Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

"By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it."

   
   
Alex Stern elevates from a life of drug use, manipulating ex boyfriends and poverty, to a life of academic pursuit and ghost busting in Yale University. Her unique ability to see apparitions of the deceased (which, as you guessed correctly, is the reason for said drug use), is her winning ticket into Lethe House, one of the secret, supernatural Yale Societies, which is in charge of monitoring all the other secret, supernatural Yale Societies.
She has the great fortune of being mentored by Darlington, who introduces her to the mystic world of the societies and their spooky-to-say-the-least rituals and prepare her to, well, basically, be the sole active member of House Lethe when he graduates. There's also a little romance blossoming between them but it's cut short because he disappears -and yet his presence lingers.
  Most important however, is the mysterious murder of an outsider girl on campus. Suffice to say that it wasn't the obvious suspect (boyfriend), but much darker and paranormal forces at work, which is the cue for our girl Alex to get to work and find the culprit, with the help of a dubious ghost, a very intense police detective and Dawes, the student-housekeeper of Lethe House.
'Ninth House' is an eerie adult fantasy tale with characters that harbor many dark secrets, which are unraveled through woeful retrospection, twists that you will not see coming and a conclusion that will leave you dumbfounded. 
Bardugo has taken the original setting of Yale and spiced it with fictitious, obscure societies -who dip their hand into the occult cookie jar more often than not- and their history. This fusion is what makes this world more existent to the reader and the magic more substantial. While Alex is there mostly to serve as a ghost detector, she still has to keep up with her mainstream studies and social circle.
Furthermore, as compelling as the plot is, it's definitely reinforced by poignant themes, such as substance use, abandonment, toxic masculinity and abuse.
Also, Darlington. (*wistful sigh*)      
While reading this book, I had many theories as to 'whodunit', but eeevery time I thought I had it, Bardugo and her fierce storytelling made a complete mockery of me and my puny little assumptions. Well, she showed me and I truly enjoyed it. I can't wait to get my hands on the upcoming sequel, whose title is hidden in the last chapter of 'Ninth House' by the way! (*fangirly squeal*)  

My ratings:
Plot: 4/5
Conclusion: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Movie Potential: 5/5




'Who should play them in the movie' :



Actor Nicholas Hoult on maintaining his sanity in Hollywood ...
Nicolas Hoult as Darlington



Alicia Vikander to Star as Lara Croft in New Movie - The New York ...
Alicia Vikander as Alex Stern





Do you agree with my casting? 
Please leave your own suggestions below in the comments.


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