From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

Leigh Bardugo

Start date: December 2, 2019

Finish date: January 2, 2020

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What Members Thought

Oct 08, 2025 Avigail rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-s-writing, libby, podcast-rec, own, youtube-rec, challenges, audiobook, borrowed, library, 1-2025

During the autumn season, I love immersing myself in stories that evoke that crisp, moody atmosphere—especially since, where I live, there isn’t truly a fall season (maybe in 2025 there will be). For me, autumn reads mean dark academia, paranormal intrigue, and mystery thrillers—and Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo perfectly fits that mood. Bardugo’s captivating writing pulls you into the eerie world of Yale’s secret societies, where magic, privilege, and danger intertwine. I found myself eager to u ...more

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Mar 02, 2021 Vickie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audible, fantasy, booksthatmakemegowow, listened-to

I will start here by saying that Leigh Bardugo is one of my favorite authors. I started with Six of Crows as my intro to her Grishaverse and I've since read one or all from each of the duology/trilogy in the Grishaverse and loved each one.
When I read the premise for Ninth House, it startled me that it wasn't part of the world-building I was familiar with. Rather this takes place in the now at Yale University, but a spookier more viciously magical Yale. And it is SUPERB! Highly excellent world-b ...more

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Jun 06, 2021 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, favorites, feminism, mental-health-awareness, fiction, i-will-read-anything-by, pov-multiple, friend-s-recs, fantasy, historical-fiction

February 2023

I finished Hell Bent and near immediately put this on for a re-read (and then a second read of Hell Bent right after, too). This book is so amazingly layered, and you can see so much more of what's happening in the Spring Sections told by Alex in this book once you've seen ever more where it goes to in Summer in the next, but also what Darlington was already doing in Book 1 post-Winter chapters that we couldn't really know was Darlington.

BRAVI. This a breathless favorite.

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Sprin ...more

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Jun 24, 2021 Haze rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-books-read

It started slow for me because there was a lot of me trying to figure out the world this story was set in. I'm not American and I don't understand the culture of prestigious colleges, and although I've heard of Yale, because of the initial setup with the Grays, I wasn't sure if this was a completely different Yale or just a fictionalized version of the real Yale, including societies and all.

The appendix at the end mentioned real celebrity names who belonged to the societies though, so maybe the ...more

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Mar 11, 2020 Heather Perkins rated it really liked it

I tried reading this book sometime last year but a bit into the first chapter I returned it to the library because I knew that I was not in the mood for the type of dark, gritty fantasy that it was. However, this time I was good for it, and this was a great book. I do get that it's not for everyone, but I very much enjoyed the murder mystery and while it was heavy it didn't seem overdone. I didn't feel like it was slow to start, but I do listen on audiobook on 1.5x speed, so that might give me a ...more

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