Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Ninth House

The writing in this novel is stunning. Bardugo moves easily from highly controlled and crafted prose to snippy, sassy quips with ease. Part of the reason it took me a few hours longer to read than I would have guessed is because I spent so much time writing brilliant, eloquent quotes into my notes app. Absolutely stunning writing.

Characters: 5⭐️/5

The characters felt real and fully developed. I enjoyed how much time was spent seeing characters from other character’s perspective, giving us insight into how each character presents themselves, as well as their internal bias and judgement they push onto others. Certain characters that, at the beginning felt fairly flat, were given time and space to showcase their personalities later, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way the female relationships were explored in this novel. The care in which these relationships were engaged made me very happy both as a reader and a woman.

Plot: 4.5⭐️/5

**Spoilers below**

I took one issue with the plot, which was the employment of a rape scene. Personally, I felt this scene was unnecessary both to the development of our main character, as well as the progression of the plot. This particular scene didn’t really fit for me and could have been written in a different way to give the same effect. My main takeaway from the scene was that it mostly read as an easy way to give our MC “trauma,” which could have been done in a number of more interesting and less triggering ways.

Otherwise, the overarching plot was entirely enjoyable to read and kept me thoroughly engaged until the end.

Who Should Read This Book?

Lovers of dark academia, fantasy and/or magical murder mystery novels
Those who want an adult fantasy read with a spark of romance and little to no spice
Readers wanting an engaging world and well-established magic system
Someone looking for a strong fantasy read with strong female relationships

Content Warnings?

Rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual content, gore, blood, vomit, medical trauma, death, abandonment, drug use, alcohol use, excrement, injury, pedophilia,

Post-Reading Rating: 5⭐️/5

I was engaged until the final page. Excited for the sequel.

Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

Content Warnings

kmiller3316's review against another edition

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We get it your poor and you don't belong. I think I would have appreciated this more if it was written as a teen fantasy novel and I read it when I was 14/15. (Obviously take out the mature elements) The book takes over 100 pages to finally understand what the plot point is. I couldn't get into any of the characters.

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emwgrace's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ninth House, while far from a perfect book, gave me a reading experience that most closely resembles the way I would devour books when I was younger and still falling in love with reading, and to me, that is a far better gift than unattainable perfection. I bought this book at my local Barnes & Noble and dove into it as soon as I got home like I used to so many years ago, before online book culture restructured my relationship with reading and made the feeling of acquiring new books almost as satisfying as finishing a good one.

I picked this up right after its sequel Hell Bent released, as I was feeling seriously left out while everyone on my Twitter timeline was reading it. While the magic system Bardugo creates isn’t without flaw, and while there are many criticisms of heavier topics this novel attempts to tackle that I respect, this world and its characters have stuck in my brain like no other book has in a long time.

The thing is, I can totally see why some people wouldn’t like this book. It does take a bit of effort to get into the groove of things. There are plenty of long descriptions of New Haven and Yale. We are given a lot of details about the different societies that are difficult to remember and keep straight for the first two hundred pages or so. One of the most loved characters—in a novel that sets out to critique the way in which class and race interact with the accessibility to education (and in this case, magic)—is a rich white guy (Darlington, my beloved.) There are graphic depictions of assault that were tough to read. But for me, reading this book was very much like discovering magic was for Darlington and Alex. It felt like one of the world's secrets was being revealed to me. There were parts that filled me with wonder, like the sentient Il Bastone that decides who it will open its doors to, moths that soak up the ink of tattoos and make them vanish, and an elixir that allows you to see the dead. There were some parts that, like the magic in this story, were very flawed and at times downright ugly. To see and acknowledge the shortcomings of something but to love it anyway—that is how I feel about this book.

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bookishaddy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookishgia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Very long list of trigger warnings attached to this one.

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miak2's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mors irrumat omnia. Death fucks us all.

The Six of Crows duology was one of my favorite reads a few years ago, but as I read Ninth House, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it was written by the same author. I shouldn't have been; all of the things that worked for me in that duology were present here: interesting magic systems, compelling characters, complex and interesting plots. So I commend Bardugo for being able to go such a different direction in her first adult book and still work the magic she's known for.

Ninth House was mysteries on mysteries on mysteries. So many overlapping storylines that we were slowly given answers to over the course of the book. And with so many moving pieces, I was worried that the ending would fall flat for me. And at first, it did. After a specific scene towards the end of the book, I went..."that's it?" No ma'am, it was most definitely not it.

I liked how the crux of the mysteries reflected on the way that powerful people wield their power to stay in power. How there are groups of people that are consistently taken advantage of in order to maintain existing power structures, and the way that opposing voices are silenced. Which was made especially poignant given that the magic existed across these historical societies, not freely available for anyone and everyone to access. There was also a lot of interesting discussion on how we as a society write people off as lost causes, without trying to understand the factors that led them to their situation.

I also appreciate so much that Alex was not your standard, cookie-cutter main character for a fantasy series. Especially with her being in her first year at Yale, it would've been so easy to write the "perfect, straight-A young student gets dragged into a world she didn't know existed" type of character. But Alex brought a completely different type of character, one that pushed the bounds of morality that was needed to move much of the plot forward.

The story was definitely confusing at first and slow to build. As I mentioned, there's a lot of different overlapping stories, which means that there was a lot of groundwork that Bardugo needed to lay. I spent much of the book being confused, but still intrigued enough to read on. And, like with the Six of Crows duology, I appreciate that the Alex Stern duology looks like it'll be two separate, yet interconnected stories.

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jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is honestly a masterpiece of a book.
With a unique magic layout with the eight ancients and the house of Lethe overlooking them.
I couldn’t put this book down at all and I am yearning for the next book already.
Every tiny aspect was connected and every revelation made your jaw drop. Couldn’t reccommend more

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