Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

 

The call has come out from the Emperor.  He has called to the ruling bone witch of each of the other eight houses to gather at his capital to compete in a battle to the death.  Each world is ruled by a bone witch who is a necromancer and the Ninth House is ruled by Harrowhark Nonagesimus.  She is just a teenager in age but one of the most skilled necromancers anywhere and a leading contender to win the competition.

There is one other caveat.  Each house and bone witch must be accompanied by their cavalier, a swordsman or swordswoman extraordinaire.  Gideon is such a cavalier, her swordwork almost unbelievable.  She has been raised as a captive in the Ninth House and longs only to escape and join the military.  She and Harrowhark have been enemies for their entire lives but Harrowhark needs Gideon now to accompany her.  Gideon agrees to go, thinking she will find a way to escape while there.

As all the necromancers and cavaliers assemble at the Emperor's castle, the rules are laid out.  There can be only one winner and that winner will become immortal as is the Emperor.  But the competition is full of politics and betrayal with death around every corner.  Gideon and Harrowhark must find a way to work together in order to come out alive on the other end. 

This is the first novel in the Locked Tomb series.  It was a finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards and won the 2020 Locus and Crawford Awards.  It was named a Best Book of 2019 by such organizations as NPR, Amazon, Shelf Awareness and the New York Public Library.  The novel has complex worldbuilding and even the secondary characters are fully developed.  The central theme is the enmity between Gideon and Harrowhark and how these sworn enemies learn to work together towards a common goal.  It is full of sorcery, swordfights and mystery as well as developing characters who fight the common stereotypes of gender, race and sexuality.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.