Ninth House

by Leigh Bardugo

The instant SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, and Goodreads Choice Award winner, that Stephen King calls 'Impossible to put down'

The mesmerising adult debut from Leigh Bardugo. A tale of power, privilege, dark magic and murder set among the Ivy League elite.

Alex Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime - the last thing she wants is to cause trouble. Not when Yale was supposed to be her fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch.

Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies - societies that have yielded some of the most famous and influential people in the world. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.

Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined.

They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living . . .



'Ninth House is the best fantasy novel I've read in years, because it's about real people. Bardugo's imaginative reach is brilliant, and this story, full of shocks and twists, is impossible to put down' Stephen King

'Ninth House is one of the best fantasy novels I've read in years. This book is brilliant, funny, raw and utterly magnificent - it's a portal to a world you'll never want to leave' Lev Grossman, bestselling author of The Magicians trilogy

'Ninth House rocked my world. I could not get enough of Alex Stern, a heroine for the ages. With a bruised heart and bleeding knuckles, she risks death and damnation - again and again - for the people she cares about. I was cheering her on the whole way: from the first brilliant sentence of this book to the last' Joe Hill, bestselling author of N0S4A2

• ISBN10: 1473227968
• ISBN13: 9781473227965
• Publish Date: 8 October 2019
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

I understand why people did not like this book. It is so much darker than I expected and some of these gruesome parts are just for shock value and didn't add anything to the story at all. I really enjoyed the mystery aspects of this book, as well as the internal struggle of the main character, and all the relationships. It took me a moment to get into, but once I did, I couldn't stop reading it.

I do believe that a sequel wouldn't be necessary and that it could have served just as well as a standalone, but I will be picking it up once the sequel is released.

[moraa]

3.5 stars

The dead will rise.

I liked the novelty Bardugo brought to the table with this one, along with the untrustworthy characters and exploration of darker themes. The ending was great as well. I really want the second book now.

The first half was a little laggy though and things didn't pick up for me until we started to get a glimpse into what made Alex who she is today. I liked all the bits after.

I could rate this higher, as high as a 4, but I do not feel any inclination to do so.

CONTENT WARNINGS: drug use, sexual assault/rape

[catiebug]

This book was such an interesting experience for me and took me on quite the journey.

When I read the premise of this book, I immediately bought it on my kindle. It sounded intriguing and right up my alley. However, when I started, it's was so different than what I expected. The writing was different than what I was used to, but I also couldn't stop reading. I began to get the vibe that this was going to be a dark book and began to have mixed feelings about if I wanted to continue.

I ended up taking a break to go and read some reviews to help me decide and as I read them and saw all the trigger warnings, it made me a bit nervous. I'm not easily triggered, but some of the things could potentially make me feel uncomfortable reading. In the end, I decided to continue reading.

I'm so glad I did. It took me a couple of chapters to settle into the story, but once I did, I was hooked. It took me a few weeks to read, but I preferred this because I was so interested in the world and it was perfect for the spooky season and all the vibes.

I'm surprised at how much I loved this book and I can't wait for the next book to come out and to get back into this story.

[liz089]

I was really curious about this novel, I LOVE Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows series and enjoyed most of the Shadow and Bone series. Of course this is supposed to be completely different; this one is adult whereas the others are YA, but I did expect more of the gripping writing I got used to her other books.
It took me almost 3 weeks to get through this.
It is not a short story, just short of 500 pages, but that should not make a difference if a story is compelling enough. I had to push myself to continue and it only got some real action towards the last couple of chapters.
I did like the setting, the whole creepy haunted feeling that came with it.. But that did not make up for the rest of it.
I would like to give this one 3.5 stars, but since that is not possible I'm going for the 3, can't give this 4 stars, it was not good enough for me for that.
I am planning to read the next one, hope it will get better and like the way the story was going.

[littleread1]

Well that had a lot of layers to it. Ninth House is not a light easy story about a girl in her freshman year of college. It is a dark story about secrets, privilege, magic, and ghosts. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but was hopeful I would at least be entertained. I was not disappointed.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

4.5 stars rounded ^ ! RTC

[roundtableknight]

Ninth House isn’t just a story, but a world. Going it into, I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve read all of Leigh’s work in the Grishaverse and also Wonder Woman, but I knew that this was going to be different with it being an Adult Fiction and the plot of it.
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The beginning was a little slow, but that’s to be expected with a new series, you have to have an exposition, a foundation that the readers can look back and reference on. As the story progresses however you can see how the story is like a puzzle piece, one person won’t have all the answers but have four or five people talking and you might get somewhere.
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All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I’m excited and nervous to see where Leigh goes with this and the progression of not only Alex but the other characters as well. I’ll definitely be looking out for the sequel and continuing this captivating story.

