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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The Ninth House had been recommended to me by so many people and received so many awards, I finally decided to take the plunge. I ended up coming away feeling it was smart and well-written, but ultimately not for me.
The premise was interesting, mixing ghosts and magic with more traditional themes of trauma, mental illness, and abuse. Make no mistake, this is an adult book, and not for the faint-of-heart. Alex, the protagonist, is a rape survivor, and her close friends are carrying similar baggage. The book is set in and around Yale University, or rather a grimy, sordid alternate Yale, where drug trafficking and bloodletting rituals are both very common.
The world was interesting and well-detailed, though not quite enough to fully pull me in. This may in part be due to the fact that the plot is poorly paced, getting bogged down and overly-descriptive, especially in the middle part of the book.
Unfortunately, my main issue was actually not with the plot itself, but with the characters. I just simply could not relate to any of them, especially Alex, who I found to be incredibly unlikeable. It’s frustrating, because once I was no longer engaged with the characters, then it became increasingly difficult to stay engaged with the plot – I found I didn’t really care whether the murderer was found or not, or, to be honest, whether Alex would survive the whole ordeal (Sorry, Alex!).
Still, despite not holding my interest, I can see why it would appeal to others, and a TV series is in the works, so maybe when that comes out it will be worth giving it another try.
The evening after I finished Leigh Bardugo incredible novel Ninth House, I sat down to read a new book and experienced an actual moment of grief that I was done with this one. What a brilliant world Bardugo has created. Smart, intricate, fearlessly crafted, this is an intellectual fantasy/horror novel that cements Bardugo firmly in the annals of the best storytellers of this generation. Immediately shoots into my top 3 books of 2019. Just incredible.
This book is by far THE BEST book Leigh Bardugo has written. I loved every moment reading Ninth House.
I hope her haters that threatened her over this book are sucking on rotten eggs right now.
Non-sequential narrative revealing a layered mystery.
Man, oh man. This was the perfect book to bring for our four-days camping — I ended each night around the campfire, obsessively reading every single page. If you like dark magic, fantasy, horror and an amazing, morally gray anti-heroine than damn I think you’d like this book! I read it compulsively and thought about it non-stop.
I will mention a few cw’s for sexual assault, murder, addiction — it also has violence and dark magic. Just thought I’d mention it in case those are things you avoid in your books.
This book was a surprise for me. At first, I didn’t like it. The first 140-150 pages were confusing and boring. But then the whole book was full of unexpected twists, and it ends up with a cliffhanger. Regarding the characters, I think that Alex was okay. However, I believe that the most interesting character was North. I hope the author continues to write his storyline. Like a lot of other people have said, this is not a book for everyone. But in my personal opinion, I think it is worth reading.
Alex’s entire life has been haunted. She is constantly on edge as ghosts hover in her vision. Drugs keep them away, and to Alex, it is safer to be high than deal with ghosts no one believes she sees. Until one last hit takes her too far and she lands in the hospital. She wakes to find a representative from Yale University offering her a chance to rebuild her life and embrace the hidden world that no one else believes in. Alex enters the world of secret magic societies hidden at Yale. But while she may be around people who believe her, there is a darkness at Yale, one that will threaten to swallow her whole.
Ninth House is a murder mystery steeped in magic. It takes a little while to grasp what is going on. However, once readers become immersed in the world of magic, they won’t want to surface again till the end. There is an overarching mystery of Alex’s mentor disappearing. This plagues the reader as Leigh Bardugo drops tantalizing bits of story from his perspective before he vanishes. Combine this with Alex in the present dealing with his disappearance and trying to find out the truth behind a murdered girl on campus. Alex digs deeper into the truth surrounding the secret societies and creates a compelling story readers won’t want to put down.
Alex is a character readers will want to follow. Her past is a disheveled mess. To see what she came from, and how the past has shaped her is worth the read. Being a survivor, Alex sees the world differently than her Yale counterparts, and it causes quite the stir. Alex will take the reader down roads that are filled with twists and turns as she struggles to embrace what she is and find out the truth.
I really struggled with this book, I just didn’t find the story line entertaining at all and the verbiage is overwritten. The only reason I finished it was due to book club. Some people love this book, yay! I just didn’t.
I absolutely consumed this book. I hold Erin Morganstern in the highest regard when it comes to world building and I have to say that Leigh Bardugo, in Ninth House, is right up there. Undoubtedly Ms. Bardugo’s time at Yale was incredibly helpful to her in this regard, but there is plenty that had to come directly from her own imagination. The plot was twisty and I appreciated the placement of new information. The writing itself avoided the trite/cliche that fantasy writers can often fall into. I just really loved this book. Hope we get to discover what happens next for Galaxy Stern!
I had high hopes for this novel. The world-building was incredible, the author’s personal experience with the prestigious, Ivy-league school was obvious. The story had incredible potential, but I felt it lagged. By the time the end came, I no longer cared what happened to Darington, I had lost the intrigue which is sad–this book has a great premise. I had figured out the mystery and was let down when I was right on all counts. Not enough action to keep the intricate plot moving along. I’m not sure I will continue the series but this author has so much talent, I’ll probably give it a shot.
