Ninth House - Review
Going into Ninth House, I was intrigued not only by the idea of an adult novel with magical themes in the dark academia genre but one that was told from the perspective of a woman of color. Starting off, Bardugo throws you straight into the secret societies and rituals of Yale’s elite and gives you the feeling of treading water to stay afloat, much like our protagonist Galaxy “Alex” Stern. She is acquired by the Ninth House of Yale after barely surviving the traumatic slaughter of her best friend and other members of a party gone wrong. Alex can see the dead, and while she has literally been haunted by this fact her entire life, it is now her duty to keep the other societies and their magic in check.
Sounds cool enough, right?
Well, throughout the course of the story, we are primarily taken through Alex’s thoughts, often reliving the trauma she cannot share with anyone. This novel definitely checks all of the boxes in the adult category, including vivid descriptions of rape, sexual assault, drugs, murder, and gore. At many times, the violence feels excessive and unnecessary, often appearing after long periods of monotonous daily tasks in the brief moments of action that drive the plot forward. While Alex feels complex enough as a character and the magic and history of the world is well established, neither is strong enough to tie this story together over its mammoth 458 pages.
An interesting ghostly murder mystery with Alex playing the role of an edgy and secretive Nancy Drew, Ninth House ultimately suffers from long, dragging narration and a lack of depth in the relationships of its characters to the story and to each other. The stakes sound high, but the main action and plot stray enough to make you forget why you’re here in the first place and takes its time to have the villain reveal themselves and their evil plan, asking you to hold on until the sequel for any satisfactory depth to be achieved.