“Even alligators have parents, Dawes. That doesn't stop them from biting”
Ninth House 📚 was the book of choice for November's read for #thatindiebookclub. I didn’t really know what “Dark Academia” 🏛️ was all about when the theme for that month was revealed, and that’s exactly what I love about these book club reads—they push you to try things you might not have picked up otherwise! ✨
I decided to listen to the audiobook 🎧 for this one, and I really liked it. It was slow to start as we’re dropped into Alex’s Yale world—a world she was recruited into rather than earned through school achievements, all because she can see ghosts! 👻 The story is told across two timelines: Spring 🌸 and Winter ❄️. I’m still not entirely sure when Alex arrived at Yale and which timeline features Darlington training her versus after he disappears. But honestly, it doesn’t really matter—I don’t feel the need to understand every single detail to enjoy a story, and I absolutely did. 😄
I loved Alex’s ability to adapt to any situation. She fits in surprisingly well with both ghosts 👻 and humans 🧑🤝🧑, and she sets out to help solve everyone’s mysteries 🕵️♀️. I mean, who wouldn’t want to befriend a dead bridegroom 💀💍, right?!
It’s dark—very dark in places 🌑. Definitely read the trigger warnings ⚠️ before diving in, as it’s not suitable for everyone. Luckily, few things trigger me, and I was happy to lose myself in the secret societies 🏰 and mysterious goings-on 🔮 for a few days!
I’ll definitely pick up the sequel at some point 📖—I’m keen to read more about Daniel Arlington! 😉
About the Book
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 20, 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.
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Familiar, Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.
