Ninth House Book Summary

In a world where the occult collides with the elite, "Ninth House" follows Alex Stern, a Yale freshman with a troubled past and an uncanny ability to see ghosts. Tasked with monitoring secret societies that dabble in dark magic, Alex discovers a web of mystery and danger lurking beneath the prestigious campus. As she delves deeper, she grapples with her own demons while uncovering a conspiracy that threatens not just her life, but the very fabric of reality. With rich world-building and a gripping plot, Bardugo invites readers to explore the intricacies of power, privilege, and the supernatural. Will Alex unravel the mysteries before it’s too late, or will the darkness consume her?

By Leigh Bardugo

Published: 2019

""In the end, we are not defined by the darkness that surrounds us, but by the choices we make in the face of it.""

Book Review of Ninth House

The mesmerizing adult debut from Leigh Bardugo, a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite 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. In fact, by age twenty, 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 prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

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"In the end, we are not defined by the darkness that surrounds us, but by the choices we make in the face of it."

Ninth House

By Leigh Bardugo