I’m reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir but I’ve been kind of struggling lately.

I think the writing style is breaking my immersion, all the cursing in the protagonist POV seems unnatural and gives the book an overall juvenile feel to it.

I’m around page 200 and in the last few chapters nothing much has been happening, which I would be fine with if some nice character moments or worldbuilding came out of it. But no, it’s just her wandering around in this decrepit palace, interacting with nothing and nobody and being bored.

I don’t like DNFing books but I am lacking a reason to keep reading this one. Does it get better? What should be this book’s strong suit in your opinion? Character work, worldbuilding, plot?

  • Impactoman@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I loved these books and am looking forward to reading where this story ends. But if you’re not enjoying it at this point it’s ok to put it down.

    I don’t remember that part of the story page 200 is. But it sounds like you’re around the part where it turns into a sort of whodunnit.

    I liked these books because they were fun and easy reading. I found the characters interesting and appreciated the settings novelty.

    I’m sorry to tell you that Gideon remains as irreverent and juvenile through the whole story. We end up learning more about Gideon and the other characters that make them more sympathetic. The 2nd and 3rd books focus on different characters and have different tones.

  • VeryFinePrint@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have a strange relationship with Gideon the Ninth. I didn’t like much of the book as I was reading. After after I finished reading the book stuck in my mind, and I found my self liking it more the more I thought about it. I don’t really know why. The result was, I liked having read the book more than I liked reading it.

  • serfraser
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    1 year ago

    Oh boy this book really seems to divide people. It’s on my TBR for this year’s bingo challenge and I’m nervous, so we shall watch your responses with great interest.

  • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Gideon the Ninth is one part style, one part mystery, and one part memes. The whole story does come together as you go through the books and get the pieces, but you have to be a person who likes being confused on the first read, and then start to understand what’s going on on 2nd and 3rd reads.

    I’d say if you don’t like what’s going on and it’s page 200, maybe the book just isn’t for you. And that’s fine–there’s plenty of books out there that other people love that aren’t for ME! We all are into different things.

  • Sweetroll@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I loved Gideon the Ninth, and even I couldn’t get through the third book. It gets progressively more confusing for no reason, so if you’re already bored, I say DNF.

  • zerochaos56@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Life is too short to continue reading books you don’t enjoy.

    I DNF it because I thought it was terrible in every aspect. In fact my book club of about six people all gave up on it after about 50 pages.

    Afterwards I read the wiki and found out the ending (which I wasn’t impressed by).