By now, I think it’s safe to say that you all know I’m a pretty big Leigh Bardugo fan. The Six of Crows duology is one of my favorite YA book series (that feels more “adult” than YA anyway), and I am always excited to read anything Bardugo puts out. Because of this, I was really excited to check out both Ninth House and Hell Bent as her first adult novel debuts. Keep in mind that these are the first two books of a trilogy, so there will be another part to this review once the final book comes out.
Ninth House and Hell Bent are the first two books of the Alex Stern series, which (according to author Leigh Bardugo) will wrap up in the next novel to make a trilogy. The books can be categorized as low fantasy (think Neverwhere or Good Omens settings) novels that follow troubled protagonist Alex Stern as she struggles with becoming part of a secret society of magic. This secret society exists in the Yale underground, meaning that the Yale college campus is the backdrop for the story.
The idea of a secret, illuminati-type society isn’t completely novel, but their lore and “house” traditions add some originality to the idea. There are nine houses, each one with its own type of magic that’s often used to gain some sort of advantage in the world. They perform a grotesque form of magic that comes at a great cost, like the mutilation of bodies, for example. The rewards of these rituals can be future predictions, age reversal, financial gain, etc. While this magic can be used for other advantages, Bardugo shows that people usually choose to use it for greed or personal gain. This is part of the explanation for why Yale graduates are successful, and why the alumni donate to these houses.
I enjoy the idea of rich and powerful people gaining and remaining successful due to these secret magic. It’s like a metaphor for how the rich and powerful often come to be that way by claiming the success or work of others. The grotesque imagery surrounding the rituals further enhances the metaphor of people committing perverse acts for their own gain. For example, the future predictions use the bodies of random “town” folks that are cut open for the ritual. This is pretty clear symbolism for the rich using the lower class to further their own gain, with little thought of the consequences. While the symbolism may be heavy-handed at times, I found it truly interesting, and I enjoyed how Bardugo’s magic system reflected these real-world issues.
My main complaint surrounding the magic or fantasy side is that there is a lot of emphasis put on these houses, but not a lot of in-the-moment exploration within them. The main character, Alex, works for an organization that oversees these houses and keeps them in check. While she does explore some of the houses, the main plot of the story is Alex investigating a suspicious murder that is connected to the houses. Much of the story takes place within Alex’s thoughts as she’s tracking down leads, and we only really see glimpses of the houses in passing. I wish there was more about the houses themselves, how they operate within Yale, and more interaction with the characters within the houses. To me, it’s a pretty clear case of “telling” vs. “showing”. Considering Bardugo’s other works do a much better job of “showing”, it’s disappointing to see these novels fall flat in this area.
This was supposed to be a longer series, which is something I’ll address further later in this review, and I think limiting the books to a trilogy hampered the plotlines. Instead of being able to explore the houses in more depth, Bardugo has to follow the main plotline of the suspicious murder (or of a hell ritual in Hell Bent) rather than take the time to have side adventures. With this in mind, any deviation Alex takes from the “main quest”, so to speak, feels too fast-paced and contrived because Bardugo has to find a way to wrap it up quickly enough that Alex can return to the main adventure. With the longer series, the pacing of these books probably would’ve been more satisfying. Plus, we likely would have gotten the information about the houses and the delegates in a more interesting way, rather than the info-dumps that happen through the mentor/mentee dialogue or in book excerpts between chapters.
Because I’m such a big fan of the Six of Crows duology, it’s hard for me not to compare the two series. While they are vastly different in terms of plot and setting, there are characteristics of the writing that I think can be compared overall. Obviously the series are intended to be different, but I think this comparison really helps illustrate the areas where the Alex Stern books are lacking.
The main selling point for the Six of Crows duology is the meticulously planned out plot. While some aspects may be unrealistic in terms of achievability, they’re still passable without requiring much suspension of disbelief. The plot is so tightly wound that it’s difficult to see which direction the story is going or what actions the characters will take next, but Bardugo maintains consistency throughout the plot so that nothing appears to come out from too far out of left field. She diverts your attention enough that it’s hard to predict the plot, but she isn’t creating moves for the sake of unpredictability. It’s a wonderful balance.
