Review Format
This book review is going to be a bit different than the typical format. I feel the need to publish this review before more of my thoughts escape me. It has already been two weeks or more since finishing the book, and I have forgotten characters’ names as I’ve quickly progressed through several other novels since. Instead of giving a plot summary for this one, I will be focusing on my overall thoughts and my reasoning behind the low rating of 2.0 out of 5.0.
Positive Critique
The premise of this novel hooked me immediately, and I was convinced the story was building up to something very intriguing. Magic in the upper echelons of Yale? The Magicians by Lev Grossman, but more adult? It did start out feeling like an even more adult version of The Magicians, but with the added layer of the Illuminati weaved in. But that’s about all it had going for it, and going for it, and going for it. In other words, it didn’t actually go anywhere at all, which brings me to the negative critique.
Negative Critique
There were plenty of reasons for me to hate this book and hate it I did. Clocking in at almost 500 pages, the middle 300 or so pages just dragged on endlessly to the point I very nearly Did Not Finish (DNF’d) it two times before deciding to skim until it got somewhat good again. The amount of magic utilized in the plot is seemingly negligible and when magic finally presents itself, the reasons for using it are so very lame. To avoid spoilers, I’m going to create my own example which reflects the way magic is used in this novel: Imagine having the ability to change the weather with magic but it takes oddly-sourced ingredients and massive quantities energy to do so (i.e. two-and-a-half quarts of whale blood, 8 ounces of melted, then frozen, then melted again snow, and you need to also make sure nobody else interrupts the ritual while you’re performing it with about 50 other people; otherwise, the magic will be released and kill you all). You get the picture – very complicated and dangerous magic. So, you must be in dire need of some acid rain to come crashing down and take out a bunker full of demonic beings or something, right? No, not at all. Your very reason for utilizing this dangerous, potentially life-threatening magic is to bring on some very directed rain so you don’t have to hose down your car. All that time and effort which could possibly result in your death was necessary so that you don’t need to use a hose? That’s what this novel felt like. Magic for very stupid reasons wielded either by very unimaginative magicians or a very unimaginative author. I really couldn’t tell which, but it honestly felt like the latter.
Not only was magic used for ridiculously unimaginative reasons, but it felt like these elite college students were, in fact, high schoolers. I did not particularly care for any of the characters; nor did I care what happened to any of the characters. The plot became a bit more interesting in the last 75 to 100 pages, which allowed me to slow down and read again instead of skimming. However, by the end of the novel, I decided I could not bear to go through the process again with the sequel, Hell Bent.
I have one last comment regarding something that greatly annoyed me about this novel. The amount of unnecessary filler information, or info-dumping-with-no-clear-purpose was extremely irritating. If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it is when an author is descriptive just for the sake of being descriptive. Leigh Bardugo constantly dropped made-up textbook titles everywhere in this book. If Leigh was introducing you to, let us say Alice, then Alice had The History of Yale from the Early Days on her desk, How to Dust Your Room with the Flick of Your Finger After a Two Hour Séance by Mark Rohall IV sitting on her chair with a few pages torn out, and Quantum Physics for the Master….WHO CARES?!?!? Sorry, but I got extremely sick of it very quickly. This incessant exposition without moving the story forward got on my nerve and almost put me in a reading slump. Luckily, I quickly stumbled on several 5-star reads shortly after barely finishing this one.
Leigh Bardugo's Legacy
I will admit, this was my entry point into Leigh Bardugo’s massive resumé of novels. I know she wrote the massively popular Shadow and Bone series and the Six of Crows duology among other highly-praised fantasy novels. I was excited to eventually read these, but maybe I should have started with them. Unfortunately, Ninth House was not a good experience even though it seems to be rated highly by readers. But her other novels are also rated highly by readers. Thus, I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth and am now uncertain whether I will start her other novels anytime soon considering other readers like her work and maybe her writing is just not for me. I am hopeful that my next Leigh Bardugo novel will have better pacing and be more imaginative than Ninth House, and if you felt the same as I did about Ninth House but enjoyed other novels by Leigh Bardugo, then please, please, PLEASE point me in the right direction. Thank you!
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