Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Ninth House

I would put money down that Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black wrote their occult-adjacent adult debut novels together on some secret writers' retreat. They're eerily similar on tone and theme. Additionally, the main characters in both books, Alex and Charlie, would be fast friends.

My feelings on this book are extremely similar to my feelings on Holly Black's debut adult novel: the critiques hold up. It IS slow. It IS boring.

I called the first half of the twist shockingly early along; I don't think that's due to me being clever so much as it being obvious. That being said, the second half of the twist wasn't so much of a twist as it was a lore dump. Books with mysteries that don't give the reader everything they need to solve them aren't mysteries so much as messy. And the plot threads that are left after the initial murder is solved are tied up by some piece of lore neither you or the main character had an idea about. It's supposed to be this mic drop "oh shit" moment that puts you onto the sequels, but I was left feeling annoyed that I had wasted energy trying to solve something that I couldn't have solved. It's not clever; it's not a trick question- it's annoying and poor writing.

Alex is extremely dry as a character. I couldn't tell you a thing about her that isn't her aesthetic or her trauma. Same goes for every other character in this book, unfortunately.

Check the trigger warnings; I don't think having to read/listen to the graphic scenes were worth what I got out of this book in ANY stretch of the imagination. I won't be reading the sequel.

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clarisseep's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

It's been a day or so since I've finished this book but I honestly needed time to figure out what was my precise opinion on it with the help of communicating with others having already read this book and with the help of good and truly bad reviews of this book
This book has been on my TBR since it came out, even before I read the Six of Crows duology and the Shadow and Bone trilogy and it received TREMENDOUS amounts of hype, so I had (fairly) high expectations for this book
In itself the concept and premise of it seemed a great idea to me: a "magical underworld" in Yale with secret societies, the place of magic with privilege, wealth, class, race
but EVERY deeper topic was only brushed over and even the presence of rape too???

also... why is the most appreciated character a middle class white man (which I like, thank you Darlington for being there a it in this book... even though you somehow only existed in the past) ??
when the main character is a poor female PoC and the literal overall villains rich white men abusing magic (and everything else) and the cause of all the problems a white woman from the 1800s???
you see the very little insistence on race and gender and wealth but somehow it ends up being like this?
I feel like I cannot really find what I have to say with this point, but you just bore with me while reading all of this: me trying to make a point without really knowing what to say

I think I also have problems with this book's pace which is, shortly said, truly inconsistent and hard to get into... until almost the end
in conclusion, I'm honestly disappointed, because I expected way more, but I still want to read the next one to see if it's going to be as bad as this one

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pamgrace18's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

So good and SO dark. Much more trauma and heaviness than I was expecting, even considering Bardugo's other characters. A slight deviation from the other dark academia I've been reading, but a very welcome change. I love the focus on the occult and male toxicity within Ivy Leagues. Bardugo, as usual, writes poetry in prose form. Darlington is a new loml and he and Alex have a really fun relationship. I worry that Dawes is too much like me (name included). Pacing is a bit slow and the beginning is pretty confusing. That being said, the ending was exciting and, I CANNOT wait for the sequel.

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art_books_chemistry's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

I was a little worried starting this because my entire bookclub built it up as the best book they read in 2020 before I joined. However, even with amazing expectations, I absolutely loved this book!

Firstly, I loved the setting. Is New Haven a crime ridden city and not as nice as Yale-ites would like to pretend? Totally. But they get locked into their campus and can ignore it and the rest of us just avoid The Green and stick to the main bar area at night. I went to school at the other college in the Havens area and then stayed and worked for an extra year. I really loved the reference to the body found under the giant old tree after Hurricane Sandy since I was around when it happened. It's the little touches like that that help me immerse into a story when I know the setting.

This is peak Dark Academia. Secret Societies have always been shrouded in mystery and the potential of magic. The way Leigh Bardugo went about explaining it in this novel felt incredibly realistic from an outside perspective which allows you to get drawn into the story. I will say that there are a lot of moving pieces that could become confusing. I'm glad I read this on kindle instead of listening to it since I could flip around and make sure I was remembering names and associations correctly, especially since there were time jumps periodically.

I found the plot engrossing, the magic intriguing, and the mystery riveting. As far as characters go, I won't say they are lovable because they have many flaws, some of which are distasteful. This does, however, make them very real which is far more important than a lovable character that is too perfect for the plot to make sense. Plot and character development is top notch though.

TL;DR Amazing urban fantasy, I NEED THE SEQUEL NOW.

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lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I read and loved Six of Crows and I also read and liked Shadow and Bone. I really like Leighs writing, worldbuilding and especially her way to bring characters alive. I was excited for this book but also have been wanting to read it for ages. Since finally the second book is going to be published soon I thought this is a great time for me to read 'Ninth House'.

It was not at all what I expected. I wanted to go in knowing as little as possible. I knew that this book is adult but I didn't expect it to as graphic as it was. I really liked the premise and the characters and also the mystery of it all. Just because of her writing I automatically like the book.

I do have a few issues with it though:
1. Alex's motives didn't always make sense to me. Why was she so adamant on solving Taras murder? She didn't know her, everyone told her that it was the boyfriend, even after she broke into the morgue it was clear it was the boyfriend. I just didn't understand why she would go further and further. At a certain point it was clear that there is more behind it than we thought but I do not understand why and how Alex knew that?
2. Also I felt like all side characters were just there for convenience. Especially Alex's roommates. They are so unconditionally loyal to her for seemingly no reason? I mean that is not how it usually is at uni right? Like it would make sense for them to ask her why she's never at home but not to a degree where she constantly has to come up with fake reasons & apologies, right? I wanted a bit more interaction and reason there so it actually makes sense for them to call her mum. (The thing with Brady 100% made sense though. He's a shit and deserves only the worst)
3. That might be on me, but I didn't understand the worldbuilding fully. I think it was on purpose that the big questions like 'why is there magic?' and 'where does it come from?' are unanswered. But I didn't understand the limits of the magic. It's clear that it best works in the tombs and not really anywhere else, but also things like the coin of compulsion work everywhere? And spells can be cast that influence the wider world as well? Idk I'm just a bit confused about that. Also I want to know how noone actually found out outside of the societies. How do they keep the secret?

I think I had way more questions but these are the most important ones. I am definitely going to read 'Hellbent' but if I'm being honest I'm in no hurry. Maybe I'll even wait until all (5?) books are out. The story was intruiging but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. (Even though I love mystery, magic, university settings, academia and secret societies in books.. ?)

What I loved about the book was all the intruige and mystery. The connections weren't always completely clear to me but that didn't take away from it being fun. I wish we got to see a bit more magic and a bit less trauma but that is only my opinion. I bet for some people this was perfect.

Generally I would anyone to please read the trigger warnings for this book. There are a lot and they are really graphic as well.

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nenya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

this was such an easy 5 stars holy smokes. i‘ve got to be honest, i found it quite hard to really get into it at first (it’s not being told chronically and there are like 3-4 points in time that keep changing throughout the narrative and that you need to keep track of - but once you figure it out, it really adds to the reading experience, i loved it) but the plot, characters and especially the plot twists (!!) really won me over - especially the plot twists, because they are partly very hard to predict (also because of the time jumps), which made this book a very mysterious and catching read. the only complaint i have is that the sequel won’t be out until next year :((

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