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Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

Leigh Bardugo

Start date: December 1, 2023

Finish date: December 31, 2023

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Nov 26, 2023 Chewable Orb rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ninth House (Alex Stern#1) by Leigh Bardugo

The setting is Yale University, and Alex Stern is thrust into a world of secret societies. She soon learns the complexities of governing a world consumed with deception, greed, and power.

Alex has a gift, she sees dead people. This ability creates turmoil in her relationship with her mother and soon we witness her life swirling out of control in a vortex of chaos. Harrowing circumstances present an opportunity, to attend Yale University and join the Nint Ninth House (Alex Stern#1) by Leigh Bardugo

The setting is Yale University, and Alex Stern is thrust into a world of secret societies. She soon learns the complexities of governing a world consumed with deception, greed, and power.

Alex has a gift, she sees dead people. This ability creates turmoil in her relationship with her mother and soon we witness her life swirling out of control in a vortex of chaos. Harrowing circumstances present an opportunity, to attend Yale University and join the Ninth House Lethe. The Lethe's sole motivation is to hold the other eight houses accountable for their actions, or is it? With the god-given ability to see "Greys", aka dead people Alex has the cheat code. With this unique ability, it is abundantly clear Yale reeks of an abundance of stank. She learns that the perception of the clean-cut Ivy League school is nothing more than a facade more liken to that of a ghetto in Harlem back in the 80s, the only difference being the backdrop. Delving into a cold reality that not everything is as it seems, Alex perceptively navigates through the chilling truths between the living and the dead.

Confusion: Noun. uncertainty about what is happening, intended, or required. This one word best describes my head-scratching jaunt through the first 100 pages of the book. To put it simply I fell overboard from a Yacht of pretentiousness and thrown a life raft with a hole in it. I was sinking quickly, going under. Marooned on an island of "Greys", I picked up the book again and slowly gnawed away at its pages. Proud of myself for surviving, I found myself enjoying a complex tale over an open campfire. Bardugo builds a world that is morbidly delightful and I enjoyed every morsel it had to offer. There was a payoff to my earlier confusion, several a-ha moments where the pieces started to fit. One of the more unique experiences I have had while reading. As if I truly had overcome the 26th mile in a marathon, proving that the book you may not want to finish may give you the ultimate taste of victory in the end.

I highly recommend this book, and I implore you to be patient if confusion sets in. Bardugo has done a masterful job of worldbuilding and this novel is creatively unlike anything I have read before. For this reason, I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy books that include a bit of horror with their academic tales. Overall I give it 4 stars but closer to 4.5. ...more

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Mar 13, 2025 Sarah E B ʚ♡ɞ rated it really liked it

Shelves: some-kinda-magic, read-2025, horror, gothic-or-gothic-esque, setting-alternate-earth, ghosty-ghouls, murder-mystery, mordern-day-magic-users, cults, suspense-thiller-mystery-etc

3.9/ 5 stars ⭐ ✨

This book, Ms. Bardugo's first adult novel, is good in my opinion, and I'll likely continue the series. I enjoy the paranormal elements and the exploration of the dark side of an elite college. The book has many good qualities, but I won't rate it higher due to its slow pace and the fact that not much happens for a good portion of the book. The focus on Alex's drive and daily life at Yale, as well as minor worldbuilding for the societies, are important aspects, but they are not ...more

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