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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Holy shit. Went into this blind and honestly one of the best books I’ve read all year. Just found out book three isn’t even announced yet so that sucks but now I have something to look forward to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence
Moderate: Drug use
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
First, an upfront warning: if there are certain topics you do not read, please check the content warnings before picking this up. This book puts the dark in dark academia. There are several graphic, gory, and descriptive scenes, including (but not limited to) child molestation, rape, substance abuse, and drug overdoses. These scenes are not romanticized or added for simple shock value; the characters are affected by them deeply, and the consequences of all these events (for the characters, their emotions, and their motivations) are explored in detail. However, these scenes are very hard to read, even for someone without these triggers—so please, take care of yourself. Reading this book is not more important than maintaining your well-being.
In addition to the dark subject matter, this book is hard to read because there's just so much going on. In Ninth House, we are immediately dropped into the unfamiliar world of Yale University, a broody campus full of magic and ghosts, secret societies and tombs (which are real!), and oddly-named college buildings and landmarks. Characters and locations are mentioned in passing as if we're already acquainted. This—along with non-linear narratives and multiple POVs—may be off-putting to some readers, but I enjoyed the extra element of mystery that these stylistic choices added. As the novel progresses, the reader must unravel the campus's and other characters' mysteries just as the protagonist, Galaxy "Alex" Stern, does.
On that note, let's talk some more about Alex and the plot of this whole thing. Alex is not the typical protagonist one might expect in the dark academia genre. She's a biracial high-school dropout and recovering addict. Unlike other students at Yale, Alex isn't academically or athletically skilled. Her family doesn't have money or power. However, Alex has a natural talent all her own: she can see ghosts ("Grays"). This talent is highly desirable to the secret societies at Yale, and as such, Alex gets a free ride to attend the University, on the condition that she offers her services to Lethe House as a sort of "magical hall monitor" to ensure the safety, security, and secrecy of the other societies. When a townsperson turns up murdered under suspicious circumstances, Alex is suddenly thrust into the dangerous epicenter of uncovering a mystery that others desire to keep hidden.
With her underprivileged background, Alex acts as a foil to the typical Ivy League student. On numerous occasions, the classist privilege afforded to the well-connected young (white) men of these institutions is called out on the page. Those who benefit from privilege are asked to answer for it. Other societal injustices are called out, too, including racism and sexism. (Sometimes, these callouts can feel a little too gratuitous, but I'd rather have an overly-aware author than one who injects bias in their books.) I wish Alex's heritage was fleshed out a bit more to give more justice to her background, but perhaps it was left semi-ambiguous because our character herself is not intimately familiar with her family either.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was slow at times, and occasionally I questioned plot lines or motives, but I always felt drawn to the moody atmospheres and mysteries woven throughout the pages. I greatly appreciated the depth of Bardugo's research into Yale's and New Haven's history and on world mythologies, literature, art, and other erudite topics. (It was super cool to see Bardugo's notes on the first chapter of this book. You can see how she spent great attention in tying her book together. I liked that a lot.) Like many others, I loved Darlington and Dawes. I'm hoping to see more of them in the sequel, Hell Bent. If you generally like darker, occult tales steeped in mythos and mystery (and you're also not opposed to watching Criminal Minds or Law & Order in your free time), then give this a try!
In addition to the dark subject matter, this book is hard to read because there's just so much going on. In Ninth House, we are immediately dropped into the unfamiliar world of Yale University, a broody campus full of magic and ghosts, secret societies and tombs (which are real!), and oddly-named college buildings and landmarks. Characters and locations are mentioned in passing as if we're already acquainted. This—along with non-linear narratives and multiple POVs—may be off-putting to some readers, but I enjoyed the extra element of mystery that these stylistic choices added. As the novel progresses, the reader must unravel the campus's and other characters' mysteries just as the protagonist, Galaxy "Alex" Stern, does.
On that note, let's talk some more about Alex and the plot of this whole thing. Alex is not the typical protagonist one might expect in the dark academia genre. She's a biracial high-school dropout and recovering addict. Unlike other students at Yale, Alex isn't academically or athletically skilled. Her family doesn't have money or power. However, Alex has a natural talent all her own: she can see ghosts ("Grays"). This talent is highly desirable to the secret societies at Yale, and as such, Alex gets a free ride to attend the University, on the condition that she offers her services to Lethe House as a sort of "magical hall monitor" to ensure the safety, security, and secrecy of the other societies. When a townsperson turns up murdered under suspicious circumstances, Alex is suddenly thrust into the dangerous epicenter of uncovering a mystery that others desire to keep hidden.
