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alyssasaurus's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jareadforfilth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Vomit, Grief, and Gaslighting
ktv'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
5.0
I loved this book. Perfect first read of the year. I loved the timeline being nonlinear. Foreshadowing was predictable at some parts in the beginning but at the end (last 25%) I had no idea what I was going to be hit with next. Loved how the wheel symbolism came back fill circle. Also how Bardugo characterized Belbalm like I thought she had something to do with magic at first but then my scent was thrown off that trail because of how convincing the writing was saying that Alex just wanted a normal and calm life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Slavery, Excrement, and Antisemitism
aklovekorn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
bookishaddy'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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
pelagicsun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Me ha gustado mucho, no me ha flipado. Alex es MUY guay y el mundo que presenta es horripilantemente verosímil. Me gusta el rollo de la magia, me gustan los personajes y el misterio ha estado interesante. Supongo que no soy muy fan de los thrillers per se, por mucha magia que tengan.
También hubiera agradecido el CW por una escena de una violación explícita.
También hubiera agradecido el CW por una escena de una violación explícita.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
booking_along's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
this had a very slow start for me.
it took way over half the book until i finally started to enjoy it and actually get interested in what was going in.
part of that was definitely the alternating time jumps with each chapter. i didn’t really think it did the entire story a huge favor in sprinkling in the understanding and knowledge of how this magic and ghost stuff was possible in small little doses in between other things.
i also HATED that the book took a jab at dyslexics go no reason at all and in the most unnecessary situation as well.
there was no reason to put that in. non at all.
<blockquote> “you’re dyslexic, yes?” “yes,” alex lied, <b>because she needed a reason for how far behind everyone else she was.</b>”</blockquote>
excuse me?
okay sure. that was personal to me because i am dyslexic and i HATE when people do exactly that.
i never ever heard or meet another dyslexic person that was behind anyone else in anything if they could somehow control that.
dyslexic people are some of the hardest working ones around because we had to figure out how to do something our own way that everyone else somehow just understand without issues.
reading? learning to write of someone dictates or just talks to you and you are supposed ti know how to write what they are saying? learning from books filled with texted which could have easily been cut down to 1/3 of what’s being said?
dyslexic people have ti wade through that and work around that and find ways to do all that while keeping up.
dyslexia has absolute nothing to do with being slower or stupid or unable to keep up or learn something.
so excuse me!
but using being dyslexic as a reason because you don’t really give a fuck about your academics?
not okay,Bardugo!
dyslexic people everywhere already have to fight enough to be seen as anything but stupid, so just don’t include that! especially if it’s so easily avoidable and unnecessary to do it in the way bardugo did here!
was it just a very small thing overall?
yes! sure!
but it bothered me a hell of a lot.
especially because it was utterly unnecessary.
leaving that behind:
already mentioned 2/3 of the book are very slow and drag until it finally builds momentum and starts to go somewhere.
and once it does it picked up speed fast and didn’t stop until the last page.
the mystery aspects where very well done, i give Bardugo a point for that.
how she interwove and spun all those different things and people together and actually made it make sense?
well done.
could it have been done a bit faster and less dragged out? yup.
i am surprised to say that i liked alex.
she’s one of those characters that i think readers either enjoy going on that crazy train with or dislike her a lot because she’s not a typical character.
i think what i liked most about her was that she tried hard to not connected to people because she knew it would hurt her to loose them because she already experienced that but at the same time she graved people that would want to connect to her.
<blockquote> “i know you’re used to dealing with people who <b>can’t just</b>, but i can….let’s get square so we can forget all a lot this.”
….
“you can’t just-“
“salome,” Alex said, shaking her finger. “those words again.”
…”you can’t just do things like that. you’ll go to jail.”
“probably,” said alex. “but you’ll still look like a brother-fucking hillbilly.”</blockquote>
she’s a survivor and a fighter in the best ways that i enjoy a lot- she’s a scratcher and biter and doesn’t care how she survives as long as she’s alive in the end.
who cares about looking good or manners when someone wants you dead or already thinks you’re crazy?
<blockquote>”what’s wrong with you?” Dawes spat as alex joined her at the nondescript door ...
“i’m a bad dancer and i don’t floss. what’s wrong with you?” </blockquote>
she’s snarky and not surprisingly someone that’s good at reading other people and using that to her advantage.
she’s a rather brilliant character.
the side characters.
