In a nutshell: A dark fantasy fiction featuring supernatural elements and a shadowy secret society operating under the watchful eyes of Yale’s best and brightest.
Dark, violent, and kind of just weird sometimes.
Author of the widely popular ‘Shadow and Bone‘ trilogy, as well as ‘Six of Crows‘, Leigh Bardugo once again take us on deeply fascinating journey through magic and mysticism.
Now I just have to wrap my head around all of it.
Be Advised:
Wait.. Is this considered mature content? Sure.. she’s a little violent, has a bad mouth, and can’t be bothered with little things like ‘rules’ but.. is that really mature?
No.
Maybe if I..
Warning! Very strange crap involving human intestines are present.
There!
Nope.. still not right..
Caution!! Shit’s complicated.
And we’ve got quite a bit of ground to cover so.. Hold on to your hats!
No matter how you spin it.. things are about to get messy. And there will absolutely be spoilers.
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First line: “By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.”
Characters to watch:
Galaxy Stern, ‘Alex’. Dante: Our main character and leading hot mess.
Daniel Arlington, ‘Darlington’. Virgil: Alex’s mentor and, dare I say, friend?
Pamela Dawes, ‘Pammie’. Occulus: House Lethe’s helpful introvert.
Detective Turner, Centurion: Reluctant intermediary.
Dean Sandow: Self explanatory.
Bertram Boyce North, ‘The Bridegroom’: A ghost/Grey accused of murdering his former fiance.
Trigger Warning:
Murder, sexual assault, gore, violence.. and most likely many other instances of unconscionable and morally bankrupt human behavior is present.
Good luck.
Blood. Death. Confusion. Something happened to Alex, something that left her the only survivor in a locked room with three horrifically murdered dead people.. people that used to be her friends. Now she’s handcuffed in a hospital bed being offered a second chance at life.
The deal? Attend Yale, keep a low profile.. and they will provide her with a fresh start.
For a price.
No big deal, right?
Maybe good things were the same as bad things. Sometimes you just had to let them happen.
Alex is thrust into the position of ‘Dante’, second in command of Lethe, and given a mentor to ease her into the new role. Daniel Arlington – current ‘Virgil’ of House Lethe is Alex’s new mentor and guide for the next four years. He plays by the rules and gets his job done.. The right way. And he does not appreciate having a foul mouthed savage like Alex dumped in his lap.
The relationship is complicated at best.
“Daniel Arlington prided himself on being prepared for anything, but if he’d had to choose a way to describe Alex Stern, it would have been “an unwelcome surprise.”
‘House Lethe’ was created with the purpose of moderating the other houses behavior, keeping their occult business under wraps, as well as defending their members and rituals from outside forces.
“Conduct yourself with the discretion and diplomacy warranted by your office and association with Lethe, but remember always that our duty is not to prop up the vanity of Yale’s best and brightest but to stand between the living and the dead.”
—from The Life of Lethe: Procedures and Protocols of the Ninth House
It doesn’t take long for Alex to realize that the societies have been following her since she was a child..
She has an impossible gift, you see, one that very much interests them.
She sees the dead, the ‘Greys’, and has since she was a child.
And something her lessons with Darlington have taught her is.. The dead can be sent away. They can be warded against. And if she had known.. she could have protected herself. She could have stopped them.
But what these arrogant a*holes don’t know yet.. is that the dead can hurt you. She learned that the hard way.
What could she say? Help me. Protect me. Except no one could. No one could see the things hurting her.
None of that really matters. Darlington is still missing. And, even if she can’t find him on her own, she’ll follow his lead and uphold the tenets of Lethe until he’s returned.
And when Dean Sandow tries to convince her that a girls death isn’t her responsibility, to let it go.. she can’t. Securing the help of Dawes and the ghost of a murderer, The Bridegroom, she plummets headfirst into a conspiracy of murder and intrigue dating back to the conception of the ‘Houses’.
“I’m not a murderer,” said North, reaching for her.She smiled and let her fingers clasp his. “Of course not,” she said. “Neither am I.”
Before disappearing, Darlington discovers the startling truth behind the massacre Alex survived and how she walked away without a scratch. The night her friend Hellie died.. the night Alex let her in.
“He’d known. The first day he met her, he’d known there was something wrong with her, but he never could have guessed the depth of it.”
Now he knows her secret and, being the good soldier, is likely to tell.. But Alex doesn’t care anymore. Lethe needs him back in charge. She needs his help.
Something rotten is brewing with the houses, something involving a drug that causes blind obedience, a dead girl, and an attempt on her life. It is, however, a society problem and Dean Sandow wants it swept under the rug. The houses will get a stern talking to and the college will move on in the face of these tragic events.
“But that would be …”
“Unethical?” asked Alex. “Irresponsible? Like handing a sociopathic toddler a magical machete?”
And if she and Detective Turner would stop butting heads for long enough to follow the clues.. he may just be an ally. Things aren’t looking good. This is bigger than anyone knows. A string of crime and violent murders stretching back through the decades.
