Ninth House

Leigh Bardugo

Oct 2019 · Ninth House Series Book 1 · Sold by Flatiron Books

About this eBook

"The best fantasy novel I’ve read in years, because it’s about real people... Impossible to put down." —Stephen King

The smash New York Times bestseller from Leigh Bardugo, a mesmerizing tale of power, privilege, and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite.

Goodreads Choice Award Winner
Locus Finalist

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. In fact, by age twenty, 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 prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

Don't miss the highly-anticipated sequel, Hell Bent.

Ratings and reviews

So rich in storytelling and plot twists, this book about Galaxy's world pulls you in from the get-go. Its relevancy to today's eerie facets of life will fascinate the reader and are a bleak contrast to the mentioned historical events. Somehow it still feels like a feel-good book, no doubt mainly because of Alex's courage.

Alex's entire life has been haunted. She is constantly on edge as ghosts hover in her vision. Drugs keep them away, and to Alex, it is safer to be high than deal with ghosts no one believes she sees. Until one last hit takes her too far and she lands in the hospital. She wakes to find a representative from Yale University offering her a chance to rebuild her life and embrace the hidden world that no one else believes in. Alex enters the world of secret magic societies hidden at Yale. But while she may be around people who believe her, there is a darkness at Yale, one that will threaten to swallow her whole. Ninth House is a murder mystery steeped in magic. It takes a little while to grasp what is going on. However, once readers become immersed in the world of magic, they won’t want to surface again till the end. There is an overarching mystery of Alex's mentor disappearing. This plagues the reader as Leigh Bardugo drops tantalizing bits of story from his perspective before he vanishes. Combine this with Alex in the present dealing with his disappearance and trying to find out the truth behind a murdered girl on campus. Alex digs deeper into the truth surrounding the secret societies and creates a compelling story readers won’t want to put down. Alex is a character readers will want to follow. Her past is a disheveled mess. To see what she came from, and how the past has shaped her is worth the read. Being a survivor, Alex sees the world differently than her Yale counterparts, and it causes quite the stir. Alex will take the reader down roads that are filled with twists and turns as she struggles to embrace what she is and find out the truth.

I actually preferred this book over the Grisha Trilogy, but I didn't read six of crows yet, maybe it's going to be even better. But I really enjoyed reading this book, it's something completely different from what I usually read and I love all of the characters. I love how independent, strong and over all very interesting Alex's character is. It's amazing to see her development through the book and get to know what happened in the past piece by piece. So if you're interested in dark paranormal stories, this is the right book!!

About the author

Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy novels and the creator of the Grishaverse (coming soon to Netflix) which spans the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows Duology, The Language of Thorns, and the King of Scars duology. Her short stories can be found in multiple anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. Leigh was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Southern California, and graduated from Yale University. These days she lives and writes in Los Angeles.