There are some real dark scenes in here and frankly, I am glad that she went as dark as she did. With this being said, I was impressed overall with Bardugo’s transition to the Adult space. If you are sensitive to these topics, I would tread cautiously. There is also quite a bit on page of drug abuse, sexual assault and rape culture in general. One of these topics that I found extremely interesting, was the great amount of privilege on the Yale campus, and the way uneven power dynamics can contribute to an extremely harmful environment.

This allows her a close connection to the spiritual underworld surrounding her.Įssentially a murder mystery, this novel offers up a lot of darker real world topics for consideration as well. It’s also the responsibility of Lethe House to oversee the other houses to ensure there are no bad actors.Īlex, as it turns out, is well-suited for her new house, as she has an arcane ability she has been struggling with her entire life. When she starts at Yale, Alex gets tapped for Lethe House the ninth of the secret societies at Yale and the one with the closest ties to the occult. Regardless of any trauma experienced in her life, Alex is a survivor and a fighter. Here was a girl who had a rough start at life, raised by a hippie Mom in California, who ends up at one of the most elite institutions in the world.Īfter a close call that could have ended her life, Alex instead ends up being offered a seat in the Freshman class at Yale, but why? Her academic transcript certainly wasn’t recommending her for the slot. I feel like I may have been able to concentrate more on the story if I had been holding the book in my hands and there’s a lot to take in here.Ī lot of details regarding the setting of the Yale campus, the magic system, the lore of the secret societies, as well as back and forth timelines, I think just got lost somewhere around mile marker 50.

I have to say, while I really enjoyed the audiobook, particularly the two narrators, I think I may have enjoyed it even more if I had read a hard copy. On a recent road trip, I finally decided to give this one a shot. What’s not to love about the Yale campus, secret societies and magic. I have been fascinated by the idea of this book for a while. Ninth House was a delightfully intriguing start to the all-new, Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo.

The ninth house series