Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Ninth House

I would’ve given this book a full five stars if not for the beginning. It was a slog to get through the first five chapters, but it picked up from there. It was jarring to get dropped so deep into action at the start and struggle to get a sense of what was going on.

I’ve read a lot of reviews with harsh words about the violence against women. I feel like this book handles some of that tension well. Alex’s own trauma seems genuine compared to the life she’s lived. The violence against students seemed at times too much, and would’ve benefited if some of it was cut. It seemed like there was not a single woman in the story that hadn’t had experiences of violence and abuse.

I didn’t expect to like Darlington so much, but I’m looking forward to reading more about him. I feel like it was a great move to remove him for the majority of the book.

All in all the books a great read if you can manage to get through the beginning. The world building is superb, the characters complex and although the plot was a bit convoluted at times it’s a good read even if you’re not super into fantasy.

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alyxbeau's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

I am clearly not the target audience for this book, but I stuck through it anyways even though I should have DNFd this one and almost did on multiple occasions.

I will put the reamainder of my review in spoiler tags to avoid people glancing at trigger warnings, but it will also contain actual spoilers.

There was an absolutely massive amount of sexual assult covered in this book, and in graphic detail. There is a minor in an abusive and sexual relationship with an adult, rape, and drugging with substances to allow seeming consensual acts recorded on a phone. There is gory and detailed descriptions of pried open bodies as well. Honestly, those first pages after the initial chapter should have been enough for me to quit then and there, but I didn't. I thought it might get better after about 25 percent of the book, but the sexual descriptions of uncomfortable situations just got more frequent from that point on.

At first I didn't think sny of it was for the shock factor. It seemed like the experiences our main character went through were described to us to explain her total fear at being touched by a ghost again after being raped as a middle schooler by one. But then her reaction to humans doing the same to her or trying to do the same to her, we're not as intense. They should have been. This is why I think it is all there for the shock factor now, and not included to show why her reaction was intense. Her reaction was intense only once. The trauma forgotten after that first incident at Yale.

This book is not for me. I stayed to solve the mystery of Darlington and got no satisfactory answer. I will not be continuing the series except to read a synopses of books 2 and 3, MAYBE.

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kiwij96'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fantastic adult debut by Leigh Bardugo, I was genuinely impressed. It was a bit of a rocky start with the time jumps but about 80 pages in it definitely came into its own. Great magic system in the contemporary world, great mysteries surrounding the characters, and the plot twists were brilliant.

The concept for this book is well thought-out: Alex is a young girl plagued by ghosts, both metaphorical and literal, who finds herself with a free pass to one of the most prestigious universities as a result of her gift, and also where finds herself in the midst of at least 3 murder mysteries. However, at times the chapters were too long, paragraphs too clunky or generally too wordy. Her roommate characters were also super forgettable and definitely plot devices.

I would highly recommend checking your trigger warnings for this because there are some heavy topics and triggering scenes in here if you are unprepared.

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isabellemay14's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.75

This book was such a fun mix of fantasy (dark academia and supernatural vibes) and murder mystery (multiple). There were various major plots unfolding from various perspectives/timepoints in a way that kept you so engaged and wanting to keep unfolding the secrets hidden in plain sight at Yale University. The obvious research and planning that went into fleshing out the Ancient Eight Houses of the Veil created such an immersive reading experience. Such a well written and enjoyable read!

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erupoo's review against another edition

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Got over half way through (10h12min, 7h51min left) and had to stop. Explicit and detailed descriptions of r*pe and SA, including with a child. Was very disappointed bc love Leigh Bardugo's other work but this ruined the book for me and prevented me finishing it. Would have been a great book otherwise. It was so unnecessary to include these.

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koyali's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

The book was honestly pretty good. I enjoyed the premise, but the characters were difficult to get attached to. Alex was a good main character, I loved her gray morals. Her backstory was very tragic, a little difficult to get through(I didn't read the trigger warnings so it was unexpected, but the author handled the topic very well), and it was a fun spin on the whole 'seeing ghosts' trope. Though I wish we would've gotten more information related to Dawes and Turner, I assume that it'll come in the next book.

However, the relationships between the characters were quite...muddy. I liked their dynamics a lot, but I didn't feel any attachment to them. They were just very ok in general. If I were to choose a favorite character, it would definitely be North. By far the most entertaining to read about, but a close second would be Turner and maybe Darlington and Dawes? All of them were just incredibly okay...

As a person on the asexual spectrum, I didn't find the sexual content to be that bad. There's one or two instances of detailed sex and a lot of mentions of it throughout the book(I stress that you read the trigger warnings if you are uncomfortable with sexual content).

The plot twists were quite interesting as well, though I wish this would have been marketed as a mystery series instead of a fantasy. Of course, the fantasy elements were all over, but I was more interested in how the plot unraveled rather than any of the occult.

Overall, 3.5/5. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a funky occult mystery with some dark elements and funny banter.

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thesadcowboy's review against another edition

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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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