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A review by noellerose
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Oh boy.
To start off, I know a lot of people had trouble getting into Six of Crows because of the world building and storyline. Luckily, I didn't, but in hindsight, that's probably because my knowledge on soc before going in was more extensive than the average reader. Because damn, this book was difficult to get into.
The first 100/150 pages were just a confusing mess for me. I didn't understand what the societies were (and I still don't completely), I didn't know the roles the characters played within these societies, and I most certainly did not know and can confidently say that I still don't know, what the fuck Lethe is. Maybe it was mentioned at the beginning and it got swallowed up by the other confusing elements, but from what I understand, they're sort of there to police the societies? But then they're funded by the societies as well, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because who would pay to get policed?
The first third of this book reminded me a lot of Legendborn. That book also took me a good 200-300 pages to really get into, so I wasn't ready to give up yet. And luckily, it did get better! I still didn't fully understand the societies but as they were mentioned more often, I got used to them and could sort of connect the dots. This made me able to focus more on the storyline and the characters, which suddenly became a lot more interesting.
From the start, I liked the dual POV. Darlington's POV started when Alex was new, so he explained a lot of things, which was better to follow than Alex's already established role in the societies. I also started enjoying the story more once the murder-mystery element was added.
This definitely didn't read like other Leigh Bardugo books, probably because the type of fantasy elements are different and because it's adult instead of YA.
Lastly, can we please start a petition for Leigh to write shorter chapters???
To start off, I know a lot of people had trouble getting into Six of Crows because of the world building and storyline. Luckily, I didn't, but in hindsight, that's probably because my knowledge on soc before going in was more extensive than the average reader. Because damn, this book was difficult to get into.
The first 100/150 pages were just a confusing mess for me. I didn't understand what the societies were (and I still don't completely), I didn't know the roles the characters played within these societies, and I most certainly did not know and can confidently say that I still don't know, what the fuck Lethe is. Maybe it was mentioned at the beginning and it got swallowed up by the other confusing elements, but from what I understand, they're sort of there to police the societies? But then they're funded by the societies as well, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because who would pay to get policed?
The first third of this book reminded me a lot of Legendborn. That book also took me a good 200-300 pages to really get into, so I wasn't ready to give up yet. And luckily, it did get better! I still didn't fully understand the societies but as they were mentioned more often, I got used to them and could sort of connect the dots. This made me able to focus more on the storyline and the characters, which suddenly became a lot more interesting.
From the start, I liked the dual POV. Darlington's POV started when Alex was new, so he explained a lot of things, which was better to follow than Alex's already established role in the societies. I also started enjoying the story more once the murder-mystery element was added.
This definitely didn't read like other Leigh Bardugo books, probably because the type of fantasy elements are different and because it's adult instead of YA.
Lastly, can we please start a petition for Leigh to write shorter chapters???