Having seen so many comments about trigger warnings for this book, and people upset at the leap into adult fiction, I was nervous about reading this. I also have to admit that it took a while to get into the rhythm of things. Both these factors make it difficult to give a 5 star rating, though I enjoyed the book a lot and can’t wait to see what comes up in part two.
Our main character is Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern, a young woman who has not lived the easiest of lives. She’s always been able to see what are known as Grays, the spirits of the deceased. At times these have caused real upset to Alex, and nobody can see them so she’s always been regarded as a little odd. Having then got into drugs Alex is used to finding her own way/being regarded as a problem.
It takes a while for her back story to come out, and this made it difficult to really empathise with her initially. Our focus to start is on her current status as a student at New Haven, assigned to investigate and maintain order over the eight different societies that operate within Yale. Full of high profile students, potentially powerful people, Alex is shocked to learn of their dabbling in the occult and quickly begins to feel out of her depth.
Alongside the mystery of her missing mentor, there’s the issue of a number of unsolved murders and some very dubious goings-on amongst certain groups.
While I was intrigued by the details of the House activity, and was curious to see to what extent we’d see magic at play, I did find it difficult to work out exactly what was going on and really identify with Alex.
There was a point at which things clicked and then I was gripped. A very intriguing ending which bodes well for book two, but I do wish this step-up a gear had come a little sooner.