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100 days of enemy recs: 10. The Locked Tomb
Some fandoms on the list I put a pairing. Some I put a character name, because really any pairing with that character would work.
Some I just put the fandom.
Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb books are basically a series of Gothic novels set in a decadent and moribund (and Goth) space empire. It's very canon queer. Also very goth. There are, in fact, lesbian necromancers, and also sword lesbians, and even a few heterosexual male necromancers (I think.)
There are some 'ships that aren't utterly redolent of enemyslash - Dulcinea/Palamedes comes to mind - but they aren't really the heart of the story - and of course it helps that our main character is a horrible little gremlin-child made entirely of trauma, sharp pointy bits, hauntings, and regenerating bone.
I had a lot of trouble coming up with recs for this, partly because this is one of the newest fandoms on the list and it's different rec'cing in something recent! And also, just, any fic that was reasonably accessible for people who don't know the fandom, is going to be very deceptive as to what the fandom's actually like, and any fic that gives a good impression of canon is going to be completely impenetrable if you don't know it. There's also, like, a canon barista AU, so what does and doesn't count as AU is complicated anyway? And trying to clearly explain the backstory of any of the pairings would require tomes.
So here are a few reasonable normal modern AUs about the main pairing.
Some I just put the fandom.
Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb books are basically a series of Gothic novels set in a decadent and moribund (and Goth) space empire. It's very canon queer. Also very goth. There are, in fact, lesbian necromancers, and also sword lesbians, and even a few heterosexual male necromancers (I think.)
There are some 'ships that aren't utterly redolent of enemyslash - Dulcinea/Palamedes comes to mind - but they aren't really the heart of the story - and of course it helps that our main character is a horrible little gremlin-child made entirely of trauma, sharp pointy bits, hauntings, and regenerating bone.
I had a lot of trouble coming up with recs for this, partly because this is one of the newest fandoms on the list and it's different rec'cing in something recent! And also, just, any fic that was reasonably accessible for people who don't know the fandom, is going to be very deceptive as to what the fandom's actually like, and any fic that gives a good impression of canon is going to be completely impenetrable if you don't know it. There's also, like, a canon barista AU, so what does and doesn't count as AU is complicated anyway? And trying to clearly explain the backstory of any of the pairings would require tomes.
So here are a few reasonable normal modern AUs about the main pairing.
- ...and a partridge in a pear tree (19913 words) by strangehunger
Fandom: Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Retail, Christmas, Secret Santa, Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Canon Typical Humor, Pining, Mutual Pining, Flirting, Bad Flirting, Found Family, Mall Goths, Literally everyone works in the same mall, and I am the God of that mall, Shitty Retail AU, Mentions of Underage Drinking for the Horrid Teens, Smoking, Bad Jokes, Slow Burn
AU in which they all work at a mall, and life is hell. - blessed with a wilder mind (26807 words) by opinionhaver69
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Characters: Gideon Nav, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Ianthe Tridentarius, Coronabeth Tridentarius, Jeannemary Chatur, Isaac Tettares, Palamedes Sextus, Camilla Hect, Dulcinea Septimus, Protesilaus Ebdoma, Naberius Tern, Magnus Quinn, Abigail Pent, Mercymorn the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy), Augustine the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Additional Tags: harrowhark comes to terms with the mortifying ordeal of being known, Alternate Universe - College/University, CW: deep dive into harrow's shitass mental health, CW: parent death (offscreen and in the past), CW: discussions of suicide and terminal illness (also occurring offscreen and in the past), lightly implied background camilla/palamedes
AU where they're all academics. Life is still hell. - If Home Is Where the Heart Is (Then We're All Just Fucked) (17348 words) by JeanLuciferGohard
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Gideon Nav/Dulcinea Septimus
Characters: Gideon Nav, Dulcinea Septimus, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Palamedes Sextus, Camilla Hect
Additional Tags: Exes, Getting Back Together, featuring a lot of extremely good extremely bad movies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
AU where they are trying to succeed at life as independent adults. Life is shit.
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(The second one on this list spoils a fairly big reveal from toward the end of Harrow, if you haven't been spoiled for it yet.)
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Wren, out loud to their monitor: ....you have my attention. XD
(so i'll put the books on the to-read list to keep company with the rest)
Question, tho: are they HORROR, or just ... goth as fuck?
General plot spoilers for Locked Tomb
The basic plot of the first book, stripped of the aesthetic and interstellar necromancy, is "group of people trapped together in creepy mansion, one of them is a killer and they have to figure out who it is before they kill again." That can be horror but it can also be, like, Miss Marple? I came to it like "Oooh, trope-y country-house mystery!" but you could probably also read it as horror and in terms of tone it's probably halfway in the middle, it's a little too intense for a cozy but probably not all the way to slasher movie.
The second one is probably closer to outright horror but it's much more psychological horror - the POV character spends the whole book unsure at any point if what she's perceiving is real or her existing mental illness or a new trauma reaction or gaslighting or supernatural weirdness, and so does the reader, and that can get pretty intense.
Also there is a lot of gore. Not like slasher movie gore, but the necromancy isn't a few aesthetic zombies or glowy spirits, it's "we deal with dismembered human body parts and deformed disembodied organs as part of our day-to-day work, you want to help render some human fat into soap today? It's laundry tomorrow." That's something I handle fine in text but probably couldn't in visuals; ymmv.
(It also is written in a very distinctive style that is either love-it or hate-it - I think you just have to try it and see if it works for you in that way.)
Re: General plot spoilers for Locked Tomb