With her underprivileged background, Alex acts as a foil to the typical Ivy League student. On numerous occasions, the classist privilege afforded to the well-connected young (white) men of these institutions is called out on the page. Those who benefit from privilege are asked to answer for it. Other societal injustices are called out, too, including racism and sexism. (Sometimes, these callouts can feel a little too gratuitous, but I'd rather have an overly-aware author than one who injects bias in their books.) I wish Alex's heritage was fleshed out a bit more to give more justice to her background, but perhaps it was left semi-ambiguous because our character herself is not intimately familiar with her family either.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was slow at times, and occasionally I questioned plot lines or motives, but I always felt drawn to the moody atmospheres and mysteries woven throughout the pages. I greatly appreciated the depth of Bardugo's research into Yale's and New Haven's history and on world mythologies, literature, art, and other erudite topics. (It was super cool to see Bardugo's notes on the first chapter of this book. You can see how she spent great attention in tying her book together. I liked that a lot.) Like many others, I loved Darlington and Dawes. I'm hoping to see more of them in the sequel, Hell Bent. If you generally like darker, occult tales steeped in mythos and mystery (and you're also not opposed to watching Criminal Minds or Law & Order in your free time), then give this a try!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use
Minor: Violence, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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
one of the most brilliant books I've ever read, can't wait to delve into Hellbent !!!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Excrement, Colonisation
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Murder
The racism against POC people in this book it's astonishing—despite whatever good intentions could lay behind the plot.
Dark academia it's more than a setting, it's a critic toward elitism inside intellectual and cultural settings.
This book isn't a critic. To me, it's a fantasy story about a Yale graduated where "what if Yale's secret societies had dark magical powers, with very edgy characters as protagonists?"
And this is a problem that I've seen multiple times with fairly successful YA authhors: to have an adult book does NOT mean "watch how many trigger warnings I can sum up into this bad boy." (Trigger warnings that originally published weren't included in the ARCS giveaways).
The multiple heavy-topic themes are just thrown in for shock value, without any care to dive deeper in the consequences that would give respect to actual victims.
Needless to say, to read this as a Latina was so deeply hurtful I had a panic attack that made me stop reading with care and just spiteful sweeping across pages to read the ending.
Alex could've just been Jewish, coming from poverty, and NOTHING would've changed in the plot. For her to be ambiguously Latina it's just to justify the bad traits she has, and oh boy she has a LOT.
Dark academia it's more than a setting, it's a critic toward elitism inside intellectual and cultural settings.
This book isn't a critic. To me, it's a fantasy story about a Yale graduated where "what if Yale's secret societies had dark magical powers, with very edgy characters as protagonists?"
And this is a problem that I've seen multiple times with fairly successful YA authhors: to have an adult book does NOT mean "watch how many trigger warnings I can sum up into this bad boy." (Trigger warnings that originally published weren't included in the ARCS giveaways).
The multiple heavy-topic themes are just thrown in for shock value, without any care to dive deeper in the consequences that would give respect to actual victims.
Needless to say, to read this as a Latina was so deeply hurtful I had a panic attack that made me stop reading with care and just spiteful sweeping across pages to read the ending.
Alex could've just been Jewish, coming from poverty, and NOTHING would've changed in the plot. For her to be ambiguously Latina it's just to justify the bad traits she has, and oh boy she has a LOT.
- Bad at school
- Enters Yale as a replacement, because she could have never entered by her own merits.
- Too dumb to learn Latin.
- Refer herself as "shit that sticks".
- Drug addict.
- And the root? All because her (Latino) father abandoned her.
Please. Spit in my face closer, Bardugo.
All the themes in this book just make up space of nonsense.
All the themes in this book just make up space of nonsense.
Because how it is possible that a book criticizing misogyny has the big baddie as a WOMAN??? or that the obvious main love interest it's your stereotypical gloomy, rich, white boy? That discovers his attraction toward Alex through a rape scene???
That includes a revenge scene reminding of "Spit in my grave" where Alex makes the rapist eat his own excrement while she records a video JUST to show it to her raped friend and that just magically cures any of her traumas??
This is wild, man.
Plot-related aside, this book it's boring up the last third.
Bardugo it's an established author and it's shows: because to waste half the book in narrating things that already happened and that the readers are already aware of? Unbelievable.
Here the murder it's a setting to info-dump about the characters. A rather annoying strategy I've seen Bardugo has started to settle comfortably in since King of Scars after the success of Six of Crows.
The problem? I don't care for any of the characters in Ninth House. They're not charming, or witty, or funny. I don't care about their tragic backstories (TM).
Her writing it's very good, but here it feels snobby and over the top. One thing it's to weave the atmosphere and another it's to show off.
Anyway, with this book I end my decade-long relationship of devotion toward Leigh Bardugo's work. Once brilliant and refreshing, now coming crashing down since it's peak with Six of Crows, landing messily with the King of Scars fiasco, and buried into Dante's Inferno with Ninth House.
0.5 stars ⭐️, for "trying".
That includes a revenge scene reminding of "Spit in my grave" where Alex
This is wild, man.
Plot-related aside, this book it's boring up the last third.
Bardugo it's an established author and it's shows: because to waste half the book in narrating things that already happened and that the readers are already aware of? Unbelievable.
Here the murder it's a setting to info-dump about the characters. A rather annoying strategy I've seen Bardugo has started to settle comfortably in since King of Scars after the success of Six of Crows.
The problem? I don't care for any of the characters in Ninth House. They're not charming, or witty, or funny. I don't care about their tragic backstories (TM).
Her writing it's very good, but here it feels snobby and over the top. One thing it's to weave the atmosphere and another it's to show off.
Anyway, with this book I end my decade-long relationship of devotion toward Leigh Bardugo's work. Once brilliant and refreshing, now coming crashing down since it's peak with Six of Crows, landing messily with the King of Scars fiasco, and buried into Dante's Inferno with Ninth House.
0.5 stars ⭐️, for "trying".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Antisemitism, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Murder