to experience being your adept.”
• “Life is too short and love is too long.”
• Page 473
• I want you to know that- I want you to know what I am!"
• "You remain-what you are," said Crux. "A worthless millstone hung about my darling's neck. You were born to make her suffer. You died as you lived, Gideon Nav- a disappointment to me- and to God."
• There was a wet, meaty sound. The old man exhaled. It was dark. Then there was light, bright, cold, electrifying, like death; and the noise of another rock- slowly- agonizingly- grinding away.
• And Kiriona kept saying- "It didn't feel good…Fuck…It didn'tfeel good. Why didn't it, feel good?"
• A rising, hysterical note. "Why didn't it feel good? You fucking old.... You hideous, cruel…you bastard...Why didn't…Why can't I…”
• Page 493
• Palamedes You must be very popular with salespeople.
• Ianthe Because I'm obscenely wealthy and have exquisite taste?
• Palamedes Because you never stop to check the price tag.
• Page 495
• Palamedes Do you know the worst part?
• Voice Tell me.
• Palamedes From her point of view, it all makes sense. Tern was shaped over the years to be nothing more than- than-
• Voice A perfect tool?
• Palamedes -a resource.