[Quirky Cat]

Ninth House is the first novel in an all-new series by Leigh Bardugo. And it's been getting a lot of attention – both because people have been loving it, and because it's Bardugo's first excursion out of the realm of young adult novels.
New Haven is a place of magic and wonders. It is also a place of horrors and corruptions. And it is this world that Galaxy Stern, aka Alex, has to navigate. She's been granted a wonderful gift; a full ride at Yale. But it comes at a cost. Those in the know expect her to use her talent to help them out.
Alex Stern can see dead people, which is exactly as traumatic as it sounds. But this opportunity at Yale might be her one chance to take control of her abilities. And her life. She doesn't want to mess it up. But she's also not going to look the other way when a murder happens. Not when she's in a place to actually do something about it.
Darlington is the golden boy of Yale. He's the Virgil to Alex's Dante. He's a classic good old boy, but with a secret twist. He's been obsessed and fascinated with magic and the history of the town since he was a little boy. And he's going to delve deeper than anybody else.

“'Incorruptible.' When she saw that word she understood Darlington's smirk. The dead would be raised, but as for incorruptibility, Grove Street Cemetery was making no promises. In New Haven, it was best not to hope for guarantees.”

Warnings: Ninth House is a brilliant – but exceptionally intense novel. It doesn't shy away from some of the worst sides of human (and ghost) nature. There are scenes that depict abuse, drug addiction and overdose, (graphic) sexual assault/rape towards adults and a child, drowning, self-harm, and lots and lots of gore. These scenes veer on the graphic side, but since they are actually relevant to the plot they never cross a line into becoming gratuitous.

I've been hearing nothing but good things from Ninth House for about six months now. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I downloaded the book first thing when I woke up Tuesday morning, and I'll be honest with you; I wish I had planned ahead and taken the day off from work. Because I did not want to put this book down. Not even for a moment.
I've seen and read plenty of novels about girls being able to see ghosts. But I've never read anything like Ninth House. It was beautiful. It was dark. And it digs into my brain until I found myself unable to walk away. Now that I've finished, I find myself desperate for any news about the next novel in the series. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Leigh Bardugo masterfully revealed the plot through a series of creative storytelling techniques. The tale itself took place at multiple points in time, and through a couple of different perspectives. Alex's story is in two parts; her past and her present. Darlington's story is in the recent past. These three points in time weave together, creating something breathtaking – and terrifying.
There was so much to love about Ninth House. The writing was exemplary, full of complex characters and motives. But it was more than that as well. The world itself was as fascinating as it was dark and disturbing – which is saying something.
Alex's character was...riveting. Her past was not an easy one, and the more I learned about it, the more I understood about the way she behaved. Her anger became easier and easier to understand. Especially when one considers the life of privilege those with magic live.
The magical system is one that I'm finding myself desperate to see more of. I suppose in that way I'm more similar to Darlington than not. I want to see more of the different tombs and their specialties. And ideally, I'd like to see how they're meant to function, as opposed to how they've twisted with time.
I'll confess that there were parts in this novel that got a lot darker than I expected. And I went into this book expecting something disturbing – it's not every day you see an author and publisher go out of their way to warn the readers about content. It wasn't enough to make me put the book down...but it did make me grateful that I was doing the bulk of my reading in the middle of the day. I'm not sure what I would have done had I hit those points in the dead of night.
I ended up loving Ninth House so much that I actually bought two copies of the novel. The ebook, which I was able to start right away on release day. And the special edition from Barnes and Noble, which contains some bonus material. I actually haven't read the extra stuff yet – something I'm probably going to pop over and check out once I finish this review.
The Ninth House was everything that I had hoped for and expected. But it was also so much more. I can't get Alex and her quest out of my head. So now I'm just going to sit here and hope for more news about the next novel.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Stephanie]

I have A Type, and that type goes by the name of Darlington in this book.

[Beth C.]

Ok, I'm just going to say it. I've not read the grisha-verse novels. None. Zero. Zip. Not for any particular reason, but just because there's ALWAYS ANOTHER BOOK. However, Ninth House caught my eye, so I decided to give it a shot - and I *really* liked it. As in: Stay-Up-Until-1am-The-Night-Before-Work liked it.

The story takes magic in a completely different direction that what I've ever read, and it's fascinating. Yale has so much history, and the school is pretty much another character in the story. Tales of secret societies have abounded, and it's easy to wonder if maybe those tales may be true - and even current. What happens when those secrets start to get out? Who ends up paying the price?

Alex as a character is excellent - prickly and hard, but not to the degree that she's off-putting. Wanting to do the right thing, but doing so in the manner of the proverbial bull in the china shop. I started off sort of annoyed by her, but by the end was FIRMLY in her camp. She has experienced so much trauma, and it has definitely changed her - but she works VERY hard not to let it define her, but instead to *use* it as a catalyst. That's what truly made this book - the characterization, not only of Alex, but of those around her. Evil sometimes wears a pretty face, and sometimes those we see as the most guilty may not be.

Without spoilers, I would be thrilled if there was a sequel. It sounds like it could be one Hell of a trip.