Ninth House (Alex Stern 1) by Leigh Bardugo

"A dark but entertaining story of one girls (Alex) unusual gift allowing her the opportunity to attend Yale and keep the dangerous occult practices of the Secret Societies under wraps and the students protected. When a girl from town is murdered, Alex can't help but shake the feeling that it's all connected somehow and she works on piecing the puzzle together."

5 Stars

Pros: An interesting concept that the secret societies of Yale are actually practicing dark magic etc/Darlington is a great character and one that we don't get to know well enough, I'm hoping that will be remedied/Bardugos great at giving just enough information to hook you but withholding enough to keep you reading.

Cons: The geography of campus, trying to keep all the buildings straight but for the most part it's not too important/The hard ass, tough as nails, cut em down before they can cut you personality of Stern gets a little old.

Full Review:

Galaxy (Alex) Stern has been able to see ghosts since she was young. Through the years, the constant visions of dead people have driven her to drugs, alcohol, anything that will numb her out and make it so she doesn't see them as often. When she's found unconscious in an apartment where three men were brutally beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat and one girl overdosed, she wakes up in the hospital to find Dean Sandow from Yale sitting beside her bed. He offers her a more or less, free ride to Yale, the only bind is that she has to work for him and serve in the House of Lethe, who are the watchmen, or shepherds over the other Secret Societies of Yale.

While the eight houses delve into occult practices and all sorts of dark magic, Alex is shown the ropes by her "Virgil", a well polished and intelligent man named Daniel Arlington, or otherwise known as Darlington. At the beginning of the novel, Darlington has vanished, something has happened to him and Alex feels responsible. It's all revealed in the end and of course leaves off for a great start to a sequel.

As a whole, Ninth House was a dark, gritty, tough but riveting read. Bardugo keeps the magic realistic, the secret practices of the Eight Houses all different, interesting and unique enough that you wish she'd show more of them. But what you do see and learn is that there is a seriously dark underbelly to what the Secret Societies do and if it wasn't for Lethe and its servants, God knows what would happen.

The ending was slightly contrite, all of it wrapped up in a nice pretty bow, with only one loose thread hanging but that's where the sequel comes in. But as far as readability and overall entertainment, Ninth House was a great and captivating read and I can honestly say that I'll be eagerly awaiting the next book.

Comments

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