Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

185 reviews

kimreads14's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a re-read for me. I needed to read it again because I first read it back in March 2021 and needed a refresher ahead of reading Hell Bent. 🤗

On my first read I had given this book 5⭐️, but upon reading this again I’m lowering it down to 4⭐️

🚨You NEED to check the TWs for this one. I appreciate that Bardugo went all in when it comes to the adult content in this. 

Even if I was reading this for the second time I still was surprised at times with how things went. Bardugo really crafted an interesting world of magic and some interesting characters. 

Yet, I think that what Ninth House lacked was that little something that originally made me fall in love with Six of Crows. While Alex had that “gritty” vibe, it just fell flat at times. Alex, who could have been so much more. While Bardugo kept poking at Alex’s potential, it just never materialised. 😕

I’m hoping that Hell Bent keeps Darlington POVs as I found them refreshing. I’m also really hoping to see way more of Dawes in the next book. 

Overall a great book ☺️, and it did help make me excited about Bardugo’s work again after the big F that The Familiar was for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Rape, Vomit, Classism, Blood, Violence, Trafficking, Drug use, and Drug abuse

abee_3_c's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

• Ms Bardugo's fantastic world building!
• Intricate plot and twists!!
• Many many layers of "whodunit" and "what's going on"!!!
• Loveable characters that I would spend an eternity reading about!!!!
• Leigh took me to hell with this book and I enjoyed it!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Vomit, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Rape, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

gremlin_98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is a woman cloaked in darkness and tragedy. 
It would seem almost as if her life was doomed to end in heartbreak & lonely. 

Learning about the Houses, the magic and Alex made this a fascinating tell. I will not lie though. I do suggest looking up trigger warnings because if you're not in the right headspace I can imagine that some of the topics discussed and scenes that play out could really mess with someone. 
I’ll also point out that the timeline in how the story played out could be confusing, but I was able to just go with it and I didn’t feel too lost as it all came to a close. 

Thank you past me for picking up Hell Bent the same day so I am able to live in this world a little longer. I just hope the story continues in the way I’m hoping & it doesn’t focus on things I rather skip

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

pauline_90's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

jeggert10's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Gore, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Vomit, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Misogyny

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

If you grabbed a golden cauldron and mixed Babel, Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and the Illuminati together, you’d get Ninth House. Dark academia turned demonic murder mystery, this book was a great surprise. While slow at points, the main character truly drives this story. Her banter, inner thoughts, and quick wit had me snorting. There’s a whole cast of characters that were difficult to follow at points, but this was a very enjoyable read that left me excited for the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Violence

abigailswigert's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed that the main character is an imperfect person. Alex is a good person but doesn’t always follow the rules or do what you might expect the “good guy” to do. She fails, she doubts herself, she hurts people who did bad things, and she find love and acceptance from a group of friends who seem to get her. I’m really excited to read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

r0r0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Start was really slow and disorganised, should have been edited to be chronological rather than jumping. Ending was really good, saved the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Excrement

kileyjojo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warning: This book depicts several sexual assault scenes in detail.

This was a fun read. It was a little difficult to get into in the beginning but the middle to end was super suspenseful and interesting. The ending felt like it fumbled the ball just a bit but overall I enjoyed the book. It takes a while to get into it but the payoff is worth it. If you like realistic fantasy and the paranormal, this is the read. 

In terms of the content warning, a lot of the SA scenes feel very rushed and used only for shock value. In the moment, they are relevant but they seem to just disappear and never have any other message behind them when all is said and done. They are all very shocking and it makes it very difficult to want to continue the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Grief, Sexual assault, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Pedophilia, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Excrement, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

notsohopelessromantic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved the first book in this trilogy. The writing that Leigh Bardugo uses in Ninth House differs so much, I feel like, from the works of the Grishaverse. This instantly captivated me and I was waiting and waiting for there to be resolution. There was some, but not everything was fixed by the end, so I am very eager to read Hell Bent.

I love Alex, and Dawes, but am craving more Darlington. The world built is truly corrupt, dark, and magical. Not unlike real life, but different enough that it has the ability to transport you into a world you'd be interested in living in. The end did throw me a bit, in a good way, with that twist. I still feel quite bad for poor North, but perhaps he'll feel a bit better in the next one.

There are uncomfortable instances throughout the book that maybe should have been prefaced with a page dedicated to trigger warnings. That is my only complaint; but seeing as I am able to push through those parts quite well, it didn't bother me in a way that would detract from the rest of the book, or my rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, and Toxic relationship