Blog Tour | Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Date: October 8, 2019

Pages: 480

Format: ARC

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Purchase Links: [Indigo] [Amazon]

Goodreads Synopsis:

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. By age twenty, in fact, 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 elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

My Review:

*Thank you Raincoast Books for sending me an ARC of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo for an honest review.*

Huge shout out to Raincoast Books for inviting me to be apart of the Ninth House Blog Tour. Be sure to check out the postcard below to see all the other bloggers participating in the tour!

Ninth House was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019. The amount of hype around this book was ridiculous! I love Leigh Bardugo's work so obviously, I was living for it. I expected it to blow me away, unfortunately, that did not happen. Ninth House was a bit of a disappointment.

Ninth House is a long book. Almost 500 pages and not much happened, I still can’t believe it. The pacing was slow, dense and a bit confusing. It took me a while to fully grasp what was going on. There were more focus and detail on the setting than the characters and the plot. The story is told in two timelines and two POV's; Alex’s, who showed the present and Darlington’s, who showed the past. Alex’s POV was the main focus but I would have liked if more was given to Darlington. Darlington, for me, was more intriguing and he captured my attention better.

Even though I was interested enough to keep going nothing stood out for me. Most of the time I felt I was reading a contemporary rather than a mystery/thriller. Hearing about the warning about this book I was excited and kept waiting to feel the intense and dark scenes but the scenes weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. Yes, there are dark mentions and aspects, but not as deep as I expected. Still, be aware there are several graphic scenes; rape, child rape, drug abuse, etc.

I’m still intrigued enough to pick up the sequel to see what happens next but won’t be eagerly waiting for it that’s for sure.

#LeighBardugo #3stars