New Adult Annotation: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy, fiction, adult, new adult, contemporary, occult
Publication: October 8th, 2019 by Flatiron Books
Page count: 459 pages
Geographical setting: New Haven, Connecticut (centered on Yale University), protagonist grows up in Los Angeles
Time Period: Modern day
Series: Alex Stern series, book 1
*Praise: Audie Award Nominee for Fantasy (2020), Goodreads Choice Award for Fantasy (2019), "The best fantasy novel I've read in years, because it’s about real people. Bardugo’s imaginative reach is brilliant, and this story―full of shocks and twists―is impossible to put down.” – Stephen King
Plot Summary:
Due to lucky circumstance, 20 year-old high school dropout Alex Stern is given a full-ride scholarship to attend Yale University; an offer given to her while recovering from surviving a multiple homicide. Leaving behind her mother, a house in the LA hinterlands, a string of deadbeat boyfriends and dead-end jobs, Alex hopes to find belonging while adopting a new version of herself while at Yale. However, life for Alex doesn't normalize at Yale; using her ability to see and interact with ghosts, Alex becomes part of the Lethe society. Yale societies partake in dark occult and paranormal practices, introducing Alex to ways to use magic. Mystery surrounds her growing relationship with her university mentor Darlington, who suddenly disappears. Feuding houses, mysterious disappearances, conspiracies, criminal investigations, murders, magic, and ghosts fill Bardugo's brilliant debut adult novel, all following an authentically crafted protagonist.Appeal:
Genre: Urban, occult new adult fantasy. It includes mature content that YA doesn't quite broach. Trigger warnings for sure (namely trauma, PTSD, drugs, violence, rape, sexual assault, murder, and gore), but Bardugo artfully integrates these elements for a realistically compelling story. Rape culture and class privilege serve as driving factors of the plot.
World-building: Ninth House doesn't hold your hand going through this realistic fantasy. Bardugo puts readers in the thick of it, and we have to figure things out as the story goes along. The fantasy, supernatural elements are established well, along with the appeal of secret feuding societies.
Setting: The realistic university setting of Yale is appealing. Fantasy elements are embedded with the real-life Yale. Bardugo presents an unforgiving look of what happens on college campuses, too.
Characters: Alex is a troubled young woman has been through it all. We all want to cheer for her to succeed and find happiness and belonging.
Setting: The realistic university setting of Yale is appealing. Fantasy elements are embedded with the real-life Yale. Bardugo presents an unforgiving look of what happens on college campuses, too.
Characters: Alex is a troubled young woman has been through it all. We all want to cheer for her to succeed and find happiness and belonging.
Dual perspectives: Told from two points of view. Alex in present-tense and Darlington past-tense leading up to the present. Flashbacks from both characters are connected with the now. There's lots of other characters Alex and Darlington come across (sometimes difficult to keep them all, and the secret societies, straight) but it always comes back to Alex and Darlington.
Feel: Dark, ominous, thrilling, supernatural
Tone: From page one, it hooks readers to a ominous and suspenseful tale. Stephen King highly praised Ninth House, so if one already loves Stephen King's work, they should definitely invest in reading Bardugo's book.
3 terms that best describe this book: Dark, intriguing, suspenseful
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. If someone wanted to revert back to read YA, Call Down the Hawk is an urban fantasy with college-age main characters who get involved in deadly, magical secret societies.
Feel: Dark, ominous, thrilling, supernatural
Tone: From page one, it hooks readers to a ominous and suspenseful tale. Stephen King highly praised Ninth House, so if one already loves Stephen King's work, they should definitely invest in reading Bardugo's book.
3 terms that best describe this book: Dark, intriguing, suspenseful
Fiction Read-alikes
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. For someone wanting a dark, humorous epic sci-fi/fantasy I would recommend this. Gideon the Ninth has also won several awards: Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2020), Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2019), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction and Debut Novel (2019), BookNest Award Nominee for Best Debut Novel (2019)
Greywalker by Kat Richardson. Another story featuring college-age students who possess supernatural powers to see ghosts and travel between the real world and a fantasy world, the latter populated by monsters. The tone is dark, creepy, and has menacing murderous vibes.
House of Earth and Blood: a Crescent City novel by Sarah J. Maas. If one wants to read something less paranormal/occult than Ninth House, I would suggest this contemporary/urban fantasy/paranormal romance.
Non-Fiction Read-alikes
- Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies by David Alan Richards (2017)
- Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power by Alexandra Robbins (2002)
- Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones by Steven Sora (2003)
Fantasy is not usually a genre that I prefer, but your annotation is making me rethink that. This book sounds suspenseful and exciting! I think a lot of readers will enjoy the real-world setting in addition the real life experiences of trying to fit in. Mixed with the fantasy aspect of the story, this sounds like something that readers of many different genres may enjoy. I appreciate that you added in trigger warnings. A lot of times, we look at appeals as searching for what readers WANT and do not put as much emphasis on what they don't, so knowing that there are some hard topics included in this book can help guide a librarian on if the reader would enjoy it or not. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you; I always appreciate it when book reviews point out heavy trigger warnings. I don't think it's fair to completely remove books from library collections because of trigger warnings, but it would be good library service to inform patrons of any heavy content so they can make informed decisions.
DeleteNice annotation. To be honest, I didn't know that there was such a thing as "New Adult Fiction". I thought it all went under the umbrella of just General Fiction. Thanks for doing this!
ReplyDeleteThis book reminds me of a darker version of "Tuesday Moony Talks to Ghosts". Cannot wait to listen to the audiobook!
I've known about New Adult, but it hasn't caught on enough to have its own section in bookstores, which would explain why there's not too much awareness about it. They end up mixed with YA/teen and other times in with the adult. But I think it's emerging more because the protagonists are college age instead of teenagers. "Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts" looks pretty cool! Thanks for the recommendation!
DeleteI have heard such mixed reviews on this one- and I am not a full-on Bardugo fan but I had thought about reading this one, and I have to say I am still a little torn. While I would have no problem recommending this to someone who reads this genre, I still don't know if it's just a little too off kilter for me personally. Did you enjoy this one?
ReplyDeleteIt was still a little too creepy for me to read more books like it, but I admit it was very well done. I think it was useful to know exactly what to expect before I started, too. The secret societies mixed in with campus life was a great setting for this type of book. If you're torn, I would at least give it a few chapters to see if you like it!
DeleteCool- I'm on hold for the audiobook, and I usually find that even if I'm on the fence the audiobook can get me through the whole thing. Thanks for the adivce!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your annotation and learned a lot about a genre I am unfamiliar with! I like when a book has dual perspectives. It definitely keeps thing interesting if done well. The summary was very intriguing but I think it might be a little intense for my taste, so thank you for including the trigger warnings. I think I will have to check out some of the nonfiction readalikes though!
ReplyDeleteI have added this to by TBR list. Sounds great I love fantasy and spooky! Great annotation!
ReplyDeleteLove this annotation. I wanted to read this earlier this semester and it just didn't work out; getting the hold placed late and not wanting to buy the book on the chance that I wouldn't like it... I still want to give it a chance. I like how you include trigger warnings. I worked with a patron who brought these up the first time they came in and a colleague was somewhat confused by why they didn't want to read about their triggers. I was happy to help and was relieved that the patron felt safe to tell us about those warnings.
ReplyDeleteI was very impressed with this book. Your annotation does a great job highlighting the appeals. You're so right that the author tosses the reader right in. It's a little overwhelming at first trying to figure out what's going on, but I was hooked once it all came together. Great job and full points!
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