If I have to describe this book in a single word, it would be “solid”. Well planned, well executed, with ( about ) no cracks that could make it fall apart. This is my first Bardugo book, and while it did nothing to convince me to try her early function, I ’ ll decidedly keep an eye on this series.
Ninth House is one of the best books I ’ ve read in a while, but don ’ triiodothyronine worry—I ’ ll still find material to complain about, as common ; )
What the book gets right
Ghost, charming, mythology, and a alone, brave heroine
“solid”. Well planned, well executed, with (almost) no cracks that could make it fall apart. This is my first Bardugo book, and while it did nothing to convince me to try her other works, I’ll definitely keep an eye on this series.
Ninth House is one of the best books I’ve read in a while, but don’t worry—I’ll still find stuff to complain about, as usual 😉
What the book gets right
Ghost, magic, mythology, and a unique, brave heroine, fighting to overcome trauma and fears. We dive deep into the occult, into the ancient (real life!) houses of Yale, and the Night House assigned to monitor them: Lethe, named after the river of forgetfulness in Greek Mythology. The sons and daughters of Lethe, who bear titles inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, plunge into magic way beyond anyone’s skills or understanding.
Through Alex we see an excellent examination of how child abuse works. Her first abuser is a ghost. No one else can see him, no one else knows he is real. I found it a great parallel to what happens in real life. The abusers are often “invisible” just like ghosts. They appear as normal, nice, cheerful people to everyone else. Only the children see the truth, just like Alex is the only one to see the ghosts, but no one takes them seriously.
Alex herself is a wonderful character. She may not be educated, but she’s smart. She is adaptable and thinks on her feet. And, most of all, she takes initiative even if she doesn’t have to, and, especially, if she doesn’t want to. There are so many points when she can choose to do nothing, when it’s not just the easier, but also safer and much more comfortable course of action, but she always keeps digging, investigating, pushing. And she’s smart enough to know whom to trust and to suspect everyone. Even if she misses some hints, she still sees a lot and makes connections.
The book goes deep into discussions of power and privilege and the cycle of abuse. Some might be quick to judge people like Alex, recovering addicts, dropouts, petty thieves, with skin covered in ink. But she’s ended up where she is for a good reason and not many in her shoes would have fared better. At the end, she’s fought harder to get where she is than the rich boys at Yale.
The mythology runs deep, woven into the characters and into the town itself. I especially loved the trips to the borderlands. Mystical and absolutely epic.
We see amazing character growth from everyone: policemen, grumpy grad students and pompous ghosts. No problem has an easy or a magical solution. Alex needs to take risks and suffer the consequences, though the victories and discoveries are worth it.
I have to admit at one point I got strangely creeped out. I was reading about Yale’s secret societies and ghosts and magic, all the while doing tons of packing and unpacking. As
What. Is. This. Honestly, I had no memory of ever buying this cap and where it had come from. And then I’m reading about ghosts and Yale and all, and it pops out. But after I spent some time freaking out, I forced my brain to work and to sort through the memories.
When I was studying in the US, I spent a summer doing nuclear physics research at Yale. I wasn’t thinking too much of that time while reading this book; I have really good memories from the town of New Haven, but the only thing I remember from the Yale campus was that in the lab there were men’s bathrooms on every floor, but the women’s bathrooms were only here and there and I have to walk several floors to reach them every time. Not cool.
Anyway, one of the professors there gave us these caps as souvenirs. It had somehow disappeared throughout the years, and I had completely forgotten about its existence. But I guess I got lucky with this gift—blue is my color. Usually I get gifts in orange :-/
I was surprised to see most readers mention Darlington as their favorite character. I personally found Alex, Dawes and Turner better developed, but to each their own.
I was also surprised some readers found this book boring or confusing. I thought it was a page-turner, the mix of past and present keeping us guessing all the time, giving us just the right amount of information to have our own theories but not to know everything. I guess people are comparing this book to the author’s other works and expected something else, but it’s a very different genre. And, as I mentioned, it’s my first Bardugo book, so I had no expectations.
