No spoilers here, but there will be spoilers in the comments

As the third book of the Locked Tomb quadrilogy, Nona the Ninth is wild. What do you think of it? And what do you think the ending means?

  • Eq0@literature.cafeOP
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    10 months ago

    Who is Nona? I have some half answers, but not one of them fits all the info, there is always something that doesn’t seem to work. And is it Alecto that wakes up in the Locked Tomb?

    • Mandarbmax@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Nona was just a shard of Alecto’s soul that came out when Harrow kissed her all those years ago. The full Alecto (aka whatever of Earth’s soul remains after Jod took a bit and put the leftovers in a barbie) is what woke up at the end but harrow.

      At birth Harrow had her own soul only (or possibly shrapnel from the child murder that lead to her conception but that seems increasingly unlikely).

      At a young age Harrow unlocked the tomb with Gideon’s blood on her fingers. When she kissed Alecto’s frozen corpse she got a little bit of Alecto’s soul stuck in her somehow. Necromancy. BTW, at a similar time commander wake me up in side’s soul ended up in Gideon’s great sword.

      After lictoring Gideon Harrow had her soul too and only digested some of it before she lobotomized herself. BTW around this time Commander wake’s soul leaves the great sword and takes over the body of the dead lictor.

      At some point near the end of HtN Gideon’s soul takes over harrow’s body and harrow’s soul locks itself away to let Gideon have a turn driving. This lasts about 10min before Gideon gets her ass beaten and her soul comes out in the river. BTW this is where Jod gets her soul for making the tower prince with.

      With no one else left in the body the shard of Alecto called Nona takes over. At the end of NtN the shard is reunited with Alecto and Harrow takes back over her own body. For the first time since before GtN everyone’s soul is where it should be except for the part of Gideon’s that harrow ate to become a half lictor.

      It is not exactly clear how alecto work up (I personally blame Paul but idk) or how harrow’s soul took back over, but these aren’t huge mysteries.

      Hope this helps. Not spoiler Ed because that is what this whole thread is.

      • Eq0@literature.cafeOP
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        10 months ago

        Wow, this makes so much sense! Still, if I read it correctly, when someone wakes up in the locked tomb, the body of Alecto is still there?

        I never considered that there could be parts of souls.

  • inasaba@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    It made me give up on the series. I was waiting for some kind of payoff to the book and it never came. I will not be bothering to read the next book.

    • Eq0@literature.cafeOP
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      10 months ago

      I liked the dreamlike style, and I liked the depiction of what is like outside of the Nine Houses, but I understand. Then ending was confusing! I’ll definitely be reading Alecto, though. I trust the author too much, I believe she’ll make it worth it - I hope

  • Mandarbmax@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I liked the ending and I think it means that alecto stabs jod and Ian the gets called a large slut. 10/10

    Looking forward to At soon