Review: Ninth House

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars bumped to 5 because if you can make me like a story this dark, you deserve 5 stars

The Ninth House is bestselling author Leigh Bardugo's first adult novel and is it dark in tone. There are terrible crimes, including a pretty gruesome one, at the heart of this story. But Galaxy Stern is worth your patience. It took me a bit to warm to her since, in the beginning, she seemed a little like a grifter. Over the course of the book, the reader grows to sympathize with her and to root for her. Galaxy, or Alex as she prefers to be called, is a young woman with a deeply troubled and traumatic past, and the unique skill of being able to see ghosts. That gift is both a mystery and something of a curse. It's also made Alex into a highly desirable asset.

It is a bit ironic that the setting for the novel is Bardugo's alma mater, Yale University, and the town of New Haven, Connecticut. Bardugo loved attending Yale but her urban fantasy version of Yale is a place filled with corruption, intrigue, social class stratification, and frat boy sexual abuses. It's also a place brimming with magic, in which the famous societies or houses of Yale (you know, like Skull and Bones of GHW Bush and GW Bush fame) all represent different magical gifts or teachings. Some, like say Manuscript (Jodie Foster) or Book and Snake (Bob Woodward), are downright scary. Not that Skull and Bones is a benign place, mind you. In this heady mix Alex, against all odds, is given a free ride to Yale, in order to join the titular Ninth House, Lethe. Representing a sort of magical oversight organization, they are the shepherds keeping the other eight houses in line. Alex initially thinks she is completely out of her league and not just academically. In fact, the houses at Yale have simply no idea what they're dealing with in Alex Stern.

Bardugo once again has me hooked with this new series, which she envisioned before she wrote her Grishaverse series! Alex is a character of depth and complexity, and while the secondary characters pale a bit in comparison, I'm assuming they will be developed over the course of the next novels. Darlington, in particular, is a character I'd love to see more of. There's a clear direction for a second novel and I'm looking forward to seeing where Bardugo takes the story next, though I'm pretty sure it's going to be hellish.*

The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Lauren Fortgang, who has narrated Bardugo's Grishaverse books. The audiobook has an interview with Bardugo at the end and she lets it slip as to which society she was in during her time at Yale.

Content Warnings: rape, murder

*The title of the sequel is (according to Leigh Bardugo) stashed somewhere in the last chapter of Ninth House. Come back and tell me what you think it will be. (view spoiler below)[My money is on Wheelwalker. (hide spoiler)]

I received a paper Advanced Review Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers can be seen by highlighting with your cursor: [ My money is on Wheelwalker. ]

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