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crofteereader 's review for:
Ninth House
by Leigh Bardugo
Sometimes books are hard to classify. I take a look at my bookshelf, where all my five-star books live and I think: what about all of these is similar? What draws me to these authors, these stories, these characters? At the heart of it is the writing, which teases a certain feeling or mood or memory, which, from just the ordering of the words and how they fit together, can draw you in and swallow you whole.
Ninth House has writing like that.
I've been to New Haven (I applied to Yale's biomedical engineering program when I was coming out of high school; I didn't get in, but I did go visit). I saw the dichotomy of rich, affluent university and grimy, historic town - a theme that is teased out throughout the story as we get more and more of Alex's backstory (as someone who absolutely would never have ended up at Yale under any other circumstances). And if you've been there, seen the strange mixture of ancient-esque architecture and the huge, beautiful brick of a library and the grimy buildings surrounding the campus boundary like a wall, you, too, would think: "This is the kind of place where dark magic would happen."
And we get that dark magic almost from the word go.
I struggled a bit in the beginning of the book. It's told in dual timelines, surrounding a mysterious event which shifts Alex's world on its hinges. Personally, I'm not usually into that modular style and I think this story could absolutely have been successful written linearly (if it was done cleverly enough); however, as we drew closer to that focal point and got more and more of the context and the background, I realized that mystery was really drawing me in. Every time we cut away I was left with a need to know what was going to happen.
Plus, Alex's personality was a winner. Remember my review of Gideon where I talked about her humor and her perspective being so ingrained in the story? Alex Stern was like that, too. And very similar to Gideon (with her sharp, reactive wit) but so much more pointed and less "funny" - which I loved. Give me the girl with fangs instead of teeth, who lashes out at the first hint of aggression.
There was a moment when I wanted to drop this to a four-star. Close to the end, we hit the wall of a few tropes and I was like "oh no." And there's so much more about the magic (and several of the Houses) we don't really know. But... There's going to be another book. This isn't the end of Alex's story. And honestly, that's enough for me.
This book is very violent and gruesome and unapologetic and moody and dark and glorious. It's not for everyone. It's a picture of the world through the eyes of someone who might not necessarily deserve a second chance - but she definitely didn't deserve the horrible hand life dealt her initially. And she's not willing to let anyone get away without consequences.
Ninth House has writing like that.
I've been to New Haven (I applied to Yale's biomedical engineering program when I was coming out of high school; I didn't get in, but I did go visit). I saw the dichotomy of rich, affluent university and grimy, historic town - a theme that is teased out throughout the story as we get more and more of Alex's backstory (as someone who absolutely would never have ended up at Yale under any other circumstances). And if you've been there, seen the strange mixture of ancient-esque architecture and the huge, beautiful brick of a library and the grimy buildings surrounding the campus boundary like a wall, you, too, would think: "This is the kind of place where dark magic would happen."
And we get that dark magic almost from the word go.
I struggled a bit in the beginning of the book. It's told in dual timelines, surrounding a mysterious event which shifts Alex's world on its hinges. Personally, I'm not usually into that modular style and I think this story could absolutely have been successful written linearly (if it was done cleverly enough); however, as we drew closer to that focal point and got more and more of the context and the background, I realized that mystery was really drawing me in. Every time we cut away I was left with a need to know what was going to happen.
Plus, Alex's personality was a winner. Remember my review of Gideon where I talked about her humor and her perspective being so ingrained in the story? Alex Stern was like that, too. And very similar to Gideon (with her sharp, reactive wit) but so much more pointed and less "funny" - which I loved. Give me the girl with fangs instead of teeth, who lashes out at the first hint of aggression.
There was a moment when I wanted to drop this to a four-star. Close to the end, we hit the wall of a few tropes and I was like "oh no." And there's so much more about the magic (and several of the Houses) we don't really know. But... There's going to be another book. This isn't the end of Alex's story. And honestly, that's enough for me.
This book is very violent and gruesome and unapologetic and moody and dark and glorious. It's not for everyone. It's a picture of the world through the eyes of someone who might not necessarily deserve a second chance - but she definitely didn't deserve the horrible hand life dealt her initially. And she's not willing to let anyone get away without consequences.