A review by emwgrace
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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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