A Book & A Beer | J.W. Martin

THE NINTH HOUSE
by Leigh Bardugo

Flatiron Books
October 8, 2019

From Goodreads:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

The good people at Raincoast Books and Flatiron Books provided me with an advanced copy of The Ninth House in exchange for a fair and honest review as part of their blog tour.

It’s blog tour time!

When the good people at Raincoast Books emailed me to ask if I was interested in being part of the blog tour for Leigh Bardugo’s new book, I wrote back: “Yes! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!” Literally. Verbatim. 

It’s Leigh freakin’ Bardugo! And she’s trying her hand at adult fantasy? I’m in all the way up to my neck.

THE NINTH HOUSE is a world that’s both wondrous and familiar at the same time. It’s gritty and dark but also fascinating and surprising. It’s a story filled with characters impossible not to love, and will put you on edge and keep you guessing until the final reveal.

As I expected from a Bardugo novel, the wonderful cast of characters walks right off the page. I wanted to pull them out of the book and put them somewhere in my day-to-day life. Well, maybe. Alex might be a pain in the ass in everyday life, but you know what I mean.

These characters were flawed and punchy without being larger than life (though the second book might be a different story!) Backstories are peppered with sordid happenings and you won’t know who can trust until the end (including our main character!)

As I said, the setting is familiar with the idea of magic existing in our present world, but the magic system itself is quite unique and makes it all feel new again. Hints are dropped occasionally, while getting a glimpse of a particular house’s magic. I get the sense that if you were so inclined to Google some of these hints, you might find that the rituals and spells are based off of existing lore and beliefs from places across the world.

My only beef was the pace in the beginning of the book. It took a long time for the plot to find traction. About 200 pages. In the meanwhile there was a lot of character development, world building, and establishing info. 

On page one, we’re dropped in right in the middle of things, which is usually great. I love being dropped in and told to catch up. But there needs to be things happening in order to do so. Here, we’re dropped in, told to catch up, and nothing is really happening. You might think that would make it easier, but it’s not. It’s harder. 

Characters and running around and interacting and then they’re gone. And I’m left saying, who was that? Where is he going? Is he coming back? Should I care? Are you my mummy?

P.S. Maybe I’m slow, or maybe I missed it earlier on (and I didn’t read the synopsis), but for those that are going to read this: Alex is Galaxy. Daniel Arlington is Darlington. That seems obvious now that I type it, but for the first while these were used interchangeably and I thought we were talking about four characters instead of two. But I can be kind of dense at times.

Despite the slow start, this was a highly satisfying read. Worth the wait, and an ending that makes me want/need/willing-to-make-deals-with-the-occult in order to get my hands on book 2!

Fun fact about this post: This book has the greatest response ever for when someone asks the rhetorical, What’s wrong with you?   “I can’t dance and I don’t floss. What’s wrong with you?”