Book 41 Ninth House

Ninth House by Leigh
Bardugo fulfilled the category “Book
with a Black and White Cover” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. The
title fills half the cover with white outlined black letters on a black
background. A black snake slithers through the letters of the title and
author’s name.

It was not my first choice, but
I’m so glad I picked
it. I started The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson because Devil
in the White City is one of my all-time favorites. My interest petered out
about halfway through. It seemed to be just another WWII book. Then I started
(again) The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. A friend recommended the novel. And
I’m trying to read it.

Ninth House caught me
right away. It’s a better
version of The Magicians. Basically, in Ninth House, Yale is a
school for magicians but an enormous secret. Eight colleges within the ivy
league campus also teach various types of magic and use the knowledge to gain
fame, fortune, and success. The ninth house, Lethe, was founded to be a check,
a policing force for the ancient eight, in case they got out of control. And
they certainly do.

Enter Galaxy Stern (Alex), a
young woman who turned to drugs and alcohol to blind her to her visions and
contact with the supernatural. Yes, ghost exists, and they won’t leave Alex alone. She’s
tough, has been through so much trauma, and is the perfect person to be the new
assistant at Lethe. But she’s not. She’s no Yalie. (I can use that word because
I went to UCONN. The book is rather nostalgic for me.) Alex is the right person
to push through the bullshit and solve a murder on campus.

This book has it all—adventure,
magic, trauma, love, hate, Yale snobbery, crime, and treachery. The pace was
quick and exciting. And we, like Alex, are outsiders looking in going, “WTF, Yale?” Why are these
college kids doing this kind of magic unchecked? It’s like college Harry Potter
but every house is Slytherin. I loved it.

Alex’s journey in the novel is compelling as well. It’s not just
about her learning to use and control her powers to see and communicate with
the dead. More importantly, it’s about her journey out after suffering a
horrible childhood at the whim of the supernatural world. She must learn to
embrace her true self to do the impossible job given to her.

Yes, it’s a series, with book two’s release date a huge mystery.
But buck up, readers. Leigh Bardugo has tons of other books (most of which are
on my TBR list) such as The Six of Crows and The Shadow and Bone
trilogy.

I give Ninth
House by Leigh Bardugo Five Giant Black Mambas Ready to Strike.