When the wealthy elite have access to unlimited magic, someone needs to keep them in line…. Alex Stern dives into the dark world of parties, privilege, and paranormal dealings in Leigh Bardugo’s debut fantasy novel for adults, Ninth House. This book caught my attention back when it came out in 2019 along with a slew of other books with gorgeous, snaky covers. It took a while to make it to the top of my TBR pile, but the wait was worth it. Ninth House is definitely one of my favorite reads so far this year.
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is not the kind of girl who goes to Yale. She dropped out of school, did drugs, hung out with the wrong crowd—and could see ghosts. It was this ability, however, that gave Alex a second chance after her friends and boyfriend died in a gruesome multiple homicide. She was offered a deal: a free ride to Yale and the opportunity to start her life over, in exchange for using her ability in service of an organization called Lethe. The members of Lethe House watch over the other secret societies at Yale and make sure that their occult rituals don’t result in too much death or destruction. But perhaps even harder than warding off ghosts and reining in the school’s most powerful and privileged is the day-to-day struggle of trying to fit in at an Ivy League. Alex is barely keeping up with her schoolwork and maintaining a tenuous friendship with her roommates. So when her Lethe mentor goes missing and a girl gets murdered on campus, that’s the last thing Alex needs. But with those in charge all too eager to sweep the murder under the rug, Alex will need to find the answers herself so that justice can be served.
Ninth House is, I feel, the embodiment of a popular new aesthetic called Dark Academia. It blends the intellectualism and romanticism of prestigious institutions of higher learning with the paranormal, the occult, and the dark underbelly that taints these institutions. In Ninth House, the elite are selected from among Yale’s student body to join powerful secret societies that practice occult magic. As glamorous as that sounds, the practice is actually quite dark: one society steals indigent victims from hospitals to cut them open and read the future in their entrails, while other societies have access to drugs and magic powders that can give you complete control over another person’s will. This magic is used to benefit the already-powerful—predicting changes in the stock market for wealthy investors, giving a popularity boost to famous writers and musicians, or merely throwing extravagant parties for esteemed alumni. As an outsider, Alex immediately recognizes the ugly side of these societies, ever sensitive to how she has more in common with their hapless victims than the rich kids she walks among. What makes the world that Bardugo has created here so fascinating, though, is that it is partially founded in reality. The “Ancient Eight” secret societies described in Ninth House are genuine secret societies that exist at Yale. They really are based out of “Tombs” scattered throughout campus that celebrate occult principles through their elaborate architecture. And the list of known members is full of some of the most powerful people in American society, from politicians and former presidents to famous actors and corporate CEOs. Of course, these societies are not actually practicing deadly magic upon suspecting victims (hopefully), but perhaps there is something to Bardugo’s suggestion that there ought to be an organization tasked with preventing the university’s elite from chasing after power completely unchecked.
But just as compelling as the tie-ins to real-world secret societies is the role that the supernatural plays in Ninth House. Alex has a rather unique relationship to ghosts, having been able to see them her entire life. Though she views it as a curse, her mentor Darlington is in awe of this ability and almost reverent of any evidence of the supernatural. The members of Lethe regard spirits as mostly passive, mindless things, and the term they use, “Grays,” makes them seem indistinct and unobtrusive. But Alex knows—from very traumatic personal experience—that Grays can be violent and dangerous and have strong wills of their own. She’s spent her whole life trying to avoid contact with the dead, just as Darlington has spent his seeking it out. But over the course of the novel, Alex learns that spirits can be helpful, too, and that opening herself up to this connection may just be the best way she can seize some power for herself in this unfair world.
If you haven’t read Ninth House yet and want to join me on the journey, you can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer, or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link.Once you’ve read it, let me know what you think in the comments!