Nona the Ninth

Locked Tomb, Book 3

By: Tamsyn Muir

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Her city is under siege.

The zombies are coming back.

And all Nona wants is a birthday party.

In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.

The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.

And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...

©2022 Tamryn Muir (P)2022 Recorded Books

Really enjoyed it!

Once again the narrator, Moira Quirk, really makes the experience. She was fantastic!

As some other reviewers have said the story overall did feel a bit unnecessary in some ways. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. I DID really enjoy listening to this book, in fact I went through it in just a few days. But the actual forward progress of the storyline and our understanding of the world, factions, and history of John and his Lyctors is relatively little over the course of an entire book.

“Nona the Ninth” falls to some of the same issues as “Harrow the Ninth,” in that it is purposefully obtuse and obscuring in the way it is written. So you really have to work to puzzle things out if you aren’t content to be be confused until the last 1/4 of the book. The author doesn’t hold your hand or give you a lot of exposition. Things just are and it’s up to you to pick up the clues and figure out why - if you care to. This can be especially frustrating with an audiobook, because you really have to pay attention. You can’t easily flip back a few pages to skim or re-read a section to puzzle something out.

All that being said, at the end of the day, this book is absolutely worth reading if you are invested in the series and the characters. I put it off for about six months afraid I wouldn’t enjoy it due to some of the reviews, but now wish I hadn’t cause I had to look up a bunch of characters to remind myself who everyone was.

Nona is charming, endearing, and hilarious, and while the characters we REALLY want to see again aren’t featured as much as we’d probably like, we get to know a lot of other characters better (many for the first time) and the ending sets things up for what will hopefully be some great payoff in the next installment.

Complex and refreshing

The writing, as with all the other books, is fantastic. The dialogs are hilarious, made when better by Moira Quirks fantastic voices and narration. The secrets are slowly being revealed, and in classic fashion, they're mostly revealed at the very very end.

I will admit to losing track of sooner off the more complex turns while listening to the book while navigating a foreign city. I rarely have to rewind to figure out why we are suddenly magically in a completely different setting, with the same characters, one suddenly profusely bleeding. But I had 3-4 of these happen to the point of total confusion. But it's all worth it, and an absolutely fantastic ride.

Muir has done it again. Done what? I don’t know!

A worthy continuation of the Locked Tomb series! The only thing you should expect is the unexpected. Like Harrow the Ninth this book reinvents the series again, so if you wanted the sword fights of book 1 or the philosophy of book 2 I’m sorry, you get the Nona of Book 3!

It’s really engaging even if you don’t know what’s going on, but I suspect that just existing in the story is the intended experience. So enjoy it!

I love Nona and I'm sure she'd love me too

I felt compelled to write a review because I was seeing a lot of negative feedback. I want to throw my opinion in the pot because I enjoyed the heck out of this book and needed to give it a little hype. the whole series has been a wild journey but I am here for every second of it. I can't wait for the next book!

Bones!

Let's listen to the magical inside out animal shield Man he's obviously got some good ideas

pashaw

the voice she did for pash made it difficult to like pash despite pash's objective awesomeness

Tamsyn and Moira have done it again... again.

Another incredible new story, another totally different narrator, another completely different setting, another amazing combination of snark and horror. Same amazing author. Same amazing audiobook narrator.

Amazing confusion

The book keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try to puzzle out what has, is, and was happening. Brilliantly done!

My favorite of the books so far

I know that this book was poorly received by a lot of the fan base, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Each book has given a new setting and a fun way to view the characters in a new lens that still lends to a powerful overarching story through the books.
I found the segments of back story delivered in a fun way, and this book keeps up with the last book's unreliable narrator, which I loved. over-all, my favorite book of the series thus far.

1000/10 Narration

1000/10 Narration. I love this series, and this one was a treasure. If you made it through Harrow the Ninth, you'll love this book. It is just as confusing as Harrow in a different way, but at the same time it's very easy to follow and ends up making perfect sense. Moira Quirk's narration is impeccable as usual, so good that I felt as if I was missing out when reading instead of listening. Obviously these books aren't for everyone, but if you made it through Harrow and are interested enough to be reading a review, you'll want to read this book!