Gideon the Ninth
core novel 2019 The Locked Tomb
Record
| First published | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.17 (197,385 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781250313195 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
In the Dominicus system, the immortal Emperor rules over nine necromantic Houses, and the opening book follows Gideon Nav, an eighteen-year-old raised in servitude by the Ninth House who has spent years trying to escape it. Her lifelong rival, the Ninth House heir Harrowhark Nonagesimus, forces her into an uneasy partnership, offering Gideon a way out of servitude if she serves as her cavalier, or sword-bearing protector. The Emperor summons heirs and cavaliers from all nine Houses to the crumbling mansion of Canaan House, where they must compete to unlock the secrets of becoming Lyctors, the Emperor's immortal warrior-servants. As the two women navigate uneasy alliances with rival Houses and work through a series of necromantic puzzles inside the decaying manor, unexplained deaths among the competitors begin to raise the stakes of the trials.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Locked Tomb
- Series: The Locked Tomb core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Tamsyn Muir
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2020: won
- Crawford Award (IAFA Crawford Fantasy Award), 2020: won
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2019: finalist; Corrected from a Wikipedia summary claim of a win; SFWA's own award-year page shows Gideon the Ninth as a finalist. Winner: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2020: finalist
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2020: finalist; Corrected from a Wikipedia summary claim of a win (mislabeled as 'Short Fiction'); Locus's own reporting shows Gideon the Ninth as a finalist. Winner: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender.
- British Fantasy Award (Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer), 2020: nominated; Corrected from a Wikipedia summary claim of a win in an unspecified category; Locus's own reporting shows this was a Best Newcomer nomination, not a Best Fantasy Novel win. Best Fantasy Novel (Robert Holdstock Award) that year went to The Bone Ships by RJ Barker.
- Dragon Award (Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)), 2020: nominated; Corrected from a Wikipedia summary claim of a win; Locus's own reporting shows Gideon the Ninth was nominated (in the Best Science Fiction Novel category per some listings) but did not win. Best Fantasy Novel that year went to The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
Notes
- From the series record (The Locked Tomb): Necromancer-space-opera science fantasy following the Ninth House's cavalier Gideon Nav and her necromancer Harrowhark Nonagesimus. A 4th novel, Alecto the Ninth, is announced for October 12, 2026 -- unpublished as of 2026-08-07 and isn't counted here yet.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Locked Tomb: position 1 of 3: next Harrow the Ninth (2020)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Locked_Tomb
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_the_Ninth
- https://nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2019/
- https://reactormag.com/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-winners/
- https://locusmag.com/2020/11/world-fantasy-awards-winners-5/
- https://locusmag.com/2021/02/2020-british-fantasy-awards-winners/
- https://locusmag.com/2020/09/2020-dragon-awards-winners/
- Rating-platform source ↗
- https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2020/2020-iafa-crawford-award-and-shortlist-announced/
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