This week we are discussing chapters 7 - 11 of Gideon the Ninth. Below you’ll find summaries of each chapter and a few thoughts and questions to help kick off the conversation, although please post with your own questions and observations as well! When making a post, please use spoiler tags for anything referencing future events in either Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, or the previews of Nona the Ninth we've received thusfar.

Chapter 7
Gideon and Harrow approach the First House and some amazing descriptors of space ensue from Gideon’s point of view, as she is awestruck by the beauty of the world. To no one’s great surprise so far, Harrow is less outwardly excited, but we get the note that her voice is “distant and full of badly suppressed adrenaline.” Gideon makes a “your mom” joke and we’re introduced to her aviators.

Harrow and Gideon land and disembark and we get our first looks at and introductions to the other Houses, their heirs and their cavaliers, and of course, Teacher. For some reason, the Seventh and Third houses are late to arrive. The Third’s inconsistency is immediately obvious as there are, in fact, two heirs presented. Meanwhile, our representative of the Seventh House seems to be in the midst of snuffing it, though slowly. The reference to whatever is going on being “advanced” makes me think cancer, though the genetic bit gives me Habsburg vibes. Though her cavalier doesn’t seem terribly healthy either, at least he’s not fainting. Gideon lends the Lady Septimus a hand after a fainting episode, and things start getting gayer for Griddle at Canaan House.

Chapter 8
The Houses and their representatives are officially welcomed to Canaan House, and we see there’s something of a cultural divide between the Ninth House and the rest. The cavaliers receive keyrings from the priests (and the concept of a keyring baffles poor Griddle). Meanwhile, we’re given a solid information dump on Lyctors also courtesy of our little priest.

We learn that, after the Emperor’s resurrection, 8 necromancers were ascended to Lyctorhood, at which point they receive the blessing of eternal life. Lyctors are immensely powerful, and seem to have been responsible for leading much of the Empire’s expansion in the 10,000ish years since their ascension. They are, however, not immortal, as some have died. The Emperor is grieving for his lost Lyctors, and only recently has accepted that additional Lyctors would be needed. Interestingly we’re not told how many are left, but it’s also noteworthy that the number of Lyctors doesn’t seem to be a sacred thing (akin to the 12 Apostles of Christian lore). Anyway, the contestants are given their one rule (don't open a locked door without permission) and informed that figuring out the process of Lyctorhood is something that they will have to discover for themselves rather than be taught. Which is a much better way to learn anything if you ask me.

Harrow and Gideon are shown to their room. As Gideon falls asleep, she sees one of the shuttles falling off the landing platform. Whoopsie doodle. I’m sure that won’t matter at any point.

Chapter 9
Gideon awakens to discover that Harrow is a master of the passive-aggressive post it note. Harrow uses these to inform Gideon that she has taken the ring and that Gideon is not to talk to anyone, which Gideon ultimately finds a relief when it turns out that a lifetime of captivity on a planet with few actual living residents makes one socially awkward as hell. Magnus is super friendly; Tettares and Chatur are basically babies; and Canaan House is huge, gorgeous, and in a state of serious decay.

During her explorations, Gideon manages to accidentally eavesdrop on the twins and cavalier of the Third House, confirming that the shuttles are, in fact, all gone. Also Coronabeth is hot and Ianthe is the fun house mirror version of her, but apparently quite bookish.

Chapter 10
On her way out from lunch, Gideon now runs into a necromancer who is explicitly hostile to her, referring to her as a “shadow cultist.” Most likely Eighth House, since it’s two men. Gideon continues wandering and stumbles across Dulcinea Septimus and starts simping real hard while still managing to maintain her silence…barely. Septimus can read her like a book and Gideon finds it both uncomfortable and exciting, in a way. Dulcinea’s mountain of a cavalier returns just in time to save Gideon from spilling everything and we learn he was exploring something, only to find that something is shut. Gideon retreats.

Chapter 11
Gideon encounters Coronabeth more directly over breakfast after two days of somewhat terrified isolation in her room (in which she, oddly enough, barely saw Harrow at all), and is invited to sparring matches for the House cavaliers. Because Gideon continues to be a lonely simp for a gorgeous woman, she follows along. Here we really get to meet all the House cavaliers. Magnus immediately proves he’s a married man with a bad pun. Gideon duels him and wins easily, catching the attention of the other attendees, more than half of whom are very impressed.

Side note: as someone who has done various types of swordfighting for years AND a bookworm, I love the way this bit is written. The sentences have a flow to them that, to me, mirrors the flow state an adrenaline rush brings on in such a fight. The long middle sentence in particular (p.115 “She pivoted away…”) just carries you through the combat perfectly, one phrase leading to the next up till the point where victory was inevitable. Plus the inner monologues that occur in the middle of the fight reminding you to either do or not do that thing that is or was your bad habit.

