3.5 Stars rounded up - Ninth House is a dark fantasy that at its core is about abuse, trauma, survival and ultimately finding a way to live.

There was a lot to love about this book - the main character, Galaxy "Alex" Stern was great, the eerie gothic secret society Yale setting, ghosts, magic, murder & mystery with some fun twists. I was fully expecting to be wowed. Unfortunately, I wasn't. It was soooooooo long. Too long. I get that it was building up the back story but I felt like it dragged on in the middle and then suddenly we were at the resolution. Only not everything gets resolved. Yup, we got set up for book 2. Sigh! Of course after reading over 450 pages I feel invested so.... I'll be reading Book 2.