Perhaps I should talk about this as well…
Why is this my first and only book by Leigh Bardugo
I’ve wanted for some time to check out this author’s works, but it didn’t seem like an option for me before this book came along. I haven’t read her Grisha novels, but from what I hear, they seem to belong to the category of infuriatingly disrespectful, badly researched books that throw in pseudo-Slavic, pseudo-cultural references and incorrectly used and nonsensical words and names (which I should have already guessed from the universe name itself). And this type of books makes me want to break my Kindle.
And I don’t care how great the characters and the plot might be. I’m in the middle of a complicated relocation, and I can’t afford a new Kindle right now. So, for the sake of my nerves and my Kindle, I have no plans to get anywhere near these books. I don’t want to support lazy “research” in any way; in my opinion, authors need to do better.
That’s why I was happy to finally see she’s written a book about a culture she’s supposedly familiar with, and I finally got a chance to see what the hype is all about.
Did Ninth House change my mind to avoid the Grishaverse?
Did I think this book gets the cultural stuff right? Yes… and no. Yale student life is well represented, which is no surprise. And yet, I had to wonder why all students we meet are American, given that the student population at Yale is 20% international.
Sadly, this was an unfortunate trend I noticed when I was studying in the US. There was a huge divide between US and non-US students: separate activities, separate tables at the dining hall, separate friend groups, and (once we got the chance to choose our roommates) separate rooms. A few open-minded individuals were breaking barriers, but for the most part we lived in a parallel world, most of the US students not noticing we existed. And books like this one remind me we were indeed invisible.
It’s especially strange because during the summer I spent doing research at Yale, the US students were far and between (to be precise, two out of thirty-something.) It’s true that this was the nuclear physics program, which tends to be more international, but still I’d imagine there would be some cultural diversity in the rest of the university as well.
Any non-US stuff the book touches on remains superficial. It’s hinted that Alex’s grandma is a Sephardic Jew, but this doesn’t affect Alex’s upbringing or behavior in any way. Which I feel is a missed opportunity since it’s related to the author’s own background and she would have probably done it justice, and we could have easily seen an exciting new world. And everything else remains a lazy stereotype. One of the societies tries to open a portal to Hungary but instead ends up with the room smelling of goulash. Seriously? And then we meet the dean’s Ukrainian housekeeper who speaks in broken English.
That last one felt especially lazy. Yes, there are Eastern European women who work as housekeepers in the west and don’t speak the local language fluently. And there are also these women who are highly educated, hold PhD’s and are fluent in multiple languages, but still work as housekeepers because their degrees aren’t recognized. And there are those who are students, or successful professionals. I’ve met plenty of women from each of these four categories when I’ve lived in the US and UK, and yet the first one is the only one we ever see in fiction. Such stereotypes cause harm in real life and I believe literature should be challenging them, not reinforcing them.
Did this book convince me that Bardugo is a skilled writer? You bet. Did it convince me she can write about cultures she is not directly familiar with? No, and I still have no intention to read her Grisha books.
Anything I didn’t like?
Not much to put here. There were a handful of minor inconsistencies, e.g.:
– Detective Turners asks Alex “Who did Tripp say he saw with Tara?” but Alex never mentions to him Tripp’s name. She just says she has names of people from other societies, but never reveals her source.
– Alex recalls a story where a mean schoolmate asks her to meet up to talk to a dead relative. First time she remembers the story, she says she had to call her mom to pick her up immediately. The second time it turns out she met the older kids who introduce her to weed
– The first time Alex uses the coin of compulsion, she has no idea how long it would work. She uses the second coin shortly after and says she has 30 minutes. We’ve been with her the whole time and never see her look it up, so how does she suddenly know?
Overall, nothing major, and some of these could be attributed to an unreliable narrator, but I feel such high profile books need to have better editing in general.
Final verdict
It’s rare that I read a book and nothing bugs me. Sometimes it’s the writing, sometimes the character development, sometimes the plot. But here, everything was perfect. My only complains were related to poor representation of non-dominant cultures, but I had no problems with the writing quality itself. The book was an exciting page-turner, unique, bold, risky, innovative. While Alex was clearly The Chosen One, the story didn’t feel derivative and played with exciting, new ideas.
