Book Reviews: Ninth House and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Galloway Book Club meets the first Monday of every month to discuss books that the co-presidents, Logan Smith and I, pick for the club members to vote on. We write reviews on the books we read, which so far have been Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Each new book is a different genre so there is enough of a variety to keep everyone interested. Here are our first two reviews on the books we’ve read:
Earlier in the year we read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, which received mixed reviews. When our club met, we talked about the ridiculous amount of worldbuilding that seemed to never end. In a Goodreads review, we gave the book 3.6/5 stars and wrote: “This book was difficult to get through at the beginning with the excessive name dropping and extended world building. It is definitely for a very niche audience who likes the detailed set up and immersive language. However, at points it can be very graphic. Some of us enjoyed the sensory imagery and long set up, but others hated it and just wanted the book to end. Although the plot of the murder mystery was a favorite amongst us, a lot of us came into this book with high hopes, but it’s safe to say it didn’t meet most of our expectations.” For the next book, I got many requests to not pick a fantasy book.
Recently, we just finished reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, who is a British author of sixty-six mystery books and several other novels. Most of our book club members had already read a few of Christie’s books, so we thought it would be a good palate cleanser from the last book. Christie did not write stereotypical murder mysteries, she set out to write books that had never been written, and plots that had never been explored. What happens when someone dies and everybody is responsible for it? What happens when everybody dies and no one has killed them? Her fascinating plots and characters are what has kept her books so popular after many decades. Although some people find this book to be controversial because it does not follow a normal mystery book plot, our book club members disagreed:
“Our most recent book, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, is a murder mystery novel with a fun and unexpected twist at the end. I thought this book was really interesting and different from any other book I've read before because of the perspective in which the story is told and the development of the characters.” - Ella Bohntinsky
“The book had lots of twists and turns and encapsulated the good aspects of a mystery novel, with all the secrets and slow reveal of the killer, which was very unexpected. It had a lot of characters which made it a bit hard to follow.” - Abby Feldstein
What makes book club exciting is that everyone always has a different opinion on the books we read. For Ninth House, the non-fantasy readers struggled to get through it whereas the fantasy readers loved it and are planning on reading the sequel, Hell Bent. All opinions are welcomed and encouraged in our club!
By Bay Tilley