The Locked Tomb
#844.23 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Ongoing 2019–present Reading commitment Medium Tamsyn Muir Last reviewed 2026-08-07
Overview
A necromancer-space-opera science fantasy following Gideon Nav, an unwilling swordswoman cavalier, and her necromancer Harrowhark Nonagesimus, of the decaying Ninth House, as they compete in a deadly trial to become one of the Emperor's immortal saints. Genre-bending in the opposite direction from Dragonriders of Pern or The Book of the New Sun: marketed and often shelved as science fiction, but built on explicitly magical necromancy, bone constructs, and secondary-world-style houses and lore. Tamsyn Muir's debut, Gideon the Ninth (2019), won the Locus Award for Best First Novel and drew nominations for the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel, an unusually broad sweep across the genre's major prizes; its sequels Harrow the Ninth (2020) and Nona the Ninth (2022) each earned further Hugo and Nebula nominations, with the completed trilogy itself shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2023, making the Locked Tomb one of the most decorated genre-blending fantasy sequences of its decade.
Dark fantasy, New Weird · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Locked Tomb Tamsyn Muir
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Gideon the Ninth | 2019 | 1 | core | 4.17 (197,385 ratings) |
 | Harrow the Ninth | 2020 | 2 | core | 4.29 (95,290 ratings) |
 | Nona the Ninth | 2022 | 3 | core | 4.33 (60,323 ratings) |
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 A 4th novel, Alecto the Ninth, is announced for October 12, 2026 -- unpublished as of 2026-08-07 and isn't counted here yet.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
- The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex (2020) ; A standalone prequel short story/novella, catalogued as Locked Tomb #0.5; a companion piece rather than a numbered entry in the main sequence.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Locked Tomb? The Locked Tomb's Core Canon is 3 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for The Locked Tomb? Publication order, starting with Gideon the Ninth. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Locked Tomb finished? Ongoing (2019–present).
- How much reading does The Locked Tomb take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books).
- How is The Locked Tomb ranked? #84 in this site's official ranking, based on 352,998 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #84?
Ranked #84 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.23 across 3 core books.
- Backed by 353k reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #83, The Band (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 3 books · Ongoing · 353k ratings · Ranks #84 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length dark fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- Gideon the Ninth (2019)
- Harrow the Ninth (2020)
- Nona the Ninth (2022)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2019: finalist: Gideon the Ninth; 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: Gideon the Ninth
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2020: finalist: Gideon the Ninth; 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: Gideon the Ninth; 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: Gideon the Ninth; 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.
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2020: won: Gideon the Ninth
- Crawford Award (IAFA Crawford Fantasy Award), 2020: won: Gideon the Ninth
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2021: finalist: Harrow the Ninth
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2022: finalist: Nona the Ninth; Corrected from a Wikipedia summary claim of a win; SFWA's own award-year page shows Nona the Ninth as a finalist. Winner: Babel by R.F. Kuang (already in this canon).
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2023: finalist: Nona the Ninth
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Suggestions computed from what The Locked Tomb and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Broken Earth Epic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.29
- The Nevernight Chronicle Dark fantasy / Grimdark · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.29
- The Lord of the Ice Garden Epic fantasy / New Weird · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.20
- The Books of Babel New Weird · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.20
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.23 across 352,998 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Locked Tomb admitted; Core Canon = the 3 published novels, in progress accepted 2026-08-07
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-07
Rule: Core Canon = the 3 published novels. Admitted as an in-progress series: a 4th novel, Alecto the Ninth, is announced for October 12, 2026, unpublished as of this admission. The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, a standalone prequel short story catalogued as Locked Tomb #0.5, is Expanded Canon.