A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST! The mesmerizing adult debut from Leigh Bardugo, a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite Galaxy “Alex” Stern is 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 … boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, 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 prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?
Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.
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Holy crap, you guys. I LOVED this book. Like, stayed up late and got up early to keep reading it, and that so rarely happens these days. It is super dark—gave me a terrible nightmare one night—but it was so good. It’s a ghost story, of sorts, which you know I’m going to love, but the world building is what completely sucked me in. I’m done now and sad thinking about the wait for the next one!
This book lives up to all the hype! I LOVED it.
Bardugo is one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint with her first first into Adult novels. It was dark and creepy and much more complex than her young adult novels. I loved the ending and hope she turns this into a series
Think The Secret History meets The Shadowhunters (Cassandra Clare) meets Waking the Moon (Elizabeth Hand) and you’ve got this cool and hard to put down story set among the secret societies at Yale. Magic and mayhem!
Already waiting for the sequel. If you like dark fantasy involving the occult, ghosts, or questionable morals, this one is for you.