A review by allyhoo811
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was one of the best books I have read in a long time -- definitely a new favorite. It was my first time reading something written by Leigh Bardugo, and I am very much looking forward to reading more of her backlog. I hope the sequel for this one comes out very soon!

I will try my best to keep this review spoiler-free and will include spoiler tags where needed!

Characters:

The protagonist (Alex Stern) was extremely fleshed out and nuanced. She actually started out a little meh for me. I wasn't sure how I felt about her in the beginning (wasn't the most likable), but she grew on me throughout the course of the story as I learned about her background and what exactly made her tick.

The rest of the main cast was equally enjoyable. I think I fell in love with Darlington after his first POV chapter! Turner, Dawes, and
The Bridegroom
, like Alex, grew on me over the course of the story and I came to care about them so much. Dawes is definitely the character I related to the most and I'm glad she ultimately had such a large role to play.

The depth of the female friendships in the story was so refreshing to see.
The friendship between Alex and Dawes was especially endearing, and I hope that the imminent return of Darlington does nothing to destroy their sisterly bond, since they both seem just a little in love with him.


I really love the "found family" that is being created here.

My one nitpick:
This is very much a personal preference thing, but I wish Mercy's reaction to the sexual assault would have been handled a bit differently. She (and those around her) seemed to 'get-over' what happened fairly quickly, and while I understand that this is a very valid response to trauma, because she was such a minor character, who's head we didn't live in, I really would have liked it better if things hadn't been "fine" so fast. There is time to potentially explore this further in the sequel/s, so I hope that it gets a mention. Bardugo did an amazing job handling similiar situations in other instances of the book, so I do not think it was handled badly -- like I menitoned, just a personal preference.


Setting/World-Building:

I honestly felt like I was in this world with the characters. It was apparent that Bardugo attended Yale and had done her research on New Haven. Another plus: She also choose my favorite form of world-building for this story. I think fantasies work best when you are following a protagonist who is also new to the magical world, because the questions readers have are abled to be answered organically as they come up and the need for huge info dumps is avoided.

Plot/Pacing:

This book, like previously mentioned, is a new favorite. The murder mystery was weaved in perfectly with the secret society magic and I couldn't get enough. Speaking of which, when is the sequel coming out?

Overall, the pacing was excellent and I found myself saying just one more chapter over and over. However, I will say that the first %5-%10 percent of the book suffered a little bit from the same problem as Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone -- namely, how to get the reader integrated into a new world so the plot could get going. It was done very well, but still had one or two slow chapters after the prologue (I would advise you to push through if you get stuck there).

One of my favorite things about this story was that I actually feared for the characters at times, it felt like anything could happen — not so much Alex because she is the protagonist of the series, but the others.

Nitpick Time:
Every society member we met casually ultimately became involved with/a suspect in the murder mystery. I get why this was done, but it felt unrealistic that the only people Alex seemed to talk would then later happen to be the one member of their society with a connection to the murder. I also wish that one on the two “adults” Alex knew at the university had made it to the 2nd book. I was suspicious of both early on, and it would have been nice to make 1 the big bad in another story


Writing Style/Authorial Voice: Bardugo's writing style is the type that works best for me personally. It is descriptive where it needs to be (sometimes eliciting very visceral reactions from me), but it never crosses the line into being overly wordy or flowery. She uses 'proper' grammar throughout and doesn't get caught up in the new popular trend of run-on, incomplete sentences. Everything is very readable in a way I appreciate. She also has a nice sarcastic wit (in Alex's internal dialogue) that I enjoyed immensely.

Themes: 

Explores ideas of power corrupting those who wield it and existing at the expense of others, along with issues classism, sexism, racism and accountability.

Again Bardugo handles themes the way I prefer to see in my fantasy stories: She doesn't handhold and trusts her readers to make the connections. She also doesn't soapbox to get her point across and lets the text speak for itself.

Overall Enjoyment:

I had a great time with this...What I wild ride!

If you like this book, you might also like [book:An Unkindness of Magicians|32735037] 

I was inspired by one of my favorite Booktubers Jashana to try out a new review style. Check out her channel if you are able: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFaBvWzfGsqB-Fvg40hc0lQ/videos">Jashana's Youtube Channel</a>
Expand filter menu Content Warnings