livinginsolitude 's review for:

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

5.0

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I should come to the terms that dark academia books and I are IT. We just clicked so well. I think despite the slow and intricate plot, what makes me love this book is the character's exploration, the mystery of it all, and how it affects other people and their lives. No one is a saint, no one is "they're good guys but they did bad things", they all are genuinely just people with no moral high ground and are doing things to survive and keep the people they care about safe, circumstances be damned. I cared for the characters (mostly those in Lethe) especially my girl Alex. She didn't deserve to be given another chance in doing something right in her life only for it to be another ruse for other people's benefits, particularly powerful people who thought themselves, and kind of are, above everything. I especially love Darlington and his very complex yet pretty straightforward attitude.

(and if you think I'm holding on to that one scene where Alex and Darlington visits the Manuscript, then you are absolutely correct)