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A review by backlistsandbooze
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
3.5
Unlike many others I had never read a Leigh Bardugo book before Ninth House, and I had absolutely no expectation for this besides just seeing that lots of people loved it. It is a step outside of my usual genre (dark fantasy/horror), but one I thoroughly enjoyed. Was this book the next coming for me? No. Did I like it and enjoy the ride? Yes. Will I purchase more Leigh Bardugo books? Yes. More specifically, I will also continue on with this series.
The beginning of Ninth House felt a bit like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool with little swimming experience and only a pool noodle. I floundered a bit before getting my coordination together. It wasn't just the magic that was confusing, but Yale in general. I know secret societies exist, and are often gossiped and conspired about, but I don't personally dabble in or have interest in that, and it felt like I was just expected to just know certain things about this college society. The characters and all of their abnormal names garbled together at first. For a good 40 pages I thought Darlington was the Dean of the school because of some weird wording, but alas I figured it out. Needless to say, I was confused, but I plowed through and it was worth it.
Once I had a handle on who the characters were, what the societies were, and some of the rules for magic, I was good to go. Full throttle ahead. I enjoyed Alex, fell in love with Dawes, and was pretty whatever about everyone else. Please give me more Alex and Dawes together, because their opposites attract dynamic was a lot of fun to read. Crazy, no holds barred, Alex was the highlight of the story for me. Any time she got to go "Galaxy" were a real pleasure to read. On the flip side, I don't know that I care about Darlington. I mean, I care about him because Alex cares about him, but personally I don't feel like I have any bond or connection to him.
The plot was interesting. The ghosts, the magic, the occult shit the societies were into, trying to figure out who was behind the murder... Yet as much as I enjoyed it and wanted to know what was happening, the societies still left something to be desired. Yes they played into the plot, and were necessary I guess, but they still just kind of felt like they were just there. Like your shy cousin Todd at the family bbq. He's drinking his light beer and staying out of people's way, but if you talk to him he'll add just enough to the conversation as not to be rude until you change the conversation and forget about him again. Those were the societies. The more interesting plot, to me, were The Grey's and what they could/couldn't do. I'm hoping that we will dive even deeper into that in future books.
Overall I liked this book. I liked jumping out of my usual comfort zone and into a different genre. I really liked the way Leigh Bardugo wrote, and as I stated above, I will definitely be reading more from her. I don't know if her YA books are written any differently, but based solely on this I can see why people love her work.
The beginning of Ninth House felt a bit like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool with little swimming experience and only a pool noodle. I floundered a bit before getting my coordination together. It wasn't just the magic that was confusing, but Yale in general. I know secret societies exist, and are often gossiped and conspired about, but I don't personally dabble in or have interest in that, and it felt like I was just expected to just know certain things about this college society. The characters and all of their abnormal names garbled together at first. For a good 40 pages I thought Darlington was the Dean of the school because of some weird wording, but alas I figured it out. Needless to say, I was confused, but I plowed through and it was worth it.
Once I had a handle on who the characters were, what the societies were, and some of the rules for magic, I was good to go. Full throttle ahead. I enjoyed Alex, fell in love with Dawes, and was pretty whatever about everyone else. Please give me more Alex and Dawes together, because their opposites attract dynamic was a lot of fun to read. Crazy, no holds barred, Alex was the highlight of the story for me. Any time she got to go "Galaxy" were a real pleasure to read. On the flip side, I don't know that I care about Darlington. I mean, I care about him because Alex cares about him, but personally I don't feel like I have any bond or connection to him.
The plot was interesting. The ghosts, the magic, the occult shit the societies were into, trying to figure out who was behind the murder... Yet as much as I enjoyed it and wanted to know what was happening, the societies still left something to be desired. Yes they played into the plot, and were necessary I guess, but they still just kind of felt like they were just there. Like your shy cousin Todd at the family bbq. He's drinking his light beer and staying out of people's way, but if you talk to him he'll add just enough to the conversation as not to be rude until you change the conversation and forget about him again. Those were the societies. The more interesting plot, to me, were The Grey's and what they could/couldn't do. I'm hoping that we will dive even deeper into that in future books.
Overall I liked this book. I liked jumping out of my usual comfort zone and into a different genre. I really liked the way Leigh Bardugo wrote, and as I stated above, I will definitely be reading more from her. I don't know if her YA books are written any differently, but based solely on this I can see why people love her work.