“It’s all of them. All the little children in their robes and hoods pretending they’re wizards.”
“They’re not pretending.” But Alex knew exactly what he meant.
Darlington knew. He had figured out the truth about the murders, the connection to the conception of each ‘House’.. and someone killed him for it. He’s dead. Isn’t he?
As her investigation closes, answers begin to reveal the shocking depths of depravity in which these members will go to secure their power. And she has to wonder.. How has this been allowed to continue? Isn’t it the duty of Lethe to mitigate such things?
She didn’t want to hide anymore. She’d thought of herself as a survivor, but she’d been no better than a beaten dog, snapping and snarling in any attempt to stay alive. She was more than that now.
Until they get Darlington back, and they will get him back, Alex will just have to make some changes.
Four Stars
Liked: I liked most of the characters, they’re all well written individuals with clear and distinct personalities. I actually enjoyed all the strangeness. The idea behind the society and their disturbing happenings was a curious, though convoluted, concept.
The author has an almost haunting writing style that really strengthens what she was attempting here.
Disliked: There is a LOT going on here(!) and it’s not all written in a way that makes understanding it a simple task. And while I can enjoy multiple timelines.. perhaps less would have done more here. Really, my biggest issue stems from the massive amount of information and how it all fit together in the story, with the characters, and what was actually going on.
“Mors irrumat omnia,” Alex whispered. Death fucks us all.
I include this with the hopes that it will offer you more clarity while reading(or after) than I had. There may have been a minute or two of graceless floundering for ‘which house did what’ and ‘why’.. I feel as though, had this been added in the beginning of the book, it would have been much more useful.
“The Ancient Eight”
MAJOR HOUSES
Skull & Bones — 1832
“Rich or poor, all are equal in death.”
Teachings: Extispicy and splanchomancy. Divination using human and animal entrails.
Scroll & Key — 1842
“Have power on this dark land to lighten it, and power on this dead world to make it live.”
Teachings: Duru dweomer, portal magic. Astral and etheric projection.
Book & Snake — 1863
“Everything changes, nothing perishes.”
Teachings: Nekyia or nekromanteía, necromancy and bone conjuring.
Wolf’s Head — 1883
“The strength of the pack is the wolf. The strength of the wolf is the pack.”
Teachings: Therianthropy.
LESSER HOUSES
Manuscript — 1952
“Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion.”
Teachings: Mirror magic and glamours.
Aurelian — 1910
Teachings: Logomancy—word binding and divination through language.
St. Elmo’s — 1889
Teachings: Tempestate Artium, elemental magic, storm calling.
Berzelius — 1848
Teachings: None. Founded in the tradition of its namesake, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, the Swedish chemist who created a new system of chemical notation that left the secrecy of alchemists in the past.
THE NINTH HOUSE
Lethe —1898
“We are the shepherds.”
Created to oversee the ‘Ancient Eight’
And that’s all I got folks!
This book is not a heavy read but it is loaded with details.
I hope this review is helpful with your foray into this fascinating adventure!
Have you read ‘Ninth House’ yet?
What did you think?
I’m glad you enjoyed this book! I think all the stuff going on was a bit too much for me, so I didn’t really enjoy it that much. There were just a bit too many side plots and characters to remember and mystery twists. But I am enjoying a very different Bardugo writing style than her previous books!
Oh, man, i’m still trying to wrap my head around all the information. I considered reading it a second time but, as I have an excellent memory, I felt that was really a bit much.. and this was actually my first Leigh Bardugo book. I always meant to read the others but somehow.. just didn’t? Oops? 😂
I think I’ve been eyeing this book for a year. I really like her writing. Perhaps I just need to finally buy the book. 😀
It’s definitely interesting and I don’t think i’ve read anything like it.. But there’s a lot to digest. I do fully intend on reading the next one when it comes out though. 😆
I hope you enjoy it if you do get it!
Oh wow, I don’t know how I’ve had this on my list so long and didn’t know how odd it was?? Thanks for the heads-up!
Definitely strange but.. I think I liked that aspect the most. The unusual ones have a way of sticking with you.
I’m glad I could help! I hope it hasn’t turned you off the book!
Take care and thank you for reading!
Great review! I don’t know if this book is for me but it sounds interesting 🤔
Thank you so much! I can completely understand that.. I didn’t think it was for me either(peers pressured) and it turns out that I like a challenge(not that you don’t)! 😆
There was so much going on in this book, but I really enjoyed it. I especially liked how different it was from Bardugo’s other books.
I agree! It took me a few days to sort it all out.. but, really? I loved how dark and complicated it was.
I haven’t read any of her other books yet(I’m way behind), what did you think was different about it?
It’s a lot darker, and it’s set very much an urban fantasy. Even the feel of the writing was different. But I’m a huge fan of both this and her other books.
I’m really going to have to read Shadow and Bone now. Might as well start at the beginning, right?
Yes, do it!!
Lol. I will, honest! I still have to read ACOTAR at some point, too.. I don’t foresee an end to my tbr. 🤭
Have a wonderful day!🌷
You too!