Book Review: Ninth House

Fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo, published 2019

459 pages

Beautifully Macabre, A Tale of Magic & the Cabal

“Mors irrumat omnia. Death fucks us all.”

Wow...just wow. I had never heard of Leigh Bardugo before, but after reading this book, I immediately started following her on social and am anxiously awaiting the upcoming sequel in 2023. As someone who has an affinity for the darker and more macabre aspects of life, as well as a keen interest in both the concept of magic and the it's historical roots, this story was basically tailor-made for me.

Set in New Haven, CT (mostly on Yale's campus), Bardugo takes the reader on a fantastical and, sometimes horrific, journey through the lens of main character Galaxy Stern. Galaxy, who goes by Alex, has a background wrought with drugs and the type of men that you never want to be alone in a room with. And oh yea, she can see ghosts, or "Grays" as they are called here. After nearly overdosing on fentanyl, amongst other things, Alex is met in the hospital by Yale's own Dean Sandow. Sandow offers her the salvation that she's been looking for her whole life- an opportunity to attend Yale and use her special Gray seeing talents on the University's behalf.

Flipping between two main timelines of Late Spring and Winter, Bardugo weaves a compelling tale of what "really happens" between the closed doors of one of the top Ivy Leagues. We've all heard the conspiracy theories about secret societies and what goes on during their meetings, and Ninth House does an excellent job of pulling you into this fictitious world of privilege, gore, and unbreakable magic. The eponymous Ninth House, entitled Lethe, is essential the quality assurance of the eight Houses of the Veil. For example, Lethe ensures that when Skull and Bones is performing their prognostication ritual (the practice of reading the future of finance in a live body's intestines) that the magic used doesn't go awry and that the person on the table doesn't die in the process.

Alex has been tapped to be the new Lethe "Dante." Her "Virgil," Daniel Arlington (I love the classic literature references Bardugo uses!), becomes her lifeline as he guides her through the Lethe rules and processes. But when a town girl is murdered and Darlington disappears, all Hell breaks loose and Alex has to find it within herself to figure out what it going wrong within the Houses of the Veil. What proceeds is an unputdownable adventure with a badass heroine who is insanely well developed and nuanced, which makes her so relatable.

5 out of 5 Stars

What's beautiful about this is that Bardugo actually is a Yale alum. Much of what she describes in the story is in fact real, so she is able to blend fact with fiction which makes the plot come to life around you. Her writing style is wonderfully captivating as well, “And maybe he wanted her to be the kind of girl who dressed as Queen Mab, who loved words and had stars in her blood.” There were many lines like that which simply hooked me.

Overall, I can't say enough how much I absolutely loved this story and I will absolutely be in line in January 2023 to purchase the sequel!