I have been trying to read Gideon the Ninth for four months. That may not sound like much, but this book is 100% my jam and I still could not focus on it enough to get it read. Finally, I re-upped my Audible account and got it as an audiobook read by Moira Quirk. I have plowed through it in a couple of days and dear lord it is as fucking fantastic as you all said it was.
Moira Quirk’s narration let me embrace the insanity in a way my brain could not with the written word on a screen. While I had had a very different voice in my head for Gideon, relaxing into the narration let me embrace Harrowhark, Palamedes, Camilla Hecht, and Dulcinea.
No matter what it is I want to focus on, I need something to focus against. Listening while I walked, and cooked and cleaned the house allowed me to let go of trying to figure out what was happening and let the story unfold. Gideon the Ninth needs to be allowed to unfold. It is intricate origami that comes apart and the beauty is not only in the finished product but in watching it come apart and then reassemble.
I don’t read fanfiction, mostly because AO3 terrifies me and a little bit because I’m afraid I will never read a new book again if I go down the rabbit hole of fanfic. I do love fan art though and I have entertained myself looking at the #griddlehark tag on twitter. I will imagine a million different endings than the one that happened, and a million different possibilities for the forthcoming Alecto the Ninth. This is a spoiler for what happens near the end of the book – don’t watch it unless you have read the book.
Boarded out part of the last fight scene from GTN… we do bones, mothef💀cker!!! #GideonTheNinth #TheLockedTomb pic.twitter.com/epi3kum2sD
— vanessa (@nesynn) January 20, 2021
I enjoyed this so much. A big thanks to andtheIToldYouSos, JenK, MsWas, Little Plat, Aqillia, pixifer, Angry Dimples and the million of you who kept reminding me that I wanted to read this book.