Gideon the Ninth
Gideon Nav wants nothing more than to escape a lifetime of servitude to the Ninth House and its endless skeletons. Instead she's drafted by her childhood nemesis, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, into a deadly competition: the Emperor has summoned the heir and cavalier of each of the Nine Houses to a derelict First House palace, where solving its trials grants passage to becoming a Lyctor - an immortal necromancer-saint who serves at the Emperor's side.
Gideon and Harrow can barely stand each other, but neither can succeed alone. As the competing Houses circle one another with old grudges and new alliances, the trials themselves prove to be lethal, and someone - or something - in the palace is killing entrants one by one.
A science fantasy debut that blends necromancy and swordplay with gothic horror and space opera, told in a sharp, comic voice.
An indentured swordswoman from the Ninth House who would rather be anywhere else.
The Ninth House's reclusive necromancer heir and Gideon's lifelong rival, who takes her to Canaan House as her cavalier.
The Sixth House's necromancer heir, a scholar of the Library who works the palace's puzzles alongside his cavalier.
Heir to the Eighth House and Master Templar of the White Glass, a severe young ascetic.
Cavalier primary to the Sixth House, unusually devoted to her necromancer Palamedes Sextus.
This is the first installment in The Locked Tomb series, which continues with subsequent novels that follow the overarching narrative of the Nine Houses.
The novel won the 2020 Locus Award for Best First Novel and the 2020 Crawford Award, in addition to being a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards.