I didn’t expect to enjoy Ninth House as much as I did. Sure, I’d heard the hype: Leigh Bardugo stepping away from her Grishaverse and diving into the murky waters of adult fantasy with dark academia, ghosts, and secret societies.
Honestly the beginning didn’t help. It’s slow, almost infuriatingly so. But if Stephen King says “Brilliant…impossible to put down”, ok Mr. King let’s push throught it. I ended up enjoying this book, even if it took a little patience to get there.
Why do we so often root for the broken?
Alex Stern is a walking contradiction. She’s barely holding her sh*t together—a girl shaped by addiction, trauma, and violence, now somehow navigating the elite halls of Yale. Let’s be real: she doesn’t belong there, and Bardugo doesn’t try to convince us otherwise. Alex isn’t an underdog you root for because she’s scrappy and charming. She’s prickly, angry, and exhausted, and that’s exactly what makes her so compelling. You want her to survive, not because she’s destined for greatness, but because life hasn’t given her a damn thing. Well, none that she wanted at least. And yet, there she is, standing among people who’ve been handed everything.
She’s not here to save the day. The day doesn’t even knows who she is. She’s here to survive, and maybe, if she can, to take a damn nap. She’s messy, infuriating, and impossible to look away from. Bardugo has written a protagonist who feels real, and you don’t have to like Alex to root for her.
Yale, it seems, is not the polished, ivory-tower version we often picture. This place is a menace.It’s a labyrinth of hidden rituals and dark corridors, where the university’s infamous secret societies aren’t just the drunken playgrounds of the privileged—they’re engines of dark, arcane power. Skull and Bones, Book and Snake, Scroll and Key—they dabble in rituals like necromancy, prophetic entrail readings, spells that blur the line between science and sorcery. And then there’s Lethe, the ninth and most secretive society of them all, tasked with keeping the others in check. Sounds noble, right? It’s not. Lethe isn’t there to fix the system; it’s there to keep it running smoothly, blood sacrifices and all. And they rope Alex into this mess, thinking they can use her. Spoiler alert: they’re wrong.
“Power is neither good nor evil; it simply is. It’s the user who determines its value.”
Ninth House sucessfully marries the supernatural with the mundane. The ghosts—Grays—are a constant presence, both terrifying and strangely pitiable, lingering on the edges of the narrative like shadows. Their existence is a stark reminder: what we leave behind, and who is left to carry the weight of it? The rituals of the houses are as grotesque as they are fascinating—visions pulled from entrails, ghostly visitations during surgeries, and other acts that blur the line between science and sorcery. The entire setting feels tactile, lived-in, and hauntingly plausible.
Of course, it’s not without its flaws. While Ninth House does lean heavily on its atmospheric strengths, the pacing in the early chapters can feel like wading through fog, and the nonlinear timeline might throw off some of you. But once the pieces start to click into place, the narrative’s intricacy becomes one of its greatest strengths. This isn’t just a ghost story or a dark academia fantasy; it’s a brutal examination of power. Who has it, who doesn’t, and what people are willing to sacrifice to keep it. Yale’s secret societies are a microcosm of the real world—rotten systems that protect the elite while feeding on the vulnerable. The critique feels uncomfortably sharp, especially if you’ve ever brushed up against those kinds of institutions.
Ninth House isn’t for everyone. But if you’re willing to push through the foggy beginning, you’ll find a story that’s dark, thoughtful, and deeply satisfying. Bardugo’s leap into adult fantasy was a risk, but judging by this book—and its follow-ups—it’s a risk that paid off. Ninth House haunts!
Ninth House is the first installment in a planned trilogy, followed by its sequel, Hell Bent. The third book is currently in development, with its title yet to be revealed. I will be reviewing Hell Bent at some point. Have you read them? Let me know what you think, and if you’ve enjoyed this review!
Now go after it! Keep questioning, keep exploring, keep reading!
Do you want to read Ninth House?
I bought mine in Heathrow. The cheapest I’ve found since (and quickest) sits on Amazon.
