I am combining my reviews for Gideon and Harrow, however, there will be no spoilers for either books listed below.

Plot: 5/5
The Locked Tomb series begins with a woman who wants nothing more than to leave, and evolves into an exploration of a Gothic castle to unravel a great mystery only to be interrupted by an untimely [redacted].

The plot for Gideon is fantastic, and feels quick paced. You’ll feel lost, but so does Gideon, so you can suffer together, but each mystery unravels to a fulfilling discovery. While we follow Gideon through the first book, Tamsyn Muir does a fantastic job of subtly moving parts of the plot in the background, so when everything comes together, it comes together with a bang. Even better for rereads.

Harrow the Ninth’s plot is just as fantastic, chocked full of mystery, intrigue, and bad ass moments, but will definitely leave you questioning what happened at several moments. The story is told in a way that can be difficult to start with, but once you get into it, it picks up momentum and is much easier. Both books are fantastic for rereads as all the little details are picked up.

Characters: 5/5
Gideon the Ninth lives and dies with Gideon’s character. I’ve found several people mentioning not liking her, in which case, the first book would be quite the challenge to make it for. I can see why some people may not like her, but this was not the case for me. Gideon is one of my all time favorite characters, and I couldn’t get enough for her. Every other character through the two books are so well crafted and magnificent. I loved spending every moment with them and getting to know them. The relationships between the various characters are so well done and lead to several amazing and hilarious moments. There were characters I loved, characters I hated, but mostly characters I loved to hate.

Worldbuilding: 5/5
The story dives into the world, and hands you pieces as it goes, letting you build everything up as the story evolves around you. It is never overwhelming, but it can lead to a few moments of confusion, which are usually cleared up after the fact. But even as this goes, the necromancy that Muir builds is such a fun magic system to see play out on the page, and the depth of the history built out is evident through the sneak peaks that we have. I am enthralled by the worldbuilding present in these books, and it leaves me excited to learn more about it in Nona and Alecto.

Writing: 5/5
These books are crafted masterfully by Tamsyn Muir. The pacing and the wordplay are phenomenal, and there are several moments I laughed from the humor Muir brought into the books, combining it so elegantly with the seriousness around it. Gideon is third person POV, but Harrow has a vast majority written in second person, which I know can be a challenge to some. However, the way Muir utilizes the second person is so well done that it adds to the story far more than it could detract.

Enjoyability: 5/5
I loved these books, every few months this series becomes my obsession once again, and I cannot wait for Nona to drop. I laughed, I cried, I bled with these books. (The bleeding was because of a mosquito bite, but it happened while I was listening so it counts). These books are truly some of my favorite books of all time, so it’s fair to say the enjoyability is maxed.

OVERALL: 5/5 Skellybones

Narration: 5/5
I read both Gideon and Harrow physically before deciding to do a reread through audiobook. Moira Quirk masterfully delivers the narration for these books, and now when I physically read I just hear her voice talking to me. It’s weird, but whatever, I’m sure it will go away some day. The one thing I will note is that Harrow has a lot of complexity to it that might be difficult over audio for some. I was finding myself having to rewind occasionally to catch what was happening, and this was on a reread as well. If you’re more experienced with audiobooks, however, I’m sure it will be less of an issue.