This is something that I feel the Alex Stern series lacks. Again, Bardugo has said that this was supposed to be a long-standing series, but that each book takes so much research that it has been trimmed to a trilogy. Personally, I think the series was trimmed due to timing issues, because a longer series would have given her more time to parse out the plot and flesh out the worldbuilding. Instead, we have a series where the fantastical elements feel more like, “Oh, let’s add this, this will be fun,” rather than a thoroughly plotted magic system with historic roots. When you’re writing about longstanding magical traditions, it’s important to really establish that in your world, and I don’t think that this is present in these books. This leads us back to the “telling” vs. “showing” problem.
Another significant draw of Six of Crows is the witty dialogue and strong characterization throughout both books. The characters really play well off one another through their strongly-defined personalities and witticisms. The characters all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences, yet when they act as a crew there is a seamlessness to their conversation and banter that makes the books so enjoyable.
The Alex Stern series really lacks these qualities of strong characterization and strong dialogue. Most of the story is told from either Alex’s or Darlington’s point of view, and there’s very little dialogue between these character’s themselves, or between these characters and anyone else. This seems like a strange choice considering they also act as somewhat of a “crew”.
Rather than pace the story chronologically, Bardugo chose to split the timeline up so that the reader starts towards the end of the story, and then is brought back a few months prior (this is the case for both Ninth House and Hell Bent). However, the few months prior isn’t the beginning of the story either. It’s somewhere in the middle. Because of this, much of what we learn about the setting or the houses is told through Alex remembering her lessons (which would be the beginning of the story), instead of Alex being taught in the moment. Then, we have Darlington’s point of view, which does start from the beginning of the story. So, throughout the book, we’re switching from the middle of the story, to Alex’s memory of the beginning of the story, to Darlington’s POV from the beginning of the story.
If that sounds confusing, it is. There is just too much jumping around for the story to feel cohesive in any way. Instead of it feeling like a well-thought-out timeline, it feels like watching a poorly edited movie where the scenes are spliced out of order to feel “artistic” rather than serve a true purpose. I think the idea is to heighten the mystery and intrigue, but there is enough mystery happening already. Unfortunately, it only serves to confuse the plot and focus of the story.
Personally, I think writing the entire story from Alex’s POV would have been a better choice. To me, she’s the most interesting character, and her experiences and background add a lot of depth and complexity to the story. Darlington isn’t established enough to make the sections of his POV truly engaging, so interspersing the novel with his POV furthers the divisive feeling the time jumps are already creating. Alternatively, Bardugo could’ve forgone the time-jumping altogether and told the story from the different perspectives with more detail and commentary from each character. This would help Darlington’s POV stand out more and contribute further to the plot and story.
While I’m listing a lot of complaints here, it’s only because after reading Bardugo’s other work, I expected these books to be at a higher standard than I think they are. However, I did still enjoy reading them. I think Bardugo explores a lot of interesting topics in these novels, and I like that her main protagonist faces so many internal and external struggles. There is a pretty complex network of thoughts going on inside Alex Stern’s head, and I wish that would’ve been explored further.
Another strength here is the writing in general. Bardugo has a clever style with ample description that really draws the reader into the story. She also has a knack for creating unique characters, which Darlington, Dawes, Stern, and Turner (the main characters of both novels) all qualify as. This is why the complaint surrounding the lack of characterization is so strong for me. There was so much potential to really delve into the characters, and I feel like Bardugo missed the mark here. Thus creating an enjoyable yet lackluster series.
Overall, I think there may have been too much story to tell in three novels. In order to flesh out the world, add adequate characterization, and layout the plot in a less confusing format, a longer series may have been required. This is such a shame to me, because I think those longer series are becoming more and more infrequent. It would have been nice to have a longer series (even of 5 to 7 books) that really delved into these Yale secret societies and explored the relationships between characters further.
My verdict for Bardugo will always be to read her novels. I think she’s an excellent author and imaginative writer, and I can’t imagine her writing anything “bad” in her lifetime. However, if you really appreciated some of her other works (specifically the Six of Crows or King of Scars duologies), don’t be surprised to find that these novels don’t live up to those expectations.
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