At 20 years old, Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is a freshman at Yale university. She doesn’t quite fit, but she took a deal from a stranger at her hospital bedside, and she’s determined to use it as a fresh start. But that’s harder than it looks when magic is all around.
Yale has many secret societies, and all of them pull their power from magical sources. Alex is now a part of Lethe, the house that monitors the goings on of those societies, and makes sure their rituals don’t hurt anyone. She learns the ropes beside Darlington, a true believer in the role Lethe plays, and someone sceptical of Alex and how she came to be there. But Alex has a power that is useful to Lethe, one that has haunted her since she was a child, and it puts a target on her back.
When her mentor disappears and a young woman is murdered, it’s up to Alex to piece together what, if any, link there is to the societies. But everywhere she turns she pisses someone off, even those beyond the grave. Can she find the truth before someone silences her for good?
I liked Alex a lot. She’s spiky and at times mean but there’s a whole lot of reasons for it. She fell into the world of drug dealing at a young age, and more recently was the sole survivor of a multiple homicide, so there’s no wonder she has trust issues. But she’s also loyal and a good friend to those she cares about. I was definitely rooting for her. We get to see her at times from Darlington’s perspective too which really worked for me, in terms of storytelling and character development.
There’s a lot going on with regards to plot, but it never felt like too much. There’s the Darlington mystery, the murdered girl, society shenanigans, ghostly attacks, as well as delving into Alex’s backstory, but all the threads come together nicely in the end. I’m looking forward to the next installment. I’m assuming there is one…