Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

99 reviews

spiresalex06's review against another edition

Dark in a way that is not interesting or new, just depressing and disturbing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Classism, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Gore

callmesheets's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The plot starts out a little slow and it took me about a quarter of the way through to gain an understanding of the world building. However, the pace picks up pretty quickly closer to the halfway point of the book. I found it also takes some time to get to know the main characters and start caring about them but I think the author does a great job of building the suspense and shares easter eggs about the plot and characters throughout.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Violence, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content

cre8withcait's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Rape, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Murder, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Vomit, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Torture, and Toxic relationship

aisling214's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Classism, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Gaslighting, Sexism, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, and Mental illness

icepoppy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, and Gore

Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Addiction, Excrement, and Death

emmirosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was alot to say the least. It's not my usual read but Leigh Bardugo is my favorite author and I wanted to give a try to her books outside of the Grishaverse. I knew this was dark going in, which was why I put it off for so long. I was afraid it was going to be too much for me and it might have been a little but I'm honestly hooked and definitely planning on reading the sequel. 

I will be honest and say I don't think I would have gotten through this book, let alone so quickly, if I hadn't listened to the audiobook. The audiobook narrator does a really good job and makes the experience really enjoyable. I love the dark and gritty world Leigh Bardugo builds for us in our world today. I think the way she writes and tells this story is unique in how she flip-flops between timelines, giving us little bits of information to trail us to the big finish. That being said there is a lot of world lore that gets thrown at us at once which can be a lot to take in. 
I love Alex Stern as our main character. She's tough and gritty and I love seeing how she fights to overcome and conquer everything in her life, despite everything going against her. I loved seeing how Leigh Bardugo deals with the themes throughout the book, of race and class. Of an underdog getting a second chance at life, but at what cost? Just seeing how she writes and deals with Alex Stern's moral grayness throughout this book. 

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart and is not a book for everyone but I'm glad I at least gave it a chance. I'm having mixed feelings about the ending but I'm interested to see what the sequel brings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Addiction, Violence, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Car accident

metaphorical_disaster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

2.5

I don’t even know how to feel after finishing this book. 
I definitely liked it. The story itself was unique and could be interpreted many ways to reflect the world today. The characters (most of them, anyway) had been pretty fleshed out and easy to understand their choices and actions. 
My only gripe is that the first bit of the book was so very confusing. I had to reread the first 5 chapters twice because it felt like I was losing my mind. 
The story does pick up and, while there are still very confusing bits in the middle, it’s beautiful and clever and dark and hopeful all at once. 
This is DEFINITELY one of those books I would have to give a second read through to fully appreciate the story. Until I give it another go, I’m leaving it at a 3⭐️ because it’s still worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Addiction, Blood, Death, and Drug abuse

paperbacklyds's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Murder, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Mental illness

circe813's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical trauma, Vomit, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Stalking, and Violence