Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

320 reviews

alexijai98's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Heed trigger warnings! 

Bardugo’s venture into adult fantasy was a good read! Weirdly predictable in the end, but still enjoyable. I’ll be reading Hellbent!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Excrement, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

jujufish3000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

This book was chewy - that's the best way I can describe it. There is so much detail that it was hard at first to get my teeth into it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Gore

Moderate: Blood and Excrement

subtlyfurious's review against another edition

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

1.0

Never before have I read a book that so utterly fails to live up to its spectacular beginning. 

The first few chapters are excellent (and the only reason I’m giving this book any stars). Bardugo weaves the character’s personalities and worldviews and backgrounds into the action flawlessly while also setting up a number of compelling topical themes. 

It’s all downhill from there. 

To me this feels like a YA book made “adult” by throwing in a bunch of disturbing content in for shock value alone. At first, I tried to give Bardugo the benefit of the doubt, believing she’d be able to give us a reason for why things weren’t just graphic, but borderline (or maybe fully) pornographic. But no. She fails to explore anything on a  deeper level, speaking about complex issues such as classism, racism, and sexism without doing any work to ever dip below the surface. In fact, her ability to swerve away from actually choosing a side and stating an opinion is almost impressive. 

Still, I pressed on thinking “surely Bardugo will find a way to wrap this up in a somewhat satisfying way.”

No.

The last 15% is a slog and (spoilers) the who that dunnit turn out to be both the most boring who-you-expect and the most throwaway character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Excrement, Death, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

thesadcowboy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Murder, Gore, Drug abuse, Excrement, Rape, and Sexual assault

green_amaryllis's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gun violence, Medical content, and Grief

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

At first, I really wasn’t sure I would like this book. The start was rather slow - I respect these types of books have to “set the stage” for what is to come, but it can still be a bit of a slog to get through, and I was having a hard time getting through certain chapters and not knowing what details were “important” to remember. Once I hit about 30% of the way through, though, it was really off to the races! Similarly, the time jumps threw me off at the beginning and I had a tough time calibrating where I was in the story, but this becomes much easier as the book goes on. I ended up really appreciating the back and forth nature and how it set the stage for the grand finale/reveal towards the end. 
This book leans hard into dark magic, occult, rituals, and sacrifices, which I originally wasn’t a fan of, but I got absolutely hooked.
I really love how the author explored the concept of power and class throughout this book. It’s a major theme done in explicit ways, but was also sprinkled throughout in small ways. It did a beautiful job of examining how power is gained, maintained, and expanded amongst those at the top, and the little, if any, repercussions they face for heinous crimes - especially if committed amongst those who are seen as the bottom rungs of society.
I even found myself super intrigued by the occult and dark magic by the end and appreciate this book for opening me up to new genres and types of books.
I am really excited to read “Hell Bent” now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, Gore, Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Excrement, Addiction, Classism, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer and Gun violence

While this book isn’t really horror, I would say it’s horror adjacent in many ways, so folks should know that going in!

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

dayabraxas's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

5.0

I mean this in the best way when I say I had no clue what was coming next at ANY point in this book. I ADORE Alex Stern and her badassery. This book kept a fast pace and kept me on my toes. A mega mystery conspiracy where I never knew who to trust and who to blame until the last page (and I suppose that may even change in Book 2). Great writing, humorous main character, and badass women.
Major trigger warnings for SA, drug use, and r*pe (as traumatic experiences of characters), along with lots of gore and violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Blood, Excrement, Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Body horror, and Cursing

nataliebootlah's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

 Last book of 2023! ✨ 

 

When Alex wakes up from a coma, she’s given what some would consider a second chance at life: admittance to Yale. 

 

This dark academia novel is one of the few fantasies I’ve read recently that didn’t center around romance, which was refreshing. The slow reveal of clues as Alex tries to find her footing at Yale, understand her role as Dante over eight notorious secret societies, and come to terms with seeing Grays was addicting. Even though it started off a bit slow, Ninth House ended up being one of those books where you have to know what happens next. So if you’re interested in dark magic, monsters, and mystery in modern day, you’ll want to read this one. 

 

Be forewarned, there are a few graphic scenes I could have lived without (rape, assault, torture, etc.), so please check the TWs prior to reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

robles2yggdrasil's review against another edition

Alright, I didn't finish the book because I was uncomfortable with the sexual assault and rape that happened in the book. Given I only made it to Chapter 17 (pg. 266), I loved the story and the universe and everything with the occult was great. However, the visualization of the sexual trauma was too much for me.

I added a toned-down, but inclusive overview of what transpired.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Excrement, and Cursing

Spoilers (Sexual Content and Rape): p. 122-123

This is a flashback to the main character's youth (12~13). She is sexually assaulted and raped by a ghost. While it doesn't go into every single detail, the actions are depicted and enough given to form a vivid image. Main insight: The main character learns that the ghosts, "Grays", can physically interact with and harm her.

p. 249-250, 259-260

This relates to a present roommate of the main character. Said roommate is drugged and raped during a party. A video is used to blackmail her. The main character goes to stop the blackmailing and finds additional videos of other girls. Uses slang for genital and degrading/pornographic language and imagery. Main result: We find out that the murdered victim, Tara, was making the purple drug with her boyfriend.