When I began reading this book I felt like I was reading a sequel or that I had begun in the middle and needed the back story. I even started to abandon it after the first chapter but I am happy to report that the back story filled in nicely and turned out to be a really good read.
This is one of my favorite authors. I love her vivid writing style. The story itself was weaker than her other books in my opinion, but it had so much potential and overall I still enjoyed it. The beginning was a lot of narrative and a bit confusing. I did skim the first few chapters, but story picked up from there. The jump in time and different POV was creative, but it also made it hard to really dig myself into the story. As others have stated, there is mature content (sexual abuse, drug portrayal, graphic violence) but for anyone who reads darker themed books, this one is more on the lighter scale. What I loved about this is her use of language and the realistic characters and world building. I’m definitely interested in reading a sequel.
I loved The Ninth House so much that I wrote a mini-review for it before I had finished it. In my premmie review, I wrote that the protagonist Alex was…
“Alex is crazy and sane. She’s salt. She is street dust in the middle of an intersection in Van Nuys, California. Alex is not sex, but fucking. Alex will throat punch you, threaten your family and your livelihood, then wish you a good day. All while being tragically vulnerable.”
Ahh, Alex. I love her. I loved every moment of The Ninth House. The Ninth House reminded me of digging. Shovel after shovelful the story got deeper and deeper, just when I thought there was no way Bardugo could reach a conclusion the digging hit rock.
I recommend The Ninth House to fantasy and paranormal genre lovers.
It’s been rumored by Bardugo that the possibility of a series is there. I sincerely hope it happens. I would love to read more of Alex Stern.
Phenomenal. Intricate and terrifying magic in a complex mystery with intense and sympathetic characters. Like the best of Tess Gerritsen, plus ghosts, secret societies, and a university culture of wealth, architecture, poetry, and evil.
One of my favorite reads in the last few years! Absolutely gripping.
The writing seems a little sloppier than her other works; maybe she needs a more disciplined editor. But the story is incredible.
This book is great.
Fiction grounded in fact, exciting supernatural elements, monsters, adventures, and drama. I loved it. I did however, struggle to read it a little.
Determined, I finally got it on audible, and I am really glad that I did. The story is great. It does get a little slow at times, and the tension does struggle a little because of that – however the plot itself is strong. The characters are interesting and likeable, and the world-building and magic system and detailed and satisfying. The prose is often beautiful, and perhaps this is where I struggled. The story often seems to wander into simile, and my brain struggled to keep up. The audible helped with this, and I really enjoyed the story once I switched over. The twists were surprising, and the story really had me invested in several characters (no surprise given Leigh Bardugo gave us some of the most lovable characters in recent years with The Dregs!).
I look forward to what comes next, and enjoyed seeing a different side of Leigh Bardugo’s mind. An excellent book that is definitely worth a read!
This book was very confusing at first. Confusing enough for me to not know who is the main character lol. But- I did like how the story picked up from halfway through and it all became clearer. It was simply amazing and I loved that.
The magic was amazing to read about even as it did not have like the extraordinary kind of magic (by that I mean dragons, gargoyles, and witches at every corner saying weird shit and stuff- maybe even wands or magical objects? Idk)
But the story was way too interesting. Alex was just full of mystery and her chemistry with Darlington was just my favorite- seriously- whatever he may be, and whatever she may be- I want them to have kids in the future lol.
The way Alex handled the work of a Dante was intriguing. I liked her style of work and did admire most of her sayings. She is a strong warrior of some kind, and she does not need more magic to make her more cooler because she is already a badass and intelligent in her own way. I believe that I should actually say that she is a QUEEN!
Honestly the end left me on the edge and I want more. Too bad for me, I’ll have to wait a long time till I read the second book :/
My daughter is a huge Bardugo fan and desperately wanted this book. She had heard that the themes were heavy and dark (they were) and wanted me to read it first. Once I started to read it, I couldn’t stop. I found myself waiting for my day to end so I could curl up in bed with Alex Stern as she moved through an alternate Yale University– an unknown, dark underbelly, centuries-old, populated with the supernatural. The beginning was a bit of a head spinner, but once you settled into the magical underworld beneath a known world, the pacing was excellent, the characters were fully 3-D, and the plot was enticing and intricate. I enjoyed the dark vibe and tone. Takeaways for parents of Bardugo YA fans: there is a date rape plotline. Bardugo doesn’t shy away from the details. I felt that it was a realistic portrayal of “what could go wrong when you drink the mystery punch at a frat party and your friends ditch you.” I also felt that my daughter, a mature 11 yo could handle it and we had a great discussion after she read it. She then understood why we tell my college-age niece to always go to the bathroom with a buddy (when out at night) and NEVER drink the punch. Also, there are a lot of drug-use themes which were written from many different perspectives, giving the reader an opportunity for empathy and understanding. Overall, I adored this book and cannot wait for the next one …
Ninth House is one of those books that effortlessly immerses you in a real place that has been stretched and enhanced to take on supernatural qualities. I sped through this book in just a few days and can’t wait for the sequel. Highly recommend. Loved the systems of magic.