Welcome to Litsy!

#WickedWhispers Day 18: There are a lot of #Evil ghosts in this book, like seriously creepy. Too much exposition for the world-building and too plot driven for my usual fare, but ey its Leigh Bardugo, so will trudge on, hoping it improves towards the end.

Whoosh that was a hard word to find! #HauntedShelf #Flerken

The book starts with a lot of info dumping. It takes about 200 pages before anything happens. I kept going because I've heard how amazing it was.

For me, it did not improve. There was too much narration, hardly any dialogue, and I was bored.

#HauntedShelf #Flerken #Trappedinaspookyhouse @Catsandbooks

Okay read but I'm just not into this sort of book. Not a horror fan. I also kept thinking it copied a movie I'd seen about Skull and Bones (which I also didn't really enjoy very much).

#HauntedShelf #SkeletonCrew

Several trigger warnings apply to this one.

It is DARK. As much from magic-less men wielding societal power & privilege to prey on others, as it is from supernatural monsters or the nefarious rites & spells.

But Alex Stern comes out swinging, against the world‘s darkness & her own, & that‘s one of my favorite kind of protagonists. The ones that aren‘t sure they can win, but plan to put up a helluva fight all the same.

Here's my October TBR. Not all seasonal but more than normal for me.
#HauntedBookshelf #SkeletonCrew

Took me forever to finish this, but having the audiobook helped and I ended up having a good time with it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fan art by PhantomRin on tumblr. https://phantomrin.tumblr.com/post/190381630015/alex-stern-sketch-ninth-house-by...

A rec for #HauntedShelf. I love this partially for Alex, who is tough, battered, and fiercely loyal and partially for the Dark Academia metaphors about human exploitation.

#FrightClub

#CoverLove @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Snake

#CoverLove #Snake

Been on the fence about reading this for years, let‘s see how it goes…

Alex can see ghosts. She is recruited into Lethe, the ninth of the secret societies at Yale. Her mentor goes missing and a town girl is murdered.

This book is so good at everything. I wish I hadn't taken so long to get to it, but that means the sequel is already out and I don't have to wait.

Not the right book at the right time. I skimmed a lot.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don‘t even know where to begin to review this book. It was dark - at times, very - and gritty, nothing like Bardugo‘s other work I‘ve read, and I loved it.
The audiobook narrators were very good, and I am so interested to see where this story goes next.

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

Such a good first line!
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

This was a reread for me before I read the sequel, so I tried the audiobook version and it was fantastic! An added bonus was the interview with Leigh Bardugo afterwards.

The Houses of the Veil had too much power, and the rules they put in place were really about controlling access to that power, not limiting the damage it could do.

I'm so glad I read this again before the sequel. I still loved it the second time. This book sparked my love of reading again back in 2020 after a long hiatus. It will forever have a special place in my heart, along with just being a really good book. ❤️

Of course I chose a 500 page book for the first of the year. And it was a fantastic choice! Another grim, epic not so fairy tale full of magic and tragedy and connection. Alex was prickly and anxious but smarter than she realized. Darlington was, well we‘ll see what he was or is in the next book in the series!!! Mystical fantasy for the win. Book #1 in 2024

Just what the doctor ordered for a cold rainy weekend. Ambient music provided by toxic drunker via YouTube. The read called for dark academia. Iykyk

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Ninth House” is full of dark and gothic academia vibes. It was slow to start, but the plot and story itself gradually became more suspenseful with several plot twists. I enjoyed Alex‘s character arc, and I also enjoyed the murder mystery element that was included. I‘m not sure when I‘ll read the sequel, but I‘m intrigued to see what happens next.

I read Ninth House back in 2020 as my first book for my personal "read more" challenge and it honestly pole vaulted me back into a love of books I hadn't felt in years. But I rented it from the library. I'm so happy I've finally added it to my personal collection along with the second book recently released. I can't wait to re-read Ninth House and then continue the story with Hell Bent ❤️

#AutumnPlease
Day 28 #Dark
#BlackCatCrew #Scarathlon
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This was a thrilling but tough read. The subject matter ended up much heavier and darker than I anticipated😅 Alex is pulled from her drug hazed life in LA and becomes the Dante of Lethe one of the secret societies of Yale due to her ability to see the dead. Afier the disappearance of her mentor and a sudden homicide, Alex finds herself investigating occurances than the other houses want to keep covered up and will do anything to keep it that way

