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A review by citronella_seance
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
I finished this book Saturday and I'm glad I have myself a few days to stew in it before I wrote my review.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!
Let me just start by saying this book shouldn't be called "Ninth House" it should be called "Darlington's House" because he owns it. Seriously though, this book owes Darlington its life, because he was one of the few things that got me through the first half of the book.
Let's start with a little backstory. Galaxy "Alex" Stern's life really couldn't get any worse, she's chained to a hospital bed and just had the most traumatic night of her life. Things really aren't looking up, until she's approached by Dean Sandow, from Yale, with an offer. A clean slate and a full-ride to college in exchange for her help policing eight secret societies, their magic, their rituals, and lots of ghosts and ghouls. Why? Because Alex can SEE ghosts, called Greys in the book, and that's pretty much unheard of. She takes the offer, but can she stay alive?
I want to admit right off the bat, this was my first time dipping into the vast pool of Leigh Bardugo, so that may have helped me a bit. I didn't have to reconcile her as a YA author before I started reading Ninth House. I know a lot of people have talked about how dark it is and how intense the themes are, but they personally weren't anymore vile or gruesome than any other adult horror, sci-fi, or thriller novel. I think the only problem lies in people who may be TOO young or have never read fiction like this before, reading it and being totally caught off guard. This is NOT NOT NOT a Young Adult novel.
If you had asked me halfway through the book what I thought, I most likely would have said I wasn't enjoying it. The time jumps were easy for me to follow, but the Fall timeline, with Darlington, was the only one really holding my attention. I would, hands down, read a whole series simply about Daniel Arlington. He stole the entire book and he really isn't even in hardly half of it. For the first few chapters I found Alex COMPLETELY unlikable and extremely predictable. It wasn't until she started really forming bonds with the other characters that I grew to like her. Her relationship with Dawes is A++++++.
But y'all, if the first half was a 2 star kind of book, the second half was a 5. It picked up in speed and it didn't stop until the end. It was fantastical, it was full of twists I literally did not see coming, it was magical and spiritual and empowering. It's what I wished the WHOLE book was like, not just pages upon pages about Yale building descriptions. I understand this is the first book in a series, but I wasn't sold on the world Bardugo had built until the very end and, boy, was it worth.
Every mention of magic no one understands, of Alex's past, of Darlington's whereabouts, were finally paid back twofold and it was simply stunning. The end of the novel helped me understand why Stephen King himself loved it so much. It has every bit of cosmic weirdness and magical realism you would expect from a King novel, but with the badassery and empowerment of a female character and a female author.
The cliff hanger at the end left me wanting more, if only to GET DANIEL ARLINGTON BACK DAMMIT and I can't wait to see what other adventures Alex and Dawes have.
Some TWs for this book include: Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual Assault, Drugging, Revenge Porn, Sexual Violence.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!
Let me just start by saying this book shouldn't be called "Ninth House" it should be called "Darlington's House" because he owns it. Seriously though, this book owes Darlington its life, because he was one of the few things that got me through the first half of the book.
Let's start with a little backstory. Galaxy "Alex" Stern's life really couldn't get any worse, she's chained to a hospital bed and just had the most traumatic night of her life. Things really aren't looking up, until she's approached by Dean Sandow, from Yale, with an offer. A clean slate and a full-ride to college in exchange for her help policing eight secret societies, their magic, their rituals, and lots of ghosts and ghouls. Why? Because Alex can SEE ghosts, called Greys in the book, and that's pretty much unheard of. She takes the offer, but can she stay alive?
I want to admit right off the bat, this was my first time dipping into the vast pool of Leigh Bardugo, so that may have helped me a bit. I didn't have to reconcile her as a YA author before I started reading Ninth House. I know a lot of people have talked about how dark it is and how intense the themes are, but they personally weren't anymore vile or gruesome than any other adult horror, sci-fi, or thriller novel. I think the only problem lies in people who may be TOO young or have never read fiction like this before, reading it and being totally caught off guard. This is NOT NOT NOT a Young Adult novel.
If you had asked me halfway through the book what I thought, I most likely would have said I wasn't enjoying it. The time jumps were easy for me to follow, but the Fall timeline, with Darlington, was the only one really holding my attention. I would, hands down, read a whole series simply about Daniel Arlington. He stole the entire book and he really isn't even in hardly half of it. For the first few chapters I found Alex COMPLETELY unlikable and extremely predictable. It wasn't until she started really forming bonds with the other characters that I grew to like her. Her relationship with Dawes is A++++++.
But y'all, if the first half was a 2 star kind of book, the second half was a 5. It picked up in speed and it didn't stop until the end. It was fantastical, it was full of twists I literally did not see coming, it was magical and spiritual and empowering. It's what I wished the WHOLE book was like, not just pages upon pages about Yale building descriptions. I understand this is the first book in a series, but I wasn't sold on the world Bardugo had built until the very end and, boy, was it worth.
Every mention of magic no one understands, of Alex's past, of Darlington's whereabouts, were finally paid back twofold and it was simply stunning. The end of the novel helped me understand why Stephen King himself loved it so much. It has every bit of cosmic weirdness and magical realism you would expect from a King novel, but with the badassery and empowerment of a female character and a female author.
The cliff hanger at the end left me wanting more, if only to GET DANIEL ARLINGTON BACK DAMMIT and I can't wait to see what other adventures Alex and Dawes have.
Some TWs for this book include: Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual Assault, Drugging, Revenge Porn, Sexual Violence.