Nona the Ninth is a book that punched me in the stomach and left me writhing on the ground in pain sweating and groaning. I really really liked it. I feel like i enjoyed it more on my second reread compared to my first because i better understood what was going on......I just love everything this book adds to the series. I know that some people found the inclusion of the New Rho kids in this story pointless but honestly it makes complete sense why they're there. It's like another side of the same coin we saw in the first novel with Jeannemary and Isaac, this Forever War thats being spearheaded by John Gaius has real consequences on very vulnerable, very young people. Seeing the life of the average person outside of the nine houses is so interesting and so heartbreaking and it just puts a lot of things into perspective, especially cosnidering that the novels prior paint non-house society as such a threat. I think this book is also where the subtexts of sexual abuse and colonialism really kick into gear and there is so much to pick apart with it.

Although Harrow is my favorite so far in the series, Nona probably made me cry the hardest. It does not pull any punches and it is so unbelievably bittersweet. I love how Cam, Pal, and Pyrrha were expanded upon in NtN as well and i cannot express how seriously they break my heart. I think despite the emotional rollercoaster it was such a breath of fresh air to have a protagonist who is (at least compared to Gideon and Harrow) optimistic about the world and really earnest about it all. I love Nona so much... i think her perspective added so much to the story and the series as a whole. I also have to say i think for a book that has mostly neither Gideon nor Harrow it is full of so many moments alluding to The Everything between them it makes me want to set myself on fire. I cant stand it

I also own the illumicrate special edition of Nona the Ninth! Heres a quick pic + the art inside the reversible dustjacket by Naomistares.