Leigh BardugoFiction · Fantasy·b. 1975
Ninth House
Synopsis
Galaxy 'Alex' Stern's life has been a series of disasters: a high-school dropout with a history of drugs and dead-end jobs, she is the improbable survivor of a gruesome multiple homicide. What sets her apart is that she can see ghosts — and that rare gift earns her a mysterious, fully funded place at Yale, on the condition that she help monitor the university's secret societies.
Behind their Ivy League prestige, Yale's societies traffic in real occult power, and when a local girl turns up dead, Alex refuses to accept the official story. Her investigation drags her into the rot beneath the university's privilege, where magic, money, and violence are tightly intertwined.
The first book in Leigh Bardugo's Alex Stern series is a dark, propulsive urban fantasy and a scathing dark-academia mystery. Content note: it depicts sexual assault, drug use, and violence.
How it reads
Prose complexity 7/10
Content warnings (3)
Sexual AssaultSubstance AbuseViolence
- 1.5/5 (1,64/10) Estoy cansada, jefe... Honestly, I haven’t cared at all about anything or anyone in this story. Seriously… What is this? I bought the bilogy because it was sold as “the adult novel by the famous Leigh Bardugo”, and I’ve only heard good things about it, but since I’m not into YA, I said “Hey, adult? Well, I’m interested!” But no, this isn’t adult, this is YA. And the bad one. I don’t care how you put it: this is YA. You can see, feel and smell YA. Not only in the characters and the plot but also in the prose. (My fault for believing them). Alex Stern is an ultra mega cliché character from YA books: a young girl but the most unfortunate of all the girls in the world since birth, who is special only because she is the protagonist, and as such must receive special treatment: she is the best at everything, she is the smartest, she is special, she is the one with the best ability (seeing ghosts without the help of potions), she is the one with the most resistance, drugs only give her good things… She is the typical girl who is “not like the others”: she is not feminine, she is not good, she does not care about her appearance, she is foul-mouthed… she is “too cool for school”. What the f•••? She is one of the most bland and uncharismatic characters I have ever encountered in literature. The narrative is not good and much less adult. There are many cringe references to contemporary pop, the author uses vulgar teenage words -and expressions- to make clear the “teenager” age of the protagonist (because yes, she is the typical protagonist who is x age but behaves like a rebellious 14-15 year old teenager who tries to justify herself by giving the most tragic past that someone can have because, “oh, poor thing, you have to empathize with her because she is very unhappy but she is, at the same time, the best and Mrs. perfect because she is the main protagonist”). Also, the fact that it switches between flashbacks and the present in each chapter takes away a lot from the plot and makes it unenjoyable, especially because the “plot” of the flashbacks is absolutely irrelevant. The references do not end with contemporary pop, there are also quite a few North American references that, honestly, I do not get because I am not American and, therefore, it is not my culture: I will not understand the references to the slang used on the North American streets. The use of drugs is very badly handled: Alex does not show signs of addiction nor drug use. The only explanation for his haggard and tired state is that she doesn't sleep enough. Speaking of drugs... habitual drug use without a serious tone is also very typical of YA novels... Authors need to stop using drugs like candy, seriously. Also, the way this author has written it, and I'm sorry to repeat myself, is not good. The expressions she uses, the way she explains things, the way she introduces new elements or takes them up again... It's just not good. You can see a clear decline compared to "King of Scars", at least there was a minimum quality of writing. Not here. The "world building" is horrible. This is not a fantasy, it's a contemporary fiction novel and that's it. How can a book that brings absolutely no change to the normal world be a fantasy? Reading some comments, they compare this novel with "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman, but they are not comparable. Yes in the simple and unprepared way of writing, but not in terms of characters or world. “The Magicians” IS fantasy and those add elements in a very noticeable way; “The Ninth House” no. Even the description of the ghosts is not different from what we can find in real life. What is magical about this book? Nothing. Look… I can understand that you like the author and that you have affection for her because of “Six of Crows”, she is my Guy Gavriel Kay for you. I understand that. But that does not mean that you have to abandon your objectivity and blind yourself to the bad things about your favorite author’s novels and, objectively, this novel is not good, but it is boring and without charisma. It is exhausting, without substance and does not offer anything interesting. I should have learned with “King of Scars”… But at least, that book had something good: Isaac. Definitely, Leigh Bardugo is not an author for me. I'll read the second book as quickly as I can because I've already spent my money on them, but I wish someone had stopped me.
- Ninth House- first I listened to the book on audio and the voices were good but I had a hard time with this book. I'm sure if it was because I was listening to it instead of actually reading it. Reading it I might be able to follow the story better but there are somethings in the book I honestly did not like. I'm going to give it a little time and then I'm going to read the book. I really want to like this. I will try and read another book by Leigh Bardugo first.
- Leigh Bardugo captures my heart and soul again with this book. I’ve missed LB’s writing style so much since the world of the Grisha came out. In this adult fantasy, I was given a heap of suspense and magic and secret societies (along with my desire for darlington and Alex to be in love) this was such an amazing book, it had a slow start but it really picked up and made me fall in love with the stories and the characters.
- Really good and much better than the shadow and bone series. Still felt like she was trying to make a point but couldn’t quite say it in a way. The reveal at the end could have been built up more. It’s probably hinted at but I’ve missed it. Also does every book need SA in it Leigh?
- After what seemed like a slow start with the world building and a slight information overload, the story was launched into a pretty gripping ride finishing off on a slightly sweet strange taste. Definitely left me needing to pick up the sequel asap.