History Literature / AlexStern

* AccidentalMisnaming: Thought the book, Belbalm calls Alex "Alexandra." Alex herself never bothers to correct her until the end. It's actually a subtle hint that Belbalm doesn't have Alex's best interest in mind, since she could have easily found that her name is Galaxy in her records.

* AccidentalMisnaming: Thought the book, Belbalm call's Alex "Alexandra." Alex herself never bothers to correct her until the end. It's actually a subtle hint that Belbalm doesn't have Alex's best interest in mind, since she could have easily found that her name is Galaxy in her records.

** Alex has a lot in common with a HardboiledDetective, being a tough, cynical character with a lot of StreetSmarts who solves the case with persistence rather than [[SherlockScan Holmesian insight.]]

* NightmareFuel: Some of the examples are hidden because of '''Trigger warnings''': mentions of sexual assault and grooming. Discretion advised.
** Alex’s backstory. Your whole life you see ghosts who can look gory and disturbing, even when you’re a little kid. They can hurt you, [[spoiler:a ghost tries to rape you]], and no one can see them, no one can help you or stop them. There’s nothing you can do, and if you react at all, everyone thinks your crazy.
** Alex’s experience with Len, particularly for a parent. [[spoiler:A little kid is scared and being picked on by all the other kids. So an adult man takes advantage of her loneliness to befriend her, give her drugs, use her as a drug mule, and then have sex with her. ''And she doesn’t get away from him until she’s twenty.'']]
** What nearly happens to Darlington. [[spoiler:You go to the sole adult you have left in your life with useful information. And now that he has that information, he decides to use it, and you’re the only person who could catch him. So he decides to kill you. Also, the way Sandow tried to kill Darlington. Rather than just killing him, he tried to get him eaten alive so even his soul would stop existing.]]
** What Skull and Bones does every Prognostication from the perspective of the mental patient used for haruspicy. They fall asleep in their room as normal, and wake in a strange room filled with hooded figures, and your stomach is torn open and they’re digging through it. And if you told anyone, you’re in a mental hospital. No one would believe you. Most of them don’t wake up, but that’s almost [[ParanoiaFuel worse]], because someone did something awful to you, you don’t know about it, and who knows the long-term consequences on your life?

** Also, darker takes on the myths or history it pulls from. For example, the story starts with Skull and Bones performing haruspicy on an unsuspecting mental patient. In reality, haruspicy was performed by Etruscans and then Romans. Despite the stereotype Romans were bloodthirsty, Romans only preformed haruspicy on sacrifices sheep, not human beings.

''Alex Stern'' is an adult dark fantasy novel series by Creator/LeighBardugo. ''Ninth House'' is the first book of the series. The second book of the series, ''Hell Bent'', is set to be released in 2023.