Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

106 reviews

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

CW: child sexual abuse, rape, violence

I was worried about this book because of the content warnings (or rather, and more importantly, the lack thereof.)

As awful as some of the scenes are to read (the on-the-page child rape is especially nauseating), they all serve the story of survivor Galaxy “Alex” Stern.

Bardugo writes Alex with compassion and honesty, presenting Alex’s prickly personality without judging her for it.

Alex’s POV was so satisfying to follow, much more so than her companion Darlington’s.

(My dislike of Darlington has more to do with preference than anything else. Darlington acts as the novel’s Gansey and I could have done without him.)

The story is creepy and offers twists on twists on twists with interesting commentary on privilege, rape culture, and trauma. Just when I thought the book was done, it hit me with ANOTHER twist.

At least the novel wraps up its main mystery before ending with a sequel hook.

Overall, this is a solid horror-fantasy novel with characters I wouldn’t mind reading about in the future.

(Minor spoiler: I don’t know if there’s an Alex Stern/Abel Turner ship happening, but I HOPE SO.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism

cheswich's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Murder

selinatli's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Grief

underworldblues's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement

Moderate: Drug use and Rape

Minor: Bullying, Racism, and Antisemitism

skelliecrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Excrement

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Grief

saradallapalma's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.25

I truly hated this book. For me, it was simply confusing. The problem with Leigh Bardugo is that her books start as if you must already have read another book. I began the book and I was just confused about everything: maybe is because I'm not American? I didn't understand anything about these societies and how they worked, why they were there because it was not explained properly. I thought it would be explained later but it is not.

The characters are just bad. Alex had the potential to be such a great main character, however, she does some pretty bad shit (literally) in this book. Does she try to fight cyberbullying with cyberbullying itself? Yes. Great move, Alex. Darlington and Dawe were okay. 

In the finale the book got better but overall was just sooooo slow and boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Excrement