Week one and two points! #scarathlon #batbrigade

At the beginning of this story members of my book club and myself were confused. There are two time lines present and past where the past happened a couple of months before. A dark academia with fantasy elements. Alex didn‘t finished HS, was using drugs with other problematic situations but one day while she was in the hospital, the Dean offered her to enter to Yale University. But, why? Does she have a special skill? ⬇️

And for the #scarathlonphotochallenge today we have one of the best books with a black cover I‘ve read recently! The fabulously spooky and dark academic Ninth House. I‘ll read any dark academia kind of book and this was wonderful, exactly what I was after

#skeletoncrew @Clwojick @StayCurious

Dear GOD I forgot just how much the action ramps up at the end of this book! Alex is the best type of character - unconventional with a strong sense of justice and an ability to roll with the uncanny. I also have a soft spot for Darlington, because who doesn't? #reread #urbanfantasy #darkacademia

I had to jump into spooky season a few days early with the audio of Ninth House. I love dark academia, and this is one of the best examples of the genre I‘ve seen! There are one or two good surprises buried in this, but it mostly shines in how perfectly it evokes New England college life, blends it with the occult, and lets you live there for a few hours, getting swept up in a world where you‘re 20 again and magic is real.

Thanks @Blerdgal_Fenix I got that great package you sent. Everything is lovely! I love the tote bag!!!!! Can‘t wait to start these books.

@Bookgoil @Deblovestoread

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/EpWTVq21TVU

Enjoy!

I always always love dark academia and this had incredible concepts, world building and ideas. The concept of magic secret societies doing necromancy at Yale is just so delicious, so obviously I adored it.

I will say the plot was complicated and I don‘t think being told out of order helped it. I‘d have preferred a chronological beginning to end version of the story being honest.

#BookBinge
Day 27. Dark Academia
#DarkAcademia

I know this is an unpopular opinion. It was just a no from me. Maybe there was too much to keep up with? Or that I didn't really like any of the characters? Maybe it just wasn't the right genre for me. It was long and did not engage me. Also, it was kind of gross at times.
⭐️

08.24.2023

It took me awhile to get into this, mostly because I did not like the tactic of starting it post-disaster and then going back in time to explain everything. But I kept reading, and the writing was much better about 1/5 in. It's a reimagined modern day Yale where magic and ghosts exist, and magic societies of rich, often ruthless, students and alumni hold enormous power. The Ninth House tries to keep them from abusing it. Dark, gory, scary fantasy.

“Alex didn‘t really know what she had missed, only that she was homesick for something, maybe for someone, she‘d never been.”

Oof. I know this feeling too well.

#StoryGraph: dark-academia secret-societies • 5 Stars

This is a contemporary occult fantasy. The story is set in a macabre version of the real world and focuses on the occult culture fostered by a set of Yale secret societies, which seek power and wealth through death-related magic. The novel follows unlikely Yale University freshman 20-year-old Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a high school drop out and homicide survivor who can see ghosts, called “grays”.

Book #59
4.5/5
Not my typical read, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Bardugo's supernatural world, based on the history of Yale/Newhaven, is complex, as is the storyline she built from it. Great read for anyone who enjoys dark fantasy/thriller/mystery/supernatural fiction.

In a real reading slump for months now and only halfway through this. I picked it up again this week and read a few pages though!

Really hope I‘m coming out of this, I‘m 10 books behind on my goodreads challenge and haven‘t got a BOTM in months because I have so many books.

Any advice for someone struggling with a reading slump?

Well I loved that one , Nearly gave up in the first 100 pages but it‘s a Bardugo so didn‘t and am I glad I didn‘t . Iv sat up very late nodding off with this is my lap as Iv been so engrossed. I‘m now pleased I‘m late to the party and can rush out to get hell bent book no 2 no wonder the fans were going bonkers waiting to see what happened ! This one has surely got to the a tv series !!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I started this book soooo many times. Almost swore it off. Not for me. But I tried one more time, & finally it stuck. Slow burn!!! Page 114 is when I became officially invested. It's a mysterious story and intriguing and I've already added book 2 to my BOTM box!

I finished this book ages ago. But I procrastinated against writing a review… which is not good for me but here I am. Anywho, this book — albeit traumatising — is brilliant. Are there scenes which are horrifying? Yes. Are there scenes which are so vividly described you get goosebumps? Yes. How do I feel about this? I love you, Leigh Bardugo. Seriously though, it never hurts to have a bit more trauma, especially not when it‘s well written.

5⭐️!

I want to survive this world that keeps trying to destroy me.

Not every flower belongs in every garden.

Maybe good things were the same as bad things. Sometimes you just had to let them happen.