Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House is all about what it means to be the outcast in the particularly cut-throat world of the Ivy League, but does so through magic, ghosts, and monsters. Alex “Galaxy” Stern has had a rough few years, but that all changes when she gets admitted to Yale unexpectedly (right???). This is full of secret societies, New England ghosts, and the occult with a tinge of horror. Alex is a tenacious and gripping character thrust into a world in which she doesn’t feel at home by circumstance rather than by choice. Once I started this, I couldn’t put it down!
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, (List Price: $10.99, Flatiron Books, 9781250798008, June 2021)
Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia