Ninth House by Leigh BardugoMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Subgenres: Magical Realism, Paranormal
Low 3.5 Stars
Audiobook narrated by Lauren Fortgang & Michael David Axtell
Previous Review from 2020 round can be found below the Re-Read Review.
Categories rated on a 10 point scale. Averaged and then translated into Star Rating. See CAWPILE by Book Roast.
I read this book as an audiobook via Audible, narration by Lauren Fortgang & Michael David Axtell.
This is a reread for me in anticipation of reading Book 2, Hell Bent.
My gut rating was 5, but ran my memory through CAWPILE and it dropped to a 4. Upon re-read it drops to a low 3.5, going to a 3. This saddens me, but it's because I read it through a different and older lens this time.
I forgot about the SA by the Grey as a teen. I forgot about the SA using magical and "illegal" substances. But the richness of the characters, their flawed logic, ruled by heart and mind, the struggles they have choosing which to follow...
These stories need told, but I'm afraid we will become desensitized to them. These scenes still horrified me. I'm not insensitive yet.
But Alex? For a man? Really? He better effing love you back.
Characters: 8.6
Atmosphere: 6.3
Writing: 5.3
Plot: 5.4
Intrigue: 6.2
Logic: 5.4
Enjoyment: 9.4
Points: 46.6/70.0
Stars: Low 3.5
Spoiler Free
I initially rated Ninth House with 5 Stars, but going back using CAWPILE (YouTube's Book Roast), it drops down a star.
Characters: 7 + Atmosphere: 7 + Writing: 7 + Plot: 6 + Intrigue: 10 + Logic: 7 + Enjoyment: 9 = 7.57 = 4 Stars
Characters: Maybe I have done the book a disservice by waiting so long to review it and by having watched others' book review videos since, but as much as I remember enjoying the audiobook, time and others' impressions may be coloring my thoughts a bit to the negative.
On the other hand, when I think of how I felt after finishing, "Wow. That was pretty intense. Where is this going? When's the next one coming out?" and then trying to critically think about WHY I felt that way... I felt more for the world building than I did for the actual characters. I can't even remember her name, but the girl who lives in Lethe House and does all the research for Alex? Yeah. I find her more intriguing than the main characters, but I can't even remember her name.
At the time I read this, I hadn't heard of this new fangled category the literary world had come up with called "New Adult". I was under the impression that this book was Young Adult. Perhaps that is because I had just come off a year of reading a lot of Young Adult, one of which was written by Bardugo (DC Icons: Warbringer). Now that I'm going back and using CAWPILE to re-rate my 2020 reads and have learned a bit more regarding genre and subgenre and age category, I find out that this is her first non-Young Adult book.
But let's be honest, Galaxie "Alex" Stern is definitely a Young Adult-like character in behavior. While Alex herself would read New Adult fiction, if she reads anything other than creepy supernatural research, she is stuck in what happened to her when she first left home. Daniel "Darlington" Arlington is a jerk. Who are the other characters again?
Atmosphere: The world is pretty cool as a setting, but it doesn't take much to explain it, just Bardugo's changes and additions to it. If you've ever seen The Skulls or movies like it from the late-late 90s to early-early 2000s, that's the setting, but now we're going to add in magic. But the magic here isn't really explained too well imo. The most I remember about it are that there are ways to compel people into doing things they normally wouldn't do, magic was used to commit murder, murder was committed to complete magical rituals... Oh. And Alex can see ghosts. More than that, the magic system is fuzzy in my memory.
Skipping over Writing for a moment, Plot: I would honestly classify this book in the Fantasy genre with a sub of Dark Fantasy, but there is an underlying Mystery: Paranormal plot that is quite interesting. This may have been the aspect of the book that caused me to rate it 5 Stars in the first place. Despite my run of Fantasy books the past few years, my bread and butter is mystery. Particularly Murder Mysteries. I have seen a few reviews that have mentioned the mystery aspect of The Ninth House, but I think that Bardugo didn't intend for it to be the main focus of the novel. If she did, the rating I gave for plot would have been much higher. As fantasy, it's eh.
Intrigue: On the other hand, due to the murder mystery, I could not put this down. For me plot and intrigue usually go hand in hand, particularly since I'm always the "But why?" kind of person. I want to know the why behind everything. Yup. I was the little kid saying "Why?" to everything her parents said.
Logic and Writing: I rated both of these at a 7 and that would be because of how Bardugo writes. Even with my introduction to her as an author with Warbringer (a Wonder Woman YA Origin Story), Bardugo doesn't seem to write linearly. There isn't 1. This happened. 2. Then this happened. Which is fine. That's actually how my mind works and my family and friends hate it. In most stories, writing present day with flash-backy scenes, back to present day, etc. it allows you to discover the reasons for why something has happened or why a character is reacting a certain way at the time you need to know. But in this setting, while there is a lot of "aha, so that's why", it almost adds confusion because there's so much back and forth.
Looking back, for overall enjoyment, I can't go with a full 10 due to feeling a little confused, but I'm going with a 9, because I want to know where the story is going and am looking forward to the second book due to the mystery aspect of Alex's world.
View all my reviews
Previous Review from 2020 round can be found below the Re-Read Review.
Categories rated on a 10 point scale. Averaged and then translated into Star Rating. See CAWPILE by Book Roast.
I read this book as an audiobook via Audible, narration by Lauren Fortgang & Michael David Axtell.
This is a reread for me in anticipation of reading Book 2, Hell Bent.
My gut rating was 5, but ran my memory through CAWPILE and it dropped to a 4. Upon re-read it drops to a low 3.5, going to a 3. This saddens me, but it's because I read it through a different and older lens this time.
I forgot about the SA by the Grey as a teen. I forgot about the SA using magical and "illegal" substances. But the richness of the characters, their flawed logic, ruled by heart and mind, the struggles they have choosing which to follow...
These stories need told, but I'm afraid we will become desensitized to them. These scenes still horrified me. I'm not insensitive yet.
But Alex? For a man? Really? He better effing love you back.
Characters: 8.6
Atmosphere: 6.3
Writing: 5.3
Plot: 5.4
Intrigue: 6.2
Logic: 5.4
Enjoyment: 9.4
Points: 46.6/70.0
Stars: Low 3.5
Spoiler Free
I initially rated Ninth House with 5 Stars, but going back using CAWPILE (YouTube's Book Roast), it drops down a star.
Characters: 7 + Atmosphere: 7 + Writing: 7 + Plot: 6 + Intrigue: 10 + Logic: 7 + Enjoyment: 9 = 7.57 = 4 Stars
Characters: Maybe I have done the book a disservice by waiting so long to review it and by having watched others' book review videos since, but as much as I remember enjoying the audiobook, time and others' impressions may be coloring my thoughts a bit to the negative.
On the other hand, when I think of how I felt after finishing, "Wow. That was pretty intense. Where is this going? When's the next one coming out?" and then trying to critically think about WHY I felt that way... I felt more for the world building than I did for the actual characters. I can't even remember her name, but the girl who lives in Lethe House and does all the research for Alex? Yeah. I find her more intriguing than the main characters, but I can't even remember her name.
At the time I read this, I hadn't heard of this new fangled category the literary world had come up with called "New Adult". I was under the impression that this book was Young Adult. Perhaps that is because I had just come off a year of reading a lot of Young Adult, one of which was written by Bardugo (DC Icons: Warbringer). Now that I'm going back and using CAWPILE to re-rate my 2020 reads and have learned a bit more regarding genre and subgenre and age category, I find out that this is her first non-Young Adult book.
But let's be honest, Galaxie "Alex" Stern is definitely a Young Adult-like character in behavior. While Alex herself would read New Adult fiction, if she reads anything other than creepy supernatural research, she is stuck in what happened to her when she first left home. Daniel "Darlington" Arlington is a jerk. Who are the other characters again?
Atmosphere: The world is pretty cool as a setting, but it doesn't take much to explain it, just Bardugo's changes and additions to it. If you've ever seen The Skulls or movies like it from the late-late 90s to early-early 2000s, that's the setting, but now we're going to add in magic. But the magic here isn't really explained too well imo. The most I remember about it are that there are ways to compel people into doing things they normally wouldn't do, magic was used to commit murder, murder was committed to complete magical rituals... Oh. And Alex can see ghosts. More than that, the magic system is fuzzy in my memory.
Skipping over Writing for a moment, Plot: I would honestly classify this book in the Fantasy genre with a sub of Dark Fantasy, but there is an underlying Mystery: Paranormal plot that is quite interesting. This may have been the aspect of the book that caused me to rate it 5 Stars in the first place. Despite my run of Fantasy books the past few years, my bread and butter is mystery. Particularly Murder Mysteries. I have seen a few reviews that have mentioned the mystery aspect of The Ninth House, but I think that Bardugo didn't intend for it to be the main focus of the novel. If she did, the rating I gave for plot would have been much higher. As fantasy, it's eh.
Intrigue: On the other hand, due to the murder mystery, I could not put this down. For me plot and intrigue usually go hand in hand, particularly since I'm always the "But why?" kind of person. I want to know the why behind everything. Yup. I was the little kid saying "Why?" to everything her parents said.
Logic and Writing: I rated both of these at a 7 and that would be because of how Bardugo writes. Even with my introduction to her as an author with Warbringer (a Wonder Woman YA Origin Story), Bardugo doesn't seem to write linearly. There isn't 1. This happened. 2. Then this happened. Which is fine. That's actually how my mind works and my family and friends hate it. In most stories, writing present day with flash-backy scenes, back to present day, etc. it allows you to discover the reasons for why something has happened or why a character is reacting a certain way at the time you need to know. But in this setting, while there is a lot of "aha, so that's why", it almost adds confusion because there's so much back and forth.
Looking back, for overall enjoyment, I can't go with a full 10 due to feeling a little confused, but I'm going with a 9, because I want to know where the story is going and am looking forward to the second book due to the mystery aspect of Alex's world.
View all my reviews
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