What to Read After Gideon the Ninth — 6 Books for Locked Tomb Fans
Tamsyn Muir invented something entirely new with Gideon the Ninth: necromancers in space, narrated by a sword lesbian with a chip on her shoulder, in a haunted house mystery that becomes something far stranger and more devastating than its premise suggests. The books below share Gideon's combination of literary ambition, genuine emotional depth, and queer characters who feel fully realized — from Muir's own sequels to Arkady Martine's award-winning space opera to Becky Chambers' warmth-first sci-fi.
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Harrow the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
The direct sequel to Gideon the Ninth: narrated by Harrowhark in second person, told across fractured timelines, and far stranger than the first book. Muir dismantles everything Gideon established and rebuilds it into something more ambitious, more devastating, and more difficult to put down. Required reading for anyone who finished Gideon.
NecromancyLocked TombQueer RomanceUnreliable Narrator🔥 Heat: Warm - 2
A Memory Called Empire
by Arkady Martine
An ambassador from a small space station arrives at a vast empire carrying the neural backup of her dead predecessor — and must navigate court politics while figuring out who wants her dead. Martine's novel shares Gideon's literary intelligence, queer sensibility, and interest in identity and consciousness as plot engines. Hugo Award winner and one of the best SF novels of the last decade.
Space OperaPolitical IntrigueIdentityQueer Romance🔥 Heat: Warm - 3
She Who Became the Sun
by Shelley Parker-Chan
A peasant girl takes her dead brother's identity and destiny to survive — then keeps surviving, becoming something monstrous and magnificent in the process. Parker-Chan writes gender and power with the same rigorous ambiguity Muir brings to Gideon and Harrow's dynamic, and the historical Chinese setting is rendered with immense care.
Gender IdentityHistorical FantasyAmbitionMorally Grey🔥 Heat: Warm - 4
All Systems Red
by Martha Wells
A part-human, part-robot security unit who has hacked its own governor module just wants to watch TV dramas — and must protect a team of scientists it has grown fond of despite itself. Wells' Murderbot shares Gideon's combination of dry wit, genuine emotional depth, and a narrator whose self-deprecating voice conceals how much they actually care.
Found FamilyDry HumorSci-FiReluctant Hero🌸 Heat: Sweet - 5
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
by Becky Chambers
A crew of misfit tunnel-builders travels across the galaxy to punch a wormhole through dangerous space — and the journey matters more than the destination. Chambers' found-family sci-fi is the warmest possible companion to Gideon's found-family-in-a-haunted-house energy, and both authors prioritize character interiority and queer representation.
Found FamilySpace OperaQueer CharactersEnsemble Cast🌸 Heat: Sweet - 6
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
by Seth Dickinson
An imperial accountant infiltrates the empire that colonized her homeland — using economics as a weapon to destroy the system from within. Dickinson writes with the same controlled devastation Muir brings to the Locked Tomb books: a protagonist whose competence is terrifying, whose relationships are charged with political meaning, and whose choices consistently cost more than expected.
Political IntrigueEmpireQueer RomanceSacrifice🔥 Heat: Warm