So, I'm not quite sure how I found Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, but I'm really happy I did.
The general premise here is that the secret societies (Houses) of Yale (Skull and Bones, Manuscript, etc) all have access to various schools of magic, with Lethe being the society designated to keep an eye on the Ancient Eight to prevent magical problems.
Lethe involves about 5 titles, Virgil, Dante, Centurion, Oculus, and Dean, plus a society of alumni we don't really meet. Alex (aka Galaxy) is our Dante, newly initiated into the House, under the guidance of Darlington, her Virgil, who was the prior Dante. Dawes in the Oculus, a grad student who spends most of her time researching and crushing on Darlinton. The Centurion, Turner, works for the New Haven Police.
Alex was chosen for the position of Dante by Dean Virgil, who found out she can see ghosts ("Greys" or "Quiet Ones") without the aid of a rather poisonous magical potion. That she was a street rat in Cali before getting uprooted to Ivy League Connecticut makes her life more difficult.
Anyway, as we jump between Fall and Winter, we see Alex and Darlington supervise other House's rituals, prior to Darlington getting sucked into a portal. We watch as Alex undertakes an investigation against the wishes of the Dean into the death of a drug dealing townie that interrupted a Bones rite involving reading the entrails of a live victim. We watch as she violates a few rules in the name of solving a murder of someone no one on campus cared about.
It's a really engaging read I couldn't put down easily. While I did figure out a few twists ahead of time, there were plenty of other surprises lurking behind the doors. I can't wait for the next volume.
No comments:
Post a Comment