Does Ninth House connect to Leigh Bardugo's other series?

No. Ninth House is set in a separate world from the Grishaverse, which includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, and shares no characters with it. It opens Bardugo's adult Alex Stern series, continued in Hell Bent (2023) and Dead Beat (2026).

Is Ninth House the first book in a series?

Ninth House is the first book in the Alex Stern series. While it tells a complete story, there are subsequent books that continue Alex's journey.

Does Ninth House have a dual timeline?

The narrative of Ninth House unfolds across two distinct timelines, which gradually converge as the story progresses. This structure reveals past events that directly impact the present-day mystery.

Ninth House

Reader reviews of Ninth House

Rachel · 2026-07-28T22:33:24.000000Z

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.

Thriller Urban Fantasy

Pages: 458
Published: 2019
Language: English

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.

Prose complexity: 7/10

Dark Mysterious Tense Atmospheric

Dark Academia Dual Timeline Mentor Figure Academy

Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo is an American fantasy author, born in Jerusalem on 6 April 1975 and raised in Southern California. She graduated from Yale University with a degree in English in 1997, and worked in journalism, copywriting, and make-up and special effects before publishing her first novel. Her debut, Shadow and Bone (2012), opened the Grishaverse, which now spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology, and companion volumes including The Language of Thorn...

Alex SternProtagonist

Daniel 'Darlington' ArlingtonSupporting

Alex's exacting mentor in the ways of Yale's occult underworld.

Pamela DawesSupporting

Lethe House's Oculus — a graduate student and researcher who keeps the society running and backs Alex's investigation.

Abel TurnerSupporting

A New Haven police detective who serves as Lethe's Centurion, the society's liaison with the department.

Tara HutchinsSupporting

A young New Haven woman whose murder near campus Alex refuses to let the university write off.

All characters in Ninth House

Frequently asked questions

Does Ninth House connect to Leigh Bardugo's other series?
No. Ninth House is set in a separate world from the Grishaverse, which includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, and shares no characters with it. It opens Bardugo's adult Alex Stern series, continued in Hell Bent (2023) and Dead Beat (2026).
Is Ninth House the first book in a series?
Ninth House is the first book in the Alex Stern series. While it tells a complete story, there are subsequent books that continue Alex's journey.
Does Ninth House have a dual timeline?
The narrative of Ninth House unfolds across two distinct timelines, which gradually converge as the story progresses. This structure reveals past events that directly impact the present-day mystery.

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