Ninth House

I love this book so much I was actually reading it a second time in preparation for the sequel.

Alex Stern is dark and angry. She is fierce. She is everything I love about a main character. She’s not perfect. She makes difficult, selfish choices in the name of survival, yet she’s a main character you can’t help rooting for even when she messes up (big time). And she does that often. I would follow her into the depths of hell, literally.

Ninth House is a bit of a departure from my normal choice of genre. This is a fantasy novel, but it takes place at Yale.

Focusing on the well-known “secret” societies that have been an institution at Yale for generations, Bardugo asks the question, what if there was more to these groups than just influence? What if they actually trafficked in black magic? Narrated by Galaxy (Alex) Stern, we see the school through the eyes of an outsider - Alex, a high school dropout, who was recruited by Yale because she has a very special gift.

The way Bardugo writes,… show more.

Ninth House is not a light, fun read. If you’re interested in picking it up because you’re a fan of Ms. Bardugo’s other work, be warned: This book is dark. Trigger warnings include sexual assault, drug use, overdoses, violent homicide, and more. 

The story follows a scarred and emotionally bruised young woman named Alex who narrowly escapes a world of violence and drug abuse when she is recruited to join one of the prestigious secret societies at an Ivy League university, Yale. While there, Alex learns that these secret societies are involved in occult activities, violent crimes, and more. As… show more.

Ninth House is Leigh Bardugo’s adult fantasy debut, and it’s a deliciously horrifying modern fantasy set on the campus of Yale University. Bardugo’s heroine, Galaxy “Alex” Stern, is a Yale freshman, but she didn’t get into the school because she worked hard during high school and had great recommendation letters; in fact, she carries with her a past of drug addiction and abuse after she dropped out of high school. But she can see ghosts, which are called Grays because of their monochromatic appearance, and that’s all that the magical secret societies of Yale need to slide her into the… show more.