Book Review: Dead Beat (Ninth House Trilogy, #3) by Leigh Bardugo
Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Magic is real, but safe is make-believe.”
Wow, what an ending. Bardugo absolutely nailed the landing with this final installment in the Ninth House trilogy. I loved Ninth House and didn’t know how she could follow it up. And then there was Hell Bent, which blew me out of the water by surpassing its predecessor—I positively adored it. Honestly, I don’t think it was possible to continue that insane trajectory. But Dead Beat absolutely measured up, and was an immensely satisfying ending to the best dark academia/urban fantasy mash-up I’ve ever encountered.
We are no longer getting the story from only Alex’s point of view. We have a second perspective: Darlington. He’s been rescued from Hell, but he’s not entirely himself anymore. And upon their escape, Alex Stern and the gang left the door to Hell open. Demons have followed them back into the above world to plague both the living and the dead. These demons are sucking their victims dry. Whether through their deepest fears or dearest dreams, they find a way to drain them and step into their lives. So now Alex and Darlington and the rest of the Lethe crew have to find a way to shut the door to Hell—for good, this time.
“The movies loved cold-eyed assassins and flinty lone wolves. But the world needed people who wept and fought on, saps and suckers and fools who had their hearts broken but kept loving anyway.”
I adore this weird found family. As does Alex, even if she’s occasionally surly about it. She would do anything for these people, as they would do for her. Their bonds, all across the board, are so strong by the time this book reaches its end. This is also where the very slowburn romance reaches its zenith. I love Alex and Darlington together. Things did get a little spicy in the romance arena, though, which I wasn’t expecting. It was only two scenes, and neither were very long, but readers who are sensitive to spice should be aware of that going in.
One aspect of this series that has made me the happiest is the lore, whether connected to Yale or outside history, the occult or literature. The references to Dante and Milton and Tennyson in particular brought my nerdy heart all kinds of joy. The story is also very well paced, maintaining its tension right up to the exceptional climax. If Ninth House was a murder mystery at its heart and Hell Bent was a puzzle box, Dead Beat is a bloody epic against impossible odds, bringing Alex’s bruised knuckles and healing heart fully back into the fray.
“Every way she knew to survive seemed to be the wrong one. But she was going to keep doing it just the same.”
From start to finish, Dead Beat is a gripping, pulse-pounding, utterly satisfying conclusion. Bardugo is a literary force to be reckoned with, every bit as powerful and scrappy and eloquent with her words as Galaxy Stern is with her fists. The entire trilogy was phenomenal. The Lethe House and Il Bastone and the wonderful found family formed within its walls will live on in my mind and heart; the waters of Lethe themselves couldn’t dim them in my memory.