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.