Naberius immediately claims the next fight against Gideon, taunting her the whole way. This is a very different fight: Naberius is absolutely clinical with every motion, managing to use his reach to keep her at range, where he would only need to tire her out. Naberius successfully disarms Gideon, who proceeds to punch him right in the solar plexus, ending the fight. The match technically goes to Naberius, but he is big mad about Gideon not recognizing the fight was over as soon as she was disarmed. Jeannemary wants to be next but Magnus redirects to drills. As Gideon is disarming, she looks up to find that Harrow might have been watching all of that.

Thoughts/Takeaways/Discussion Starters

So, because I’m an idiot, I read this whole book the first time not noticing that the houses were the planets of the Solar System. This is particularly egregious because I teach astronomy and there are some, in retrospect, GLARINGLY OBVIOUS descriptors of the astronomical bodies that I really should have caught on to. The First House is, of course, Earth, as noted by the vast amount of water all around the surface of the planet and the “white smoke of its atmosphere.” The Sixth and Seventh are Mercury and Venus “there were other Houses that made their homelands on planets closer to the burning star of Dominicus.” No more evidence is presented specifically in the text for which house corresponds to which planet, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for that this time.

What I’m particularly curious about is which Houses correspond to which planets, and what the number of each House means. My initial hypothesis (because it’s more fun not to look it up) based on the evidence up through chapter 11 is settlement/colonization order, but we’ll see. For that to be the case, I would personally expect Mars, Jupiter, Saturn to be 2, 3, 4 in that order. (Jupiter and Saturn themselves wouldn’t be inhabited as they’re gas giants, but both have a number of very interesting and intriguing moons that attract a lot of interest from astrobiologists.)

Based on the look of the Second House’s skull from Dramatis Personae, I think Mars is a good bet along with the whole “Crimson Shield” thing. Similarly, the scroll in the mouth of the Sixth House skull tells me that one is Mercury (the messenger) while the Seventh is Venus (the rose). And whichever planet the Ninth House is on it’s in close enough proximity to the Third and Fifth that Harrow is worried that the Ninth could become “an appendix of the Third or Fifth Houses” (p. 58). (And yes, I know people have already figured all this out; I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in the evidence that has been presented thusfar in GtN.)

Now, all that to set up one line from our dear little Miss Nonagesimus with a bunch of implications.

• The first comment we get from Harrow regarding the First House is “It’s a grave.” Now we know this is Earth, a planet that was once home to at least 7.75 billion people. It’s of course also mentioned that the First House is lifeless at the beginning of chapter 5. So what happened? Has necromancy always been some part of the world or does it just stem from the Emperor's ascension?

• While were at it, is there any ____ House = _____ planet evidence I’ve overlooked?

• “Canaan House” is quite a loaded name. In particular, it not only generally refers to what is often called the Levant or The Holy Land, consisting of present-day Palestine and Israel and a bit of Lebanon. But it’s also noteworthy that Canaan was a nation in its own right that is conquered by the Israelites after being promised to Abraham all the way back in the book of Genesis. To quote the (tediously dull) Book of Deuteronomy “However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.” (20:16). So why choose the name Canaan House? Without going into spoiler territory, what might a name like this portend?

• These chapters feature our introduction to Canaan House and the rest of the cast; the other House heirs and their cavaliers. While we get some descriptions of characters from Gideon’s point of view, most of the characterizations come through dialogue. What are some of the best dialogue choices Muir gives these characters that really take us to the core of who they are?

• I think Muir doesn’t get quite enough credit for the often very dry humor in her writing. This section of chapters has the post-it notes, a your mom joke, “there were metal ladders going down into the pit, but why would you though” and more that got some hefty snorts out of me at least. What are some of your favorite comedic lines that you’ve come across on this re-read?

SPOILERS BElLOW

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Re-Read Discussion Thoughts

• Knowing now the process required to make a Lyctor, that line about the Third House heirs presenting “only trouble at the end of the line[…] and a trouble confined to them” is quite a statement to be made.

• In the prayer in chapter 8 (p.81) we get a direct reference to resurrection, rather than just an allusion. In fact, it’s called “the Ninefold Resurrection.” In Christianity there is, of course a single resurrection. But nine? Of course it matches the number of houses though. But what are these resurrections and who was resurrected?

• I’m quite intrigued by the difference in the religions of the Ninth House and the rest of the houses, as indicated by their distinct prayer. From the reactions of the priests, this is nothing new to them, however, though the representatives of the other Houses seem quite surprised. What might have given rise to this cultural difference?

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END OF SPOILERS

Thanks of course to /u/pacificselkie for putting this all together! Revisiting this book with a specific eye for the details was a lot of fun :)

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