Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

316 reviews

solypoly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

God I’m sick of reading fantasy that’s extremely over the top “edgy” and “gritty” in a fake feeling way seemingly just to make it seem more “serious”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Antisemitism

aliyachaudhry'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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer and Racism

shetland_pone's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

tmw1122's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

cyan_altaria's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

1.75

The pacing was too slow, and I was bored before getting to the part with North, which is were the book starts to get interesting. The mystery was decent, but it took too long. If I wasn't reading the book for book club, I would have put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

savjoy21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug abuse

_hart_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I read and loved Six of Crows and I also read and liked Shadow and Bone. I really like Leighs writing, worldbuilding and especially her way to bring characters alive. I was excited for this book but also have been wanting to read it for ages. Since finally the second book is going to be published soon I thought this is a great time for me to read 'Ninth House'.

It was not at all what I expected. I wanted to go in knowing as little as possible. I knew that this book is adult but I didn't expect it to as graphic as it was. I really liked the premise and the characters and also the mystery of it all. Just because of her writing I automatically like the book.

I do have a few issues with it though:
1. Alex's motives didn't always make sense to me. Why was she so adamant on solving Taras murder? She didn't know her, everyone told her that it was the boyfriend, even after she broke into the morgue it was clear it was the boyfriend. I just didn't understand why she would go further and further. At a certain point it was clear that there is more behind it than we thought but I do not understand why and how Alex knew that?
2. Also I felt like all side characters were just there for convenience. Especially Alex's roommates. They are so unconditionally loyal to her for seemingly no reason? I mean that is not how it usually is at uni right? Like it would make sense for them to ask her why she's never at home but not to a degree where she constantly has to come up with fake reasons & apologies, right? I wanted a bit more interaction and reason there so it actually makes sense for them to call her mum. (The thing with Brady 100% made sense though. He's a shit and deserves only the worst)
3. That might be on me, but I didn't understand the worldbuilding fully. I think it was on purpose that the big questions like 'why is there magic?' and 'where does it come from?' are unanswered. But I didn't understand the limits of the magic. It's clear that it best works in the tombs and not really anywhere else, but also things like the coin of compulsion work everywhere? And spells can be cast that influence the wider world as well? Idk I'm just a bit confused about that. Also I want to know how noone actually found out outside of the societies. How do they keep the secret?

I think I had way more questions but these are the most important ones. I am definitely going to read 'Hellbent' but if I'm being honest I'm in no hurry. Maybe I'll even wait until all (5?) books are out. The story was intruiging but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. (Even though I love mystery, magic, university settings, academia and secret societies in books.. ?)

What I loved about the book was all the intruige and mystery. The connections weren't always completely clear to me but that didn't take away from it being fun. I wish we got to see a bit more magic and a bit less trauma but that is only my opinion. I bet for some people this was perfect.

Generally I would anyone to please read the trigger warnings for this book. There are a lot and they are really graphic as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nenya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

this was such an easy 5 stars holy smokes. i‘ve got to be honest, i found it quite hard to really get into it at first (it’s not being told chronically and there are like 3-4 points in time that keep changing throughout the narrative and that you need to keep track of - but once you figure it out, it really adds to the reading experience, i loved it) but the plot, characters and especially the plot twists (!!) really won me over - especially the plot twists, because they are partly very hard to predict (also because of the time jumps), which made this book a very mysterious and catching read. the only complaint i have is that the sequel won’t be out until next year :((

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Trafficking

bvcchante's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment