Ninth House (Bardugo) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for NINTH HOUSE ... then take off on your own:

1. Describe Galaxy "Alex" Stern and her troubled past, a background less than privileged compared to students at Yale. Why does Lethe enlist her? What is she tasked with as a member of the secret society?

2. How does Alex feel vis-a-vis her Yale classmates—her outsider status? How would you describe Yale itself: it's elitism, its customs, history, and even its vibe.

3. When Galaxy is first shown magic, she observes with near relief that "the world they’d been promised as children was not something that had to be abandoned, that… everything [really] was full of mystery.” What does she mean by having to "abandon" the world because it didn't live up to its childhood promises? As an adult, do you ever feel disappointed by the world as it is? Have you ever yearned (do you yearn) for a magical world from your childhood fantasies? What would that world look like for you?

4. What are the specialties of each of the Houses of the Veil, and how does each house use its power in the larger world?

5. Power is one of the central concerns in Ninth House—who has it, who wants it, who uses it for good, and who uses it for evil. Line up the characters in terms of their drive and motivations for power. Where does Alex fall in all of this?

6. Alex simply wants to be a good student and to succeed in her life at Yale. Why then does she refuse to let go of Tara Hutchinson's death? Why is Alex so affected by it?

7. What do we learn, bit by bit, as Alex's story is pieced out to us? And what do you learn, by the end, why Alex finds herself alone, with no one by her side, trying to solve the mystery of Tara's death?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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