This keeps the prose nimble because of this, the plot steadily accelerates. Like its eponymous protagonist, Gideon knows what it’s interested in, and that does not include a lot of dry exposition, world building, or backstory. It’s a space opera about wizards it shapes itself into cozy mystery it slides into slasher-horror, then cuts its way free with musketeer-level swashbucklery.

Tamsyn Muir’s debut novel, Gideon the Ninth, uses more obscure narrative ingredients - if you don’t know what necromancy is, that’s okay - but part of the delight of reading the novel is just how fearlessly it tosses together outlandish ideas with distinct elements from different genres. As a result, storytellers have to do less reinventing of the wheel each time they mix far-fetched elements - even the most general audiences don’t need the lore of vampires or zombies explained to them, so it takes very little narrative lifting to add such ghouls to an unexpected setting. This is partially a progression of craft, but it’s also possible because of broader cultural phenomena - fantastical tropes, once restricted to a few niche markets, now dominate mainstream media. Disregarding genre expectations and freely borrowing tools from other literary traditions, a slew of writers are reinventing previously hide-bound forms. A lot of the best recent science fiction and fantasy stories are notable for how well they color outside the lines.

Gideon the ninth tor