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Ninth House

The global sensation from the creator of Shadow and Bone

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About this listen

 'Impossible to put down' STEPHEN KING
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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FANTASY OF 2019

AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF OCTOBER 2019

A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST

IN DEVELOPMENT FOR TELEVISION WITH AMAZON STUDIOS

BY THE BESTSELLING CREATOR OF THE GRISHAVERSE

AND THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES SHADOW AND BONE

STEP INTO THE WORLD OF NINTH HOUSE
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Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime, Alex was hoping for a fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch.

Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies - well-known haunts of the rich and powerful. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.

Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And sometimes they prey on the living . . .

'One of the best fantasy novels I've read in years' LEV GROSSMAN

'Ninth House rocked my world' JOE HILL

'I wouldn't blame you for taking the day off to finish it' KELLY LINK

'Mesmerising' CHARLAINE HARRIS

'Compulsively readable' KIRKUS

'Atmospheric' BOOKLIST

'The fantasy novel of the year' THE I
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Leigh Bardugo's book 'Ninth House' was a No. 7 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 14-10-2019.
Leigh Bardugo's book 'Hell Bent' was a No. 2 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 09-01-2023. Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Horror Scary Crime Magic Paranormal

Critic reviews

Ninth House is the best fantasy novel I've read in years, because it's about real people. Bardugo's imaginative reach is brilliant, and this story, full of shocks and twists, is impossible to put down
Ninth House is one of the best fantasy novels I've read in years. This book is brilliant, funny, raw and utterly magnificent - it's a portal to a world you'll never want to leave
Ninth House is the best thing I've read in a long time. There's so much magic here that you'll begin to feel it seeping into the room around you as you read, and characters so real you 'll practically hear their voices in your ear. Leigh Bardugo has written a book so delicious, so twisty, and so immersive I wouldn't blame you for taking the day off to finish it
Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House rocked my world. I could not get enough of sinewy, ghost-haunted Alex Stern, a heroine for the ages. With a bruised heart and bleeding knuckles, she risks death and damnation ? again and again ? for the people she cares about. I was cheering her on the whole way: from the first brilliant sentence of this book to the last. More, please, Ms. Bardugo
In this mesmerizing novel, Leigh Bardugo introduces us to Alex, a high-school dropout who gets a free ride to Yale because of a unique talent. Bardugo's New Haven is plausible and frightening, and I was one rapt reader
The worldbuilding is rock solid, the plot is propulsive, and readers will be clamoring for a sequel as soon as they read the last page
Fantasy readers, particularly those who love ghosts, will hungrily devour this novel
The fantasy novel of the year
All stars
Most relevant
This is not great literature. You can tell this is the authors first adult fiction book. It very much comes across as a young adult fiction written with adult themes. I nearly gave up on it and it took a good few hours before I got into it. In places the story is slow and the characters are a bit cringe but overall I enjoyed it. I would listen to a sequel.

Glad I stuck with it.

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I don't write reviews for many audiobooks, but I enjoyed this so much.
So gripping and hard to put down. I'm actually a bit sad I've finished it.
Great characters and a really rich 'world', lots going on and a fair few unexpected turns

Addictive

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TW for this book, several scenes of SA including SA of a minor.

Could have really done with the warning myself, don't normally get upset about that sort of stuff in stories but the majority of these scenes were needlessly graphic and did nothing to advance the story or character development.

The story takes a while to get going and wasn't particularly fun for me waiting for the plot to arrive, most of it was just world building but the world it was predominantly building was Yale but with a little bit of magic tacked on.

That being said, when we get past the doldrums and unpleasantness of the first two thirds things do actually start getting interesting, suddenly characters have motives and mysteries to explore and it all wraps up quite nicely as a standalone story whilst leaving the door wide open for the sequel.

A bit all over the place

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Took a while to get into it but once I did it was gripping and gritty in a way I didn't expect. It's not a subtle story- it really slaps you over the head with things (often falling into the category of tell not show), but I find that quite useful in an audio book as it's not the end of the world if my attention slips for a minute.

Gripping and gritty

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This had really fanatics imagery and I loved how captivated I was by the dark magical world hidden at Yale. Lauren really makes this something special to listen to.

Secrets, magic, ghosts… guilt

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