I read Ninth House in the span of two calendar years and four different countries. I think the memory will stay with me for a while. If I have to describe this book in a single news, it would be. Well planned, well executed, with ( about ) no cracks that could make it fall apart. This is my first base Bardugo bible, and while it did nothing to convince me to try her other work, I ’ ll decidedly keep an eye on this series.is one of the best books I ’ ve read in a while, but don ’ thyroxine worry—I ’ ll silent find stuff to complain about, as usual ; ) Ghost, magic, mythology, and a unique, brave heroine, fighting to overcome trauma and fears. We dive deep into the occult, into the ancient ( real biography ! ) houses of Yale, and the Night House assigned to monitor them : lethe, named after the river of forgetfulness in Greek Mythology. The sons and daughters of Lethe, who bear titles inspired by Dante ’ mho, dive into magic direction beyond anyone ’ south skills or understanding.Through Alex we see an excellent examination of how child mistreat works. Her first abuser is a ghostwriter. No one else can see him, no one else knows he is real. I found it a bang-up analogue to what happens in real number life. The abusers are much “ invisible ” merely like ghosts. They appear as convention, decent, cheerful people to everyone else. merely the children see the truth, barely like Alex is the only one to see the ghosts, but no one takes them seriously.Alex herself is a fantastic character. She may not be educated, but she ’ mho fresh. She is adaptable and thinks on her feet. And, most of all, she takes first step even if she doesn ’ t have to, and, particularly, if she doesn ’ triiodothyronine want to. There are thus many points when she can choose to do nothing, when it ’ s not fair the easier, but besides safer and much more comfortable naturally of legal action, but she constantly keeps dig, investigating, pushing. And she ’ south fresh enough to know whom to trust and to suspect everyone. even if she misses some hints, she placid sees a fortune and makes connections.The book goes deep into discussions of power and prerogative and the hertz of misuse. Some might be flying to judge people like Alex, recovering addicts, dropouts, junior-grade thieves, with peel covered in ink. But she ’ sulfur ended up where she is for a good reason and not many in her shoes would have fared better. At the end, she ’ sulfur contend unvoiced to get where she is than the rich boys at Yale.The mythology runs deep, weave into the characters and into the town itself. I particularly loved the trips to the borderlands. Mystical and absolutely epic.We see amaze character growth from everyone : policemen, crabbed grad students and grandiloquent ghosts. No problem has an easy or a charming solution. Alex needs to take risks and suffer the consequences, though the victories and discoveries are worth it.I have to admit at one point I got queerly creeped out. I was reading about Yale ’ s mystery societies and ghosts and magic, all the while doing tons of throng and unpack. As I recently mentioned, I ’ m in the serve of relocating to Denmark. I ’ ve been going though all my things, sorting them, deciding what to throw away and what to pack, when I came across this Yale cap : honestly, I had no memory of always buying this ceiling and where it had come from. And then I ’ megabyte read about ghosts and Yale and all, and it pops out. But after I spent some time freaking out, I forced my brain to work and to sort through the memories.When I was studying in the US, I spent a summer doing nuclear physics research at Yale. I wasn ’ thyroxine thinking besides a lot of that time while reading this bible ; I have in truth good memories from the township of New Haven, but the only thing I remember from the Yale campus was that in the lab there were men ’ south bathrooms on every deck, but the women ’ second bathrooms were only here and there and I have to walk several floors to reach them every clock. not cool.Anyway, one of the professors there gave us these caps as souvenirs. It had somehow disappeared throughout the years, and I had completely forgotten about its universe. But I guess I got lucky with this gift—blue is my color. normally I get gifts in orange : -/I was surprised to see most readers mention Darlington as their darling character. I personally found Alex, Dawes and Turner better developed, but to each their own.I was besides surprise some readers found this book boring or confusing. I thought it was a page-turner, the mix of past and present keeping us guessing all the time, giving us fair the right measure of information to have our own theories but not to know everything. I think people are comparing this script to the author ’ s other works and expected something else, but it ’ s a very different writing style. And, as I mentioned, it ’ second my first base Bardugo script, so I had no expectations.Perhaps I should talk about this as well…I ’ ve wanted for some time to check out this writer ’ mho works, but it didn ’ metric ton seem like an option for me before this book came along. I haven ’ metric ton read her Grisha novels, but from what I hear, they seem to belong to the category of infuriatingly