In the book’s first chapter Alex, running late, arrives in a hidden classroom to watch the quarterly prognostication by Skull and Bones.Īll eyes were on the Haruspex, his lean face hidden behind a surgical mask, pale blue robes spattered with blood. Alex’s ability to see Greys–unheard of even in the magical world–means, among other things, she can monitor and, in theory, prevent the undead from disrupting the rituals. (Berzelius is inept.) Lethe House’s charter is to oversee these magical machinations.Īlex and the other two current members of Lethe, golden boy Darlington and socially awkward Dawes, are tasked with ensuring when the other societies use magic, nothing unexpected happens. Skull and Bones specializes in divination, Scroll and Key in portal magic, Wolf’s Head in shapeshifting, Manuscript in glamours, Aurelian in logomancy, Book and Snake in necromancy, and St. Elmo’s, and Berzelius–each channel, via ritual, a particular brand of magic. In Ninth House, the renowned prestigious and powerful clubs–Skull and Bones, Manuscript, Aurelian, Scroll and Key, Wolf’s Head, Book and Snake, St. The fictional Lethe is the ninth house and, unlike the other societies in the book, is a product of Bardugo’s astonishingly inventive imagination. The catch? She’ll use her wraith watching skills to help the Lethe Society, one of Yale’s famously mysterious secret societies. All that changed when Alex, recovering in a hospital bed from an horrific violent incident, woke to see a dean from Yale there to offer her a full ride at the school. The Greys made her life a misery, one that she’d tried escaping by becoming a drug using–and dealing–high school dropout. None of them see ghosts.Īlex can not only see ghosts–Greys–she can interact with them.

None of them however have the talent that garners Galaxy “Alex” Stern, the protagonist of Leigh Bardugo’s splendid novel Ninth House, entry into New Haven’s hallowed halls. Over 35,000 applied to the famed Ivie–those accepted were likely the rock stars of their high schools with sky-high SATs and absurdly impressive resumes. The 1800 freshman matriculated at Yale University are likely a storied bunch.

The ninth house leigh bardugo