A review by pugcaso
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found the description of Yale to be distracting, I couldn’t really get into the setting. But Bardugo graduated from Yale so that must be why. I think I was expecting a hard magic system since I was disappointed that many magic items from Lethe came out of nowhere to do exactly what she needed. But the main story is Alex. And Darlington’s. Two lonely people who have been abandoned in different ways.
Sandow took advantage of both. Speaking of Sandow, Bardugo added enough context for readers to piece together the murder mystery, and I love that. While I found Belbalm to be very suspicious and possibly working with Sandow, how could anyone piece together what she was up to? We needed more of Daisy’s background for this to land.


I loved Darlington and Alex’s growth. Dawes really grew on me too! 
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