Ninth House

By: Leigh Bardugo

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang, Michael David Axtell

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of Shadow and Bone, now a hit NETFLIX series.

The smash New York Times bestseller from Leigh Bardugo, a mesmerizing tale of power, privilege, and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite. This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.

"The best fantasy novel I’ve read in years, because it’s about real people.... Impossible to put down."—Stephen King

"Bardugo’s latest is a must-listen, introducing a haunting, Yale-based occult world populated with gloriously complicated characters.... A win-win-win, honestly."—Paste, best audiobooks of 2019

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

©2019 Leigh Bardugo (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2019, Goodreads Choice Awards, Winner

2019, NPR Best Book of the Year, Long-listed

2019, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2019, NYPL Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2020, Locus Awards, Short-listed

"Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House rocked my world. I could not get enough of sinewy, ghost-haunted Alex Stern, a heroine for the ages. With a bruised heart and bleeding knuckles, she risks death and damnation—again and again—for the people she cares about. I was cheering her on the whole way: from the first brilliant sentence of this book to the last. More, please, Ms. Bardugo." (Joe Hill, New York Times best-selling author of NOS4A2)

"Ninth House is the best thing I’ve read in a long time. There’s so much magic here that you'll begin to feel it seeping into the room around you as you read, and characters so real you ’ll practically hear their voices in your ear. Leigh Bardugo has written a book so delicious, so twisty, and so immersive I wouldn’t blame you for taking the day off to finish it." (Kelly Link, author of Magic for Beginners and Get in Trouble)

Fun for Autumn

New England, secret societies, private/privlaged University, ghosts, demons, twists, murder, everything you want for Halloween.

You Should Read This.

*On The Narration: Lauren Fortgang and Michael David Axtell do an AMAZING job. Also, there is an interview between Lauren Fortgang and Leigh Bardugo at the end of the audiobook that is really really good :)

I enjoyed this book a lot

Interesting enough to hold my adhd attention - i listened to the entire book in 3 days!

Loved everything about it

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's dark, intense, gritty... and the subject matter is so interesting to me. I thought the narration was lovely as well.

Masterful

Bardugo has upped her game. Utterly engrossing storytelling. Like a black hole, it’s dark, expansive and sucks you in. Narration is top-notch. Bravo.

amazing characters. love all the mystery.

really develops the character relationship. the mystery of it all really has you dying to know what happens next.

Y’all are not ready

First off Leigh Bardugo is the absolute best so please read/ listen to all of her books because you won’t be disappointed. This book was thrilling! Around every corner there is a new twist or secret revealed and I love that some of it is based in actual reality. I couldn’t put it down and I cannot wait for the sequel! Also listen all the way through to the end because Leigh does an amazing interview to talk about her inspiration and you don’t want to miss it!

Holy shit this book was good

Perfect for halloween. Love this author. This book did not disappoint. a word of caution, it's not for the squimish. I was surprised that rape was detailed in the book, it was gruesome to hear this amount of detail from an author I originally filed as YA. That aside, a wonderful story that has me impatiently anticipating the next segment.

Gritty and enchanting mystery

As someone who's somewhat recently aged out of YA fantasy, but still loves fantasy, mystery, gothic horror, and young women protagonists, this book was wonderful. It gets pretty dark and vile, so if that's your thing, check it out.

Perfect autumnal ghost story/historical/magical realism/revenge story/...

Leigh Bardugo has created a dark and brooding story that intertwines the fascinating history of Yale’s secret societies with a rich and layered new magical world. The characters are so well developed and the revelation of their personal histories is masterfully orchestrated. Lauren Fortgang turns in another pitch perfect vocal performance as Galaxy. Loved it. Loved it.