Ninth House
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Gollancz
Pages: 460
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Gollancz
Pages: 460
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is indeed the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class.
Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride.
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players.
The mesmerizing adult debut from the New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo
My thoughts:
It’s important to let you know one thing in particular about this book: it’s violent. There are some graphic scenes that show sexual abuse. There is trauma and pain and it’s not glossed over. The novel is deeply feminist and shows characters with a past that is tough, a past that has made them strong and turned them into survivors.
The book was sombre and thrilling, brimming with ancient mysteries, magic, and the promise of danger. The characters were incredibly well-painted, my favourites being Alex Stern and Daniel Arlington, ‘Darlington’.
I enjoyed the beginning and loved the world, the intriguing school setting and the magical elements were really fascinating, but I did find the middle a tiny bit slow. Soon it became clear to me that Darlington was my favourite character by far, and he wasn’t there for most of the book which was a little disappointing. With this in mind, I guess things dragged a little for me about halfway through, but I’m so glad I kept going. In all honesty though, the book could’ve easily been shorter than the final 450 pages.
The characters were great, and it was such an addictive read. Ninth House shows off the author’s talent for creating vivid new worlds, compelling characters and an exciting, layered plot that will keep you gripped from start to finish. This new adult debut from Leigh Bardugo brings her writing to a whole new readership, and further highlights her talents for writing such wonderful fantasy stories. If, like myself, you are already a fan of her various YA fiction releases, you won’t be disappointed by Ninth House. Just bear in mind that it is much darker than her other books.
Bardugo makes the transition from YA superstar to dark adult fantasy with ease, and Ninth House captures the imagination and takes the reader on a dark and wild ride throughout. Amongst other things, the plot features multiple murders, secret societies and some very disturbing and obscure practices flow through this exciting novel. I enjoyed it very much, but I think I still loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom even more.
The world that Bardugo has created is so rich and leaves so much to discover that I’m looking forward to a follow-up. It feels like there is still so far for Alex Stern to go, and so much more for her to achieve.
Overall reaction:
It’s important to let you know one thing in particular about this book: it’s violent. There are some graphic scenes that show sexual abuse. There is trauma and pain and it’s not glossed over. The novel is deeply feminist and shows characters with a past that is tough, a past that has made them strong and turned them into survivors.
The book was sombre and thrilling, brimming with ancient mysteries, magic, and the promise of danger. The characters were incredibly well-painted, my favourites being Alex Stern and Daniel Arlington, ‘Darlington’.
I enjoyed the beginning and loved the world, the intriguing school setting and the magical elements were really fascinating, but I did find the middle a tiny bit slow. Soon it became clear to me that Darlington was my favourite character by far, and he wasn’t there for most of the book which was a little disappointing. With this in mind, I guess things dragged a little for me about halfway through, but I’m so glad I kept going. In all honesty though, the book could’ve easily been shorter than the final 450 pages.
The characters were great, and it was such an addictive read. Ninth House shows off the author’s talent for creating vivid new worlds, compelling characters and an exciting, layered plot that will keep you gripped from start to finish. This new adult debut from Leigh Bardugo brings her writing to a whole new readership, and further highlights her talents for writing such wonderful fantasy stories. If, like myself, you are already a fan of her various YA fiction releases, you won’t be disappointed by Ninth House. Just bear in mind that it is much darker than her other books.
Bardugo makes the transition from YA superstar to dark adult fantasy with ease, and Ninth House captures the imagination and takes the reader on a dark and wild ride throughout. Amongst other things, the plot features multiple murders, secret societies and some very disturbing and obscure practices flow through this exciting novel. I enjoyed it very much, but I think I still loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom even more.
The world that Bardugo has created is so rich and leaves so much to discover that I’m looking forward to a follow-up. It feels like there is still so far for Alex Stern to go, and so much more for her to achieve.
Overall reaction:
