Ninth House

Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo, is a good read for fans of the academia, secrets, and murder in The Secret History, Although where The Secret History skirts into horror to discuss morality of murder and the classical mysteries, Ninth House is more about the privilege powering secret societies. And, instead of just hinting at dark, ancient rituals offstage, Ninth House goes right in.  In The Secret History, Richard’s a working-class kid in the privileged academy, and his desire to be one of the elite often motivates his actions. Alex Stern has the wrong background for a Yale freshman, but she’s been carefully recruited to the House of Lethe, which includes recruitment to Yale.

Lethe is tasked with watching the secret rituals of Yale’s secret societies, and as the elite members of other secret societies auger for stock tips, forge unbreakable contracts, or call on divine inspiration for a second novel, the members of Lethe keep hungry ghosts at bay. Lethe’s other members rely on potions and training, but Alex has always been able to see ghosts.

The story relies on the weird duality of New Haven, the way the city is shady and run-down, but also holds an elite, privileged Ivy. The magic and power of the secret societies comes from almost a mundane source — the lives and bodies of homeless, transient men. Townie, trashy girls are disposable, too, their bodies used in different ways. Lethe’s task isn’t to stop these actions, it’s more about ensuring that the secret societies don’t leave a trail of corpses (or at least, any important corpses) and angry spirits.

The book rambles through time, flashing back and forward, which is occasionally confusing, and jumps between tension and infodump. There are too many references to Alex’s Dark Unspeakable Secrets, a device that always annoys me more than it builds tension for me, and here, by the time it was revealed, I felt more like oh, we’re finally here and less shocked by it.

Still, the layers work really well in an exciting story. The supernatural side has solid internal consistency — once we’re told how starpower or Merity works, or how the Greys can communicate, those are the rules throughout the world.  The other world is full of wealth and social privilege, with the supernatural payments and rituals to maintain that, at any price.