Mercy and Dawes.
they added something to the story that it needed desperately to balance a character like Alex out a little - but at the same time they were their own characters and that worked very well.
the overall plot- it was good.
i liked the idea of the Grays and that there are some that can just see them and some that seems to be able to be taught to do so.
i kind of wish we would have gotten more of how that entire thing actually works.
how exactly do grays come to be and why? sure we learn a few unhelpful details throughout the story about them, but i would have liked a better understanding of how it all works.
are grays the same as ghosts? can they be helped and “desolve” or “move on” once they are done or helped? is a gray always a gray once they became one? can they become violent or harmful on their own simply by being in this in between space too long?
or if they can move on if they wish and/or want how they like it why aren’t there more overall?
and why would a gray choose to stay if they can move on? and what would that mean for the afterlife -if there is such a thing which i feel like is hinted at in the book as long as there is a soul in tact?
sure those things get mentioned but never actually explained.
there is a pretty short little mention -something Darlington says relatively early on in the book about how just a specific number of grays can pass through or something similar- but it never is really expensively explained why or how.
just as the rest of the magic isn’t.
if you can teach it -as it technically is in this book- does that mean everyone could learn it not just those elite few mentioned in the book?
and if that’s the case is the only reasons it’s all kept so secretive and hush hush because it’s a power play of the rich that can use it to their advantage and dont want others to learn to do the same or at least not make it a tool to be used exclusively by the rich?
but if that’s the case why -as also asked by alex herself and never answers throughout the book- dont the lethe help kids like alex as soon as they learn about them? if they can make coming to a Uni appealing to someone not interesting in academics i am sure they could find ways to assure a desperate parent they can help their troubled child.
and wouldn’t that guarantee a more successful lethe and partnership between them and the houses of the veil? because the kids like alex would feel thankful and/or indebted to them for helping them when nobody else could or would….
am i overthinking this?
possible.
but that happens if i read a book like this and there are just too few answers and no promise of them in the next book of the series.
all in all?
for me the ending made it worth the read overall.
and i am excited to read the next book in this , thankfully not having to wait 2 years like many others that read this book when it came out.
do i think this book was forth the hype and extreme praise it gets everywhere and that everyone should read it?
eh.
depends on what you want out of it.
so you want a slow build with a very different but interesting main character, lots of open questions, a bit of a murder mystery and all that with supernatural elements and people that believe they are better and can get wa way with everything because they can tell daddy and he makes the problems disappear?
go for it!
if you want fast paced, getting into the action and figuring stuff out, dealing with creatures left and right and a kick ass heroine main character?
not really the book.
you want mostly dark academia, heavy focus on school itself in a way, study sections and talk about academia?
wrong book.
you want an intriguing idea that you don’t mind waiting for to get explained and expanded on?
this might be a good choice.
for me it was a good story overall.
wasn’t my favorite of this authors works nor in my option her best overall in characters, plot and story telling itself.
but it was definitely her most interesting and most intriguing idea and thought out plot.
i would recommend it.
but know going in it takes a while until it makes sense and get going, but once it starts be read to read until your done.
it took way over half the book until i finally started to enjoy it and actually get interested in what was going in.
part of that was definitely the alternating time jumps with each chapter. i didn’t really think it did the entire story a huge favor in sprinkling in the understanding and knowledge of how this magic and ghost stuff was possible in small little doses in between other things.
i also HATED that the book took a jab at dyslexics go no reason at all and in the most unnecessary situation as well.
there was no reason to put that in. non at all.
<blockquote> “you’re dyslexic, yes?” “yes,” alex lied, <b>because she needed a reason for how far behind everyone else she was.</b>”</blockquote>
excuse me?
okay sure. that was personal to me because i am dyslexic and i HATE when people do exactly that.
i never ever heard or meet another dyslexic person that was behind anyone else in anything if they could somehow control that.
dyslexic people are some of the hardest working ones around because we had to figure out how to do something our own way that everyone else somehow just understand without issues.
reading? learning to write of someone dictates or just talks to you and you are supposed ti know how to write what they are saying? learning from books filled with texted which could have easily been cut down to 1/3 of what’s being said?
dyslexic people have ti wade through that and work around that and find ways to do all that while keeping up.
dyslexia has absolute nothing to do with being slower or stupid or unable to keep up or learn something.
so excuse me!
but using being dyslexic as a reason because you don’t really give a fuck about your academics?
not okay,Bardugo!
dyslexic people everywhere already have to fight enough to be seen as anything but stupid, so just don’t include that! especially if it’s so easily avoidable and unnecessary to do it in the way bardugo did here!
was it just a very small thing overall?
yes! sure!
but it bothered me a hell of a lot.
especially because it was utterly unnecessary.
leaving that behind:
already mentioned 2/3 of the book are very slow and drag until it finally builds momentum and starts to go somewhere.
and once it does it picked up speed fast and didn’t stop until the last page.
the mystery aspects where very well done, i give Bardugo a point for that.
how she interwove and spun all those different things and people together and actually made it make sense?
well done.
could it have been done a bit faster and less dragged out? yup.
i am surprised to say that i liked alex.
she’s one of those characters that i think readers either enjoy going on that crazy train with or dislike her a lot because she’s not a typical character.
i think what i liked most about her was that she tried hard to not connected to people because she knew it would hurt her to loose them because she already experienced that but at the same time she graved people that would want to connect to her.
