I haven't loved a book as much as I've loved Ninth House in a long time. It's not perfect by any means, but it's such a wonderful display of Leigh Bardugo's strengths as a writer.

Ninth House was such a rich book, with nary a moment empty or out of place. It's a book that feels thoroughly alive, and while I thought the same about Six of Crows, I loved seeing Bardugo apply her style to an adult novel with darker, more mature themes.

There isn't a lot of time spent explicitly exploring the motivations, histories and personalities of the characters on the page. However, everything that defines a character is felt every time we see them interact with the world or other characters. And the times we do see a more direct exploration of a character's traits are so potent that by the end of the book I felt like I truly new these characters, and couldn't help but love them.

I did feel like the worldbuilding could have used a bit more developing, mainly regarding the magic and societies of Yale. There were times where I was stumbling not entirely in the dark, but at the very least in the shade. While I definitely found my way through the plot, that admittedly didn't need more exposition to work, I still thought it would have been nice to feel like I knew the world in which the story I was growing to love was set in.

Especially knowing the characters are going to literal Hell in the sequel,

having the parameters of the world be a bit more clear would have helped some moments feel less arbitrary. 

Nevertheless, the journey the book takes you on is phenomenally crafted in a way that is so characteristic of Leigh Bardugo's writing, which is why she's shaping up to be one of my favourite authors. The way parts of the story are interwoven, only to finally unravel and reveal all of the secrets I was dying to find out the further we got in the book was absolutely delightful. 

Despite its flaws, I adored Ninth House. I could not get enough of it, and came out the other end of it hungry for more.