disrespectful, badly researched books that throw in pseudo-Slavic, pseudo-cultural references and incorrectly used and absurd words and names ( which I should have already guessed from the universe diagnose itself ). And this type of books makes me want to break my Kindle.And I don ’ t wish how great the characters and the plot might be. I ’ megabyte in the middle of a complicate move, and I can ’ thyroxine afford a new Kindle right now. so, for the sake of my nerves and my Kindle, I have no plans to get anywhere near these books. I don ’ thyroxine want to support lazy “ inquiry ” in any way ; in my public opinion, authors need to do better.That ’ sulfur why I was happy to ultimately see she ’ mho written a book about a polish she ’ s purportedly conversant with, and I finally got a chance to see what the hype is all about.Did I think this reserve gets the cultural stuff right ? Yes… and no. Yale student life is well represented, which is no surprise. And so far, I had to wonder why all students we meet are American, given that the scholar population at Yale is 20 % international.Sadly, this was an inauspicious course I noticed when I was studying in the US. There was a huge separate between US and non-US students : classify activities, separate tables at the dining hall, distinguish friend groups, and ( once we got the opportunity to choose our roommates ) separate rooms. A few open-minded individuals were breaking barriers, but for the most contribution we lived in a latitude world, most of the US students not noticing we existed. And books like this one prompt me we were indeed invisible.It ’ randomness particularly foreign because during the summer I spent doing research at Yale, the uracil students were far and between ( to be precise, two out of thirties. ) It ’ s true that this was the nuclear physics program, which tends to be more international, but still I ’ five hundred think there would be some cultural diversity in the rest of the university as well.Any non-US stuff the book touches on remains superficial. It ’ sulfur hinted that Alex ’ mho grandma is a Sephardic Jew, but this doesn ’ thyroxine affect Alex ’ s upbringing or behavior in any way. Which I feel is a neglect opportunity since it ’ sulfur related to the generator ’ s own background and she would have credibly done it justice, and we could have easily seen an exciting newly universe. And everything else remains a lazy stereotype. One of the societies tries to open a portal vein to Hungary but rather ends up with the room smell of goulash.And then we meet the dean ’ mho ukrainian housekeeper who speaks in separate English.That last one felt particularly faineant. Yes, there are easterly european women who work as housekeepers in the west and don ’ metric ton speak the local terminology fluently. And there are besides these women who are highly educated, hold PhD ’ south and are fluent in multiple languages, but hush work as housekeepers because their degrees aren ’ metric ton recognized. And there are those who are students, or successful professionals. I ’ ve met batch of women from each of these four categories when I ’ ve lived in the US and UK, and yet the first one is the only one wesee in fiction. such stereotypes cause harm in real life sentence and I believe literature should be challenging them, not reinforcing them.Did this book convert me that Bardugo is a skilled writer ? You stake. Did it convince me she can write about cultures she is not directly familiar with ? No, and I even have no purpose to read her Grisha books.Not much to put here. There were a handful of minor inconsistencies, e.g. : – detective Turners asks Alex “ Who did Tripp say he saw with Tara ? ” but Alex never mentions to him Tripp ’ mho appoint. She good says she has names of people from other societies, but never reveals her source.- Alex recalls a floor where a mean schoolmate asks her to meet up to talk to a dead relative. inaugural time she remembers the fib, she says she had to call her ma to pick her up immediately. The second time it turns out she met the older kids who introduce her to weed- The first time Alex uses the coin of compulsion, she has no mind how long it would work. She uses the second mint curtly after and says she has 30 minutes. We ’ ve been with her the unharmed time and never see her look it up, so how does she on the spur of the moment know ? overall, nothing major, and some of these could be attributed to an undependable narrator, but I feel such high profile books need to have better editing in general.It ’ south rare that I read a bible and nothing bugs me. Sometimes it ’ s the compose, sometimes the character exploitation, sometimes the plot. But hera, everything was perfect. My merely complains were related to poor representation of non-dominant cultures, but I had no problems with the write quality itself. The ledger was an excite page-turner, alone, boldface, hazardous, advanced. While Alex was intelligibly The Chosen One, the narrative didn ’ thyroxine tactile property derivative and played with arouse, new ideas.I readin the span of two calendar years and four different countries. I think the memory will stay with me for a while.
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