BookRank

Reading order

Locked Tomb series reading order

Tamsyn Muir

  1. Gideon the Ninth2019
  2. Harrow the Ninth2020
  3. Nona the Ninth2022
8.28.2 / 10
2,847 ratings
Score
3 volumes
Volumes
2019–2022
Published
about 25 h
Reading time
Ongoing
Status
Science fiction#22
Genre

Quick answer

Gideon the Ninth
Start withGideon the Ninth2019 · Volume 1 of 3
Open the volume →Buy the first volumeListen to the audiobook

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Publication order

3 volumes2019–2022Ongoing

  • Read Gideon the Ninth first and expect to be lost — that is the design, and the book earns it back.
  • Then Harrow the Ninth, which changes narrator, tense and reliability all at once and is where most people either commit or leave; if you are struggling, know that the confusion is the plot.
  • Nona the Ninth came third and was not planned: Muir split the intended finale in two, which is why the series is four books and why Alecto the Ninth, still unpublished, is the ending.

A plan for the whole series

3 volumes, 1,440 pages, about 25 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 5 weeks.

38%

Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: medium

  • From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 3, “Nona the Ninth” (by 29%). Plan your break after volume 2, before the series plans it for you.
  • The series is still running; the last volume came out in 2022. You will wait for the next one anyway, so no need to rush.

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 12, 2026, 9 days later than in one go.

  1. Stage 118 habout 3 weeksby November 21, 2026
  2. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by December 1, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Stage 29 h12 daysby December 12, 2026
  4. The end of the series
    December 12, 2026
In one goDecember 3, 2026about 5 weeks
In stages, with breaksDecember 12, 2026about 6 weeks · +5 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

Does the series hold up

8.08.59.0
8.28.2 / 10
8.38.3 / 10
8.48.4 / 10
201920202022
8.08.59.0
201920202022
8.28.2 / 10
8.38.3 / 10
8.48.4 / 10
Score per volume3 volumes on a timeline, 2019 to 2022 · Best-rated volume: Nona the Ninth

Shape of the series: even. Volume scores differ by at most 0.2 points. You get the same level from the first page to the last.

Best volume: Nona the Ninth (8.4, 566 ratings). Weakest: Gideon the Ninth (8.2). From volume 2 on, the biggest drop in the number of ratings is between volume 2 and 3: 29%. The series is not finished; the last volume came out in 2022. The last volume (8.4) scores close to the series average or above it.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 3
  1. Gideon the Ninth
    Gideon the Ninth2019 · 1,480 ratingsStart here
    8.28.2 / 10
  2. Harrow the Ninth
    Harrow the Ninth2020 · 801 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  3. Nona the Ninth
    Nona the Ninth2022 · 566 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Locked Tomb books ranked, best to worst

  1. 1.Nona the NinthBook 3 · 20228.4
  2. 2.Harrow the NinthBook 2 · 20208.3
  3. 3.Gideon the NinthBook 1 · 20198.2
Top Science fiction series →

Frequently asked questions

Which Locked Tomb book is the best?

By reader score, Nona the Ninth (8.4/10). The lowest-rated is Gideon the Ninth (8.2/10).

Which Locked Tomb series book is the longest?

“Harrow the Ninth” is the longest at 512 pages; the shortest is “Gideon the Ninth” with 448 pages.