In the myriadic year of our lord—the twenty thousand and twentieth year (after death), the year of the COVID-19 pandemic!—the Book Squad packs our pets, our books, and our dirty magazines, and we escape to the House of the Ninth. Joined by guest Leah Rachel Von Essen, we engage in a rousing discussion of “Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir, the first in Muir’s Locked Tomb trilogy. Topics include queerness without romance, magical world-building, and the difference between necromancy and necrophilia. Then we cover some listener feedback and talk about what’s on the #BookSquadBlog. On our next episode (May 4) we’ll talk about “Devs,” the new Hulu show from BSG favorite Alex Garland. Our next bookpisode (May 18) will be about “The Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo. Send your comments and feedback to thesquad@booksquadgoals.com, and don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe!

TOC

:30–Introduction to our guest Leah, and icebreaker q
12:08–A spoiler warning and book introduction
15:29–What were our difficulties approaching the book? What drew us in?
26:50–necromancy
39:02–Is this a mystery novel?
47:10–Discussing Muir’s interview with Three Crows Magazine; discussing hard topics and queer sexual identities (http://threecrowsmagazine.com/tamsyn-muir-interview-there-is-a-lot-of-blood-on-my-dance-floor/)
1:06:06–Favorite moments/characters
1:15:12–Ratings
1:28:48–Feedback
1:30:54–What’s on the blog? What’s up next?

Leah’s piece on queer romance: https://bookriot.com/2020/02/17/characters-shouldnt-need-to-kiss-to-be-queer/
You can find Leah at https://whilereadingandwalking.com/.