Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

The first half of this book is Gormenghast. The second half is Ten Little Indians.

Seventeen young necromancers are called to what is left of a ten-thousand-year-old maybe-research-complex. It is implied that they may find tremendous power. They are given no almost no instructions. They may choose to compete; they may choose to cooperate. Then they start dying.

This first book of “The Locked Tomb” takes place on a very small stage, but its ending opens to a much larger stage. The Emperor set this up because he is desperate.