She's been bothered by the "Greys," and sometimes harmed and harassed them, her whole life. Half the time, the ghosts that main character Alex see are just a nuisance to deal with. This phenomenal and mature adult debut from a popular young adult author Leigh Bardugo is more twisty-turny-absorbing mystery than spine-tingling ghost story. But Alex can sense this is a cover up as well, and the deeper she digs, the more trouble she courts - from Yale's secret societies with too much to lose, and from enemies on both sides of the Veil that she can't even fathom. Just like she's told to look away when a woman from town, a drug dealer, is stabbed to death near campus. Darlington doesn't have long to teach Alex before he disappears and she's told to cover it up. Alex's Lethe mentor is Darlington, a Yale senior who knows how all the magical societies on campus work, what specialized and often bloody rites they perform, and how to oversee them so everything is safe and secret, and all the Grey energy that surrounds them is contained. Her whole life she's been able to see ghosts - or Greys, as they call them - and the House of Lethe needs her unique skill set. He offers her a place at the Ivy League school and at the House of Lethe. She wakes up in a hospital bed with the dean of Yale sitting next to her. In NINTH HOUSE, when Alex nearly dies in a drug den, it turns into her salvation, or so she thinks. If this is not a fit for your teen just yet, try the similarly themed Truly Devious and Shades of London series, both a bit tamer, and both by Maureen Johnson. The main character, Alex, had a difficult past and uses the tenacity she's developed to seek justice for those wronged, and she's pretty merciless about it. Language stays pretty salty as well, with frequent use of "f-k" and lots of sexualized banter, some tame and some cruel. People are injured and die in gruesome scenes, including a stabbing and the bludgeoning with a baseball bat (described with "chips of skull and brain flying"). A mental patient is kidnaped and cut open for a magic ritual. There's a whole lot of drug use (the main character was a former user and dealer and her best friend died of an overdose), sexual content, and violence, especially jarring sexual violence with a date rape drug and a video passed around to add to the humiliation. If you have an older, mature teen reader already well versed in R movies with lots of mature content, this may be OK for them. Her teen fans will know about it - it's marketed to them as well. Parents need to know that Ninth House is the first book for adults by popular young adult fantasy author Leigh Bardugo ( The Grisha Trilogy, Six of Crows, Wonder Woman: Warbringer).
0 kommentar(er)
