Lots of books have author inserts, where the author writes themselves into a story. It’s usually relatively unobtrusive (unless you’re Stephen King). It’s also fairly common, when an author has a decent number of books, to start having characters from other books make cameo appearances. Tamsyn Muir is the first author I’ve ever encountered that managed to effectively insert me, the reader, into the story:
All I could do was stand there, sword raised, as the Lyctor thrashed mindlessly on the floor next to us, and say: “What the FUCK is going on?”
I feel you, Character-I-Will-Not-Name-Because-Spoilers, for you are me. A friend who has been pestering me to read these books for months now told me to keep her updated every time I had a “wtf” moment while reading. I sent her quite a lot of text messages.
Those who have read Gideon the Ninth (my review is here, if you’re curious) are probably nodding along right now going, “yup, I know exactly what Mike’s talking about.” You sweet summer children, I was naïve once as well. You know nothing.
This book is a complete mind fuck. Think Memento, or Inception, only MORE. I had no clue whatsoever for most of the book. I was looking reminiscing fondly about the days long ago (last week) when I was reading Gideon the Ninth and the world was on firm footing and I understood what was going on. Luckily Harrow is such a freaking awesome character (it’s a toss up whether I love her or Gideon more). I was enjoying the hell out of every confusing, baffling moment, and even if I wasn’t loving the book, I still couldn’t have put it down because I was just so invested.
But then everything (well, some things) do click into place, the veil was lifted, and the entire story looked totally different with the benefit of hindsight. I am *really* looking forward to re-reading these books. There’s so much that only clicked when looking back. I am burning to see how it reads looking forward with actual understanding.
A number of the characters from the first book are in here. In many (probably most) cases, they’re in more prominent roles than they were in Gideon. And those who are here are … surprising. Shocking, in a few cases.
But the heart of the book is Harrow and her journey. The events of Gideon left their scars on Harrow, and most of this book is her grappling with her situation at the end of Gideon. But for most of the book she manages to do this without facing how she ended up where she did (those who have read Gideon will know what I am talking about). Harrow is struggling with so many things, on so many levels, and her growth both breaks and warms my heart. And every time I thought I had a working theory on what was really going on, Muir promptly yanked that rug out from under me.
These books are amazing. Go read them.