By Leigh Bardugo

The Short Take:

To say this book centers on magic undersells it. It’s smart, brutal, surprising; part murder mystery, part fish-out-of-water, part hero’s journey. The heroine is perfect: strong in some ways, highly vulnerable in others. I couldn’t put it down.

Why?

Ninth House is no Harry Potter. The magic acts encountered in its pages are raw, bloody, erratic, and used to keep the rich and powerful rich and powerful.

Set in present day Yale University (which Bardugo attended), the famed secret societies (Skull & Bones, Manuscript, Scroll & Key, etc.) all have secret magical practices–a different one for each of the eight ancient houses. One can create unbreakable contracts, another reads the future of the stock market through a living human’s entrails, yet another can create portals to distant places.

A completely unprepared Alex Stern drops into this world, charged with keeping the houses’ rituals and errors secret, and cleaning up their messes. A high-school drop-out and small-time drug dealer/user, she receives the offer of a free Yale education after surviving a horrendous multiple homicide. Though she is unaware of why this fresh start is hers, it’s because she can see ghosts. Ghosts are a problem for Yale and its societies.

She receives some help but the problems grow, become intertwined, and create a knot of tremendous suspicion and fear that she must overcome or die trying.

A Little Plot:

Alex comes to Yale with little more than the clothes on her back and an incomplete, substandard education. She hopes to gain an education that will open doors while handling the tasks of protecting the secret societies.

It’s not an easy combination. And then it really gets tough.

For more about Bardugo and her work, click here.

PS. Though this is supposedly a stand-alone book (and the main story does resolve), Bardugo leaves the doormen for a sequel.

By Philip Pullman

The Short Take:

This second book in Pullman’s The Book of Dust trilogy is packed full of unhappy people, schemers, and lots of uncertainty. It ends with a cliffhanger that has you begging for the final volume.

Why?

In his first book of this new series Pullman went back in time, presenting Lyra (the heroic protagonist of the earlier His Dark Materials trilogy) as an infant. This book jumps ahead nearly 20 years. But, unlike with the last book, you really should read the first trilogy Pullman wrote in order to fully understand this book.

Only then will you realize the scope of the tragedy that has befallen Lyra and her daemon, Pan: they can’t stand each other. Pullman’s universe has some similarities to our, for example, Oxford, England is still a center of learning. However, in his created world every human is linked to an external animal that is a physical manifestation of their inner self. Imagine how terrible it might be to be at war with yourself. That’s where Lyra and Pan find themselves.

At the same time, the same oppressive forces Lyra faced at age 12 have returned and are seeking her with bad intentions. The book also includes parallels to current events, with thousands of refuges traveling to Europe and hints of totalitarianism.

The book has heft at 600+ pages, but it moves at a lightening pace which makes it hard to set aside. You’ll finish fast and then bemoan the fact that book three is not already in print.

A Little Plot:

Attending college in Oxford, Lyra constantly fights with her daemon, Pan. The fighting doesn’t abate even when she discovers she is penniless and forces are aligned against her. It only gets worse, to the point that Pan leaves her completely. Now she must find him plus learn why people are after her.

For more about Philip Pullman and his books, click here.