Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Moody, dark and secretive, just like me.
Ninth House was a delightfully intriguing start to the all-new, Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo.
I have been fascinated by the idea of this book for a while. What’s not to love about the Yale campus, secret societies and magic.
On a recent road trip, I finally decided to give this one a shot.
I have to say, while I really enjoyed the audiobook, particularly the two narrators, I think I may have enjoyed it even more if I had read a hard copy.
I feel like I may have been able to concentrate more on the story if I had been holding the book in my hands and there’s a lot to take in here.
A lot of details regarding the setting of the Yale campus, the magic system, the lore of the secret societies, as well as back and forth timelines, I think just got lost somewhere around mile marker 50.
I was intrigued by Alex’s character. Here was a girl who had a rough start at life, raised by a hippie Mom in California, who ends up at one of the most elite institutions in the world.
After a close call that could have ended her life, Alex instead ends up being offered a seat in the Freshman class at Yale, but why? Her academic transcript certainly wasn’t recommending her for the slot.
Regardless of any trauma experienced in her life, Alex is a survivor and a fighter. I loved that about her.
When she starts at Yale, Alex gets tapped for Lethe House; the ninth of the secret societies at Yale and the one with the closest ties to the occult.
It’s also the responsibility of Lethe House to oversee the other houses to ensure there are no bad actors.
Alex, as it turns out, is well-suited for her new house, as she has an arcane ability she has been struggling with her entire life. This allows her a close connection to the spiritual underworld surrounding her.
Essentially a murder mystery, this novel offers up a lot of darker real world topics for consideration as well.
One of these topics that I found extremely interesting, was the great amount of privilege on the Yale campus, and the way uneven power dynamics can contribute to an extremely harmful environment.
There is also quite a bit on page of drug abuse, sexual assault and rape culture in general. If you are sensitive to these topics, I would tread cautiously.
With this being said, I was impressed overall with Bardugo’s transition to the Adult space. This is definitely an Adult novel. There are some real dark scenes in here and frankly, I am glad that she went as dark as she did.
It made this seedy underbelly of a privileged world seem so incredibly real.
I think as the series progresses the stories will continue to get stronger and stronger.
I may even read this one again, my hard copy, before the second novel is released.
I would love to experience this entire story in a more controlled environment than an SUV whizzing down the highway.
Also, does anyone else want to go snoop around New Haven in the middle of the night now, or just me?
The atmosphere, as always with Bardugo, was really something to behold; loved that aspect so much. I am really looking forward to getting back into this world when the next book releases!
