Ninth House
by Leigh Bardugo
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"The best fantasy novel I've read in years, because it's about real people... Impossible to put down." --Stephen King
Enter a mesmerizing world of power, privilege, and dark magic among the Ivy League elite in the first book in the Alex Stern series.
Goodreads Choice Award Winner
Locus Finalist
Galaxy "Alex" Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she's thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world's most prestigious universities on a full ride. What's the catch, and why her?
Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale's secret societies. Their eight windowless "tombs" are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street's biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.
Don't miss the highly-anticipated sequel, Hell Bent.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781250313072
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Authors
- Leigh Bardugo
- Publisher
- Flatiron Books
- Published Date
- October 8, 2019
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 480
- Physical Info
- 1.7 in H x 9.1 in L x 6.3 in W (1.5 lb)
Great story - an original take on mixing real life with the nuance of responsibility, education, sex and drugs and of course magic.
So different and so interesting - a hard book to put down. This is a good book for the summer or anytime.
It hooks you and holds on! And the twists will drop your jaw! This is spooky and funny and terrifying and shocking in all the right ways!
Absolutely fantastic book. Can't say enough about the amazing character dynamics or the deep worldbuilding. Everything felt organic and wondrous. Excellent work!
Galaxy "Alex" Stern is from LA and now studies at Yale while also learning to take over for Darlington at Lethe House, a secret society charged with monitoring the other secret societies of Yale. Alex is special; she can see "Grays" or ghosts that normal humans can't see without taking a very dangerous potion. The book switches between Alex and Darlington for a while and also switches time periods. Alex has a history with drugs and trauma and is using this opportunity as a fresh start.This book is long. It is 15 hours long in audiobook and around 450 pages in print. There is so much narrative. Nothing happens for the majority of the book. You get sprinkles of action and then more narrative. This book should have been exciting and should have held my attention from start to finish. Secret societies, commentary of privilege, trauma, victims taking back their power, all of it seems to make for a great book. It just was very boring at times and tough to get through.There are many dark themes and some gratuitous violence. Alex has had a lot happen to her in her short life. I like that Bardugo was attempting to tackle things like trauma, privilege, and power. Alex does find some healing within herself and confronts the privilege that she sees. I think the problem is that Alex is hard to like. You feel for her, but there is a disconnect.I still think I'll be reading Hell Bent because I'm curious to see what the outcome is for Darlington, but I'm going to take a break and try another book before diving back into this world.
