A review by sarahsbooklife
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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

4.0

I think that Ninth House is a take it or leave it kind of story. Some people will love it and others won't. I personally enjoyed it a lot! I thought it was a good book but there were some parts that I didn't like. 
I found it pretty slow to get into and I had no idea where places where or what they looked like. Maybe it's because I'm not American, never been to Yale or New Hampshire but a lot of the places I couldn't picture easily while reading this book. I felt at times that like I was meant to know what these places looked like and I just didn't. I felt like Leigh Bardugo kind of expected people to know what all these places looked like which made it difficult for me to imagine the setting. A lot of the things about Yale I felt you where meant to know already and it was a little confusing. 
I watched this BookTuber finding the different places that are mention in Ninth House and some of them looked nothing like I was imagining in my head. 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMYIH6IFauU 
This is an adult book with some upsetting things in like rape, sexual assault (of women and a minor in the past), drug use, overdose, death, graphic violence and murder. It doesn't pull any punches. These scenes were often raw and uncomfortable, and sometimes caught me off guard. 
I think I found it a bit slow because of the dual narration between Alex and Darlington, with them skipping between the present and the past. Most of it is from Alex with her chapters being set in Winter, Early Spring and Spring. The ones that are Darlington's are Last Fall which show him teaching Alex the ropes, introducing her to the world of the Secret Societies at Yale, up until what happens to him. I liked that there several mysteries that were brought up in this story like what happened in Fall and to Darlington, why wasn't he really in Spain like Alex was having to tell everyone? What had lead Alex to end up at Yale? What happened at Ground Zero? Why could Alex see ghosts, Grays, without having to take a potion? Who killed a girl on the night of a society ritual? 
I got those answers and more. Plus some more questions. 
There were great characters in this book, both good and bad and in the middle. They were all so interesting and I loved getting to know Alex and Darlington and seeing Yale and what they did as part of the Ninth House from both of their eyes. 
I liked that there were multiple mysteries to figure out and unravel throughout the book. Especially as some seemed to be solved but actually weren't and there were much more to still be uncovered. 
I thought that this was a really good book. I just wish that the next book was out so I could read what happens next. 
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