Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

218 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

cady_sass's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

zoiej88's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cursing, Mental illness, and Misogyny

christina95's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jnichols's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

abbeyh29's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

i tried to read this once and marked it as a dnf because i wasnt in the right mood for it. however, when i came back to it, i was absolutely enthralled and i couldnt put it down. i love alex stern with my whole chest, and though the book was dense, it really pulled me in and immersed me in the world of yale and secret societies that leigh bardugo created. for anyone unsure about this book: give it a chance!! picking it back up was one of the best decisions i made 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, and Murder

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

Writing: 5⭐️/5 

The writing in this novel is stunning. Bardugo moves easily from highly controlled and crafted prose to snippy, sassy quips with ease. Part of the reason it took me a few hours longer to read than I would have guessed is because I spent so much time writing brilliant, eloquent quotes into my notes app. Absolutely stunning writing. 

Characters: 5⭐️/5

The characters felt real and fully developed. I enjoyed how much time was spent seeing characters from other character’s perspective, giving us insight into how each character presents themselves, as well as their internal bias and judgement they push onto others. Certain characters that, at the beginning felt fairly flat, were given time and space to showcase their personalities later, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way the female relationships were explored in this novel. The care in which these relationships were engaged made me very happy both as a reader and a woman.

Plot: 4.5⭐️/5 

**Spoilers below**

I took one issue with the plot, which was the employment of a rape scene. Personally, I felt this scene was unnecessary both to the development of our main character, as well as the progression of the plot. This particular scene didn’t really fit for me and could have been written in a different way to give the same effect. My main takeaway from the scene was that it mostly read as an easy way to give our MC “trauma,” which could have been done in a number of more interesting and less triggering ways.

Otherwise, the overarching plot was entirely enjoyable to read and kept me thoroughly engaged until the end. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Lovers of dark academia, fantasy and/or magical murder mystery novels
• Those who want an adult fantasy read with a spark of romance and little to no spice
• Readers wanting an engaging world and well-established magic system
• Someone looking for a strong fantasy read with strong female relationships 

Content Warnings? 

• Rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual content, gore, blood, vomit, medical trauma, death, abandonment, drug use, alcohol use, excrement, injury, pedophilia, 

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

I was engaged until the final page. Excited for the sequel. 

Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Classism

bumbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

thesmutsister_emma's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

You Could Say They Were Hellbent to Figure This Out

3.75🌟/5 IF YOU ARE HERE For SA TWS FOR THIS BOOK OR LOOKING FOR WHICH CHAPTERS CONTAIN SA, THEY ARE AS FOLLOWS: Chapter 7, Chapter 14 and discussions through Chapters 14-16.
I'm going to be honest with y'all (as always). I only bought this book because I thought it was going to be a dark academia story similar to If We Were Villains or The Secret History. I went in blind (as I usually do with books) and was happily surprised. With that being said, I do have a few bones to pick. (see what I did there?)

The Characters
Alex Stern: Lord have mercy on this poor child's soul. Holy hell. I honestly feel like she was handed some bad fucking cards at some point or another. Everything this girl has gone through and then continues to go through? Shit, man. I honestly am proud of her for not giving up. I honestly loved Alex as a main character and felt like she went about things very well in this book. She has some negative self-talk throughout, but honestly, who wouldn't? She always ended up outsmarting everyone or at least not being too far behind and for a girl who has only known about all of this for about 6 months to 1 year, I'd say she's doing a damn good job.

Things I Loved
Honestly, all the characters were likable (at least the ones we were supposed to like.) I felt really drawn to Dawes, but that's just because deep deep down, all I want is for someone to have soup waiting for me at the end of every day. Honestly though, I liked the structure of the book. I enjoyed learning about the houses the same way Alex did and having that distinction between us still learning alongside Alex (somewhat) and us knowing the same amount as Alex and trying to solve this with her. It was great.

Things I Didn't Love
Here we go. This is where I am about to get passionate about things. This is also the reason my rating is so low. Leigh Bardugo is no new to the publishing industry. This is not Leigh Bardugo's first book. Therefore, I do feel as though there are some things she should have prefaced in this book, especially making the transition from YA to adult. The major thing I feel needs to be prefaced and discussed are the fucking trigger warnings. Or more simply put, the lack thereof. There are zero trigger warnings in this book despite a graphic scene of SA against a 12 year old girl, as well as another girl at a frat party. I somewhat understand the need for these situations, (I will discuss the need to frequently traumatize women at a later date) but there should have been some form of a warning considering how graphic they are. If one of Leigh's loyal readers went from any of her previous series straight to this one, this would be a rather rude awakening. I haven't even begun to talk about the graphicness of the violence in the book. Everything is very detailed, some of it unnecessarily so. This is why this book has such a low rating for me.

The Final Verdict
If you are going into this expecting anything like Leigh Bardugo's previous books, please don't. The content in this truly is created for adults and even unsettled me. If you have mentally prepared for this book and have looked into the content it holds, I truly believe you will thoroughly enjoy it. I would have enjoyed it much more if it weren't for the fact that I had to witness a very graphic SA without warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail