The Bridegroom was knocking on the door of being interesting. Turner, Dawes, and Len all struck me as stereotypes, as were most of the side college characters.

The effort to make them more nuanced for an adult audience left them almost devoid of life. Third, the characters are nothing compared to her Grisha characters. Obviously, not every book needs to be an action-packed heist thriller, but I left this story with the sense that very little had actually happened - despite the fact that many things did happen. Ninth House doesn't come close to approaching that sense of scale. Like I'd witnessed a truly magnificent journey for the characters. Six of Crows left me with such a sense of awe at the end. I was shocked to discover that it's about as long as the first Six of Crows book. Second, this book moved at a glacial pace. Just window dressing, and sometimes a plot convenience. The magic never left me with much of an impression because it never felt like an object in the world. Sure, if you consume a human soul, it'll generate a well of magic for your shady secret society. Sure, you can submerge yourself in goat's milk to reverse grievous injuries. Sure, you can put a storm in a thermos, with the risk that brewing it too strong will short out the Eastern Seaboard. Like Harry Potter's magic without the charming atmosphere and whimsy to support it. The magic in Ninth House, on the other hand, just feels half-baked.

The magic system had rules, even if those rules weren't enumerated in perfect detail. Like, the Grishaverse is not GRRM levels of grounded worldbuilding, but especially in the SoC books, it felt like a living world. I was very excited for Ninth House, but having finished it today, I'm left feeling a h?įirst of all, I felt the worldbuilding was extremely lacking. Loved the Grisha trilogy, was impressed by the Six of Crows duology, and even found plenty to like in King of Scars, which a lot of people seemed to be disappointed by. So I'd say I'm a fairly committed Bardugo fan.

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