Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Ninth House

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Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

316 reviews

cady_sass's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

This was so completely not what I expected. I prefer to go into every book as blind as I can, I knew this was dark academia with some magical realism and that it was set at Yale. That’s it. In the first few chapters I was so confused and backward that I started over to make sure I didn’t miss something important, but it’s purposefully confusing for the beginning which can be hard to get through. It’s shocking to me that this came from the same mind that wrote Shadow & Bone, in a good way. The RANGE! This is one of those books with a premise so unique and a world built so deeply that you can’t begin to wrap your mind around how the author did it. I’m extremely impressed. Each character was so well crafted and explored EXCEPT for Darlington, which is what keeps this from being 5 stars for me. For being such a key player in the plot, we don’t see nearly enough of him or learn enough about him. The end feels less believable because we saw from his perspective and yet never had a single thought about this subplot, which would’ve been a huge, life altering factor for him. Either way, really enjoyed and will pick up the new sequel.

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zoiej88's review against another edition

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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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helloharroux's review against another edition

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I’m usually fine with horror and books with dark themes, especially if I know what I’m getting myself into. However I had to stop at 25%; the ridiculousness of

Alex being sexually assaulted by a ghost in a bathroom where she just had her very first period

on top of the fact that the reason behind her

drug dependency being that it makes her not see the ghosts

was just too much cliche cringe to bear. This book should have been a 5⭐️ read for me but it fell so flat due to the gratuitous trauma porn the author kept throwing in out of left field. It felt like Bardugo wanted so badly to prove herself as an Adult Writer™️ by trying to add in as much shocking content as they could squeeze in but instead of making me feel shocked, I just felt second-hand embarrassment for Ms. Bardugo’s writing skills.

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christina95's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

The overall story of the book is really interesting and written very well, but there are of few scenes - mainly the 12 year old Alex butterfly sequence which I felt was really not needed in the book and spoiled my enjoyment of the novel. I would highly suggest checking the trigger warning for the book, as there is plenty of them.

Putting that to the side the murder mystery story was really intriguing and the magic system (for lack of a better word) was really cool too! The jumping timeline was a little hard to grasp at first but helped keep the story moving. The twists and turns at the end of the novel gives the book a great ending and an eagerness to read the next in the series.

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karolinak's review

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adventurous 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? N/A

4.5

Well, this had me hooked real quick, and I could not put it down. I've not read a lot of dark academia, and what I have read was not great, but this had the exact vibe I had been looking for. The setting, the mysteries, the magic, the horror, the characters-all great.

I've read Bardugo's YA books before, and with each series, you can see her growing as a writer. I always felt like Six of Crows would have been better as new adult/adult fantasy (in my head canon, all the characters are in their late 20s at least, based on their characterisation) and this book just proves she and her character fit it much better than YA.

The timeline jumps in this book could be frustrating. You get invested in a story only to be yanked to the past or the present. Both were interesting, but it would always take me some time to get reinvested. I understand the need for it as information is given in bits and pieces through both, and it keeps the suspense, but it can be frustrating. It is a nitpicky complaint though.

Humour landed great and there was a surprising amount in a book that was generally dark. Dialogue was well written, and relationships between characters developed well with the exception of the roommates, who were just sort of there, used to further the story some, but their characters and Alex's relationship with them was underdeveloped.

It rubbed me the wrong way, Mercy just being written to be a victim of rape and nothing else really. Also, the Sandow twist wasn't at all disguised I thought. He just acted so obviously suspiciously, such blatant diversion tactics. And the Belbalm reveal was just so abrupt. I dont know how I feel about it. It came out a bit too out of nowhere and ended in a flash.

Other than those spoilery and non-spoilery complaints it was a very entertaining read with a great main character.

Keep an eye on trigger warnings, depictions are quite brutal and difficult to read through.

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veera_emilia's review against another edition

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This was disturbing to read. Also I had no idea what was going on the first 100 pages.

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ddarlington's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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cstefko's review against another edition

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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

4.25

This was a re-read via audiobook ahead of reading the newly released sequel, Hell Bent. I still found the ending a little rushed and the mystery was wrapped up too conveniently, but I enjoyed the character development more this time around (especially for the protagonist, Alex).

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isabelleroyall's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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jupitermond's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.25

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