A review by julis
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

challenging dark 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

5.0

GOD. This one’s gonna be rattling around my brain for a while.

I absolutely see how you go from Six of Crows to this; I still have no idea what went wrong to produce the Grisha trilogy but as long as I don’t need to read it again I don’t care.

Bardugo posits an Ivy League filled with secret societies, each with their own variety of horrible rituals, running America–wait, that’s just reality.

Part of the fun is that NH’s Yale is so real, it’s so palpably close to truth that the side characters feel like guys you know or friends of friends, you know, that frat that got kicked off campus for a hazing ritual involving sheep?

Which in turn leads to some of the most repellent characters, BECAUSE they are so true to life.

Plotting is aces, pacing phenomenal, etc.