<blockquote> “i know you’re used to dealing with people who <b>can’t just</b>, but i can….let’s get square so we can forget all a lot this.”
….
“you can’t just-“
“salome,” Alex said, shaking her finger. “those words again.”
…”you can’t just do things like that. you’ll go to jail.”
“probably,” said alex. “but you’ll still look like a brother-fucking hillbilly.”</blockquote>
she’s a survivor and a fighter in the best ways that i enjoy a lot- she’s a scratcher and biter and doesn’t care how she survives as long as she’s alive in the end.
who cares about looking good or manners when someone wants you dead or already thinks you’re crazy?
<blockquote>”what’s wrong with you?” Dawes spat as alex joined her at the nondescript door ...
“i’m a bad dancer and i don’t floss. what’s wrong with you?” </blockquote>
she’s snarky and not surprisingly someone that’s good at reading other people and using that to her advantage.
she’s a rather brilliant character.
the side characters.
Mercy and Dawes.
they added something to the story that it needed desperately to balance a character like Alex out a little - but at the same time they were their own characters and that worked very well.
the overall plot- it was good.
i liked the idea of the Grays and that there are some that can just see them and some that seems to be able to be taught to do so.
i kind of wish we would have gotten more of how that entire thing actually works.
how exactly do grays come to be and why? sure we learn a few unhelpful details throughout the story about them, but i would have liked a better understanding of how it all works.
are grays the same as ghosts? can they be helped and “desolve” or “move on” once they are done or helped? is a gray always a gray once they became one? can they become violent or harmful on their own simply by being in this in between space too long?
or if they can move on if they wish and/or want how they like it why aren’t there more overall?
and why would a gray choose to stay if they can move on? and what would that mean for the afterlife -if there is such a thing which i feel like is hinted at in the book as long as there is a soul in tact?
sure those things get mentioned but never actually explained.
there is a pretty short little mention -something Darlington says relatively early on in the book about how just a specific number of grays can pass through or something similar- but it never is really expensively explained why or how.
just as the rest of the magic isn’t.
if you can teach it -as it technically is in this book- does that mean everyone could learn it not just those elite few mentioned in the book?
and if that’s the case is the only reasons it’s all kept so secretive and hush hush because it’s a power play of the rich that can use it to their advantage and dont want others to learn to do the same or at least not make it a tool to be used exclusively by the rich?
but if that’s the case why -as also asked by alex herself and never answers throughout the book- dont the lethe help kids like alex as soon as they learn about them? if they can make coming to a Uni appealing to someone not interesting in academics i am sure they could find ways to assure a desperate parent they can help their troubled child.
and wouldn’t that guarantee a more successful lethe and partnership between them and the houses of the veil? because the kids like alex would feel thankful and/or indebted to them for helping them when nobody else could or would….
am i overthinking this?
possible.
but that happens if i read a book like this and there are just too few answers and no promise of them in the next book of the series.
all in all?
for me the ending made it worth the read overall.
and i am excited to read the next book in this , thankfully not having to wait 2 years like many others that read this book when it came out.
do i think this book was forth the hype and extreme praise it gets everywhere and that everyone should read it?
eh.
depends on what you want out of it.
so you want a slow build with a very different but interesting main character, lots of open questions, a bit of a murder mystery and all that with supernatural elements and people that believe they are better and can get wa way with everything because they can tell daddy and he makes the problems disappear?
go for it!
if you want fast paced, getting into the action and figuring stuff out, dealing with creatures left and right and a kick ass heroine main character?
not really the book.
you want mostly dark academia, heavy focus on school itself in a way, study sections and talk about academia?
wrong book.
you want an intriguing idea that you don’t mind waiting for to get explained and expanded on?
this might be a good choice.
for me it was a good story overall.
wasn’t my favorite of this authors works nor in my option her best overall in characters, plot and story telling itself.
but it was definitely her most interesting and most intriguing idea and thought out plot.
i would recommend it.
but know going in it takes a while until it makes sense and get going, but once it starts be read to read until your done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
illiteratewench's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I still don't read much fantasy but I definitely like this urban fantasy, dark academia setting in Ninth House. I love Darlington and I love a golden boy bad girl dynamic! The multiple timelines worked for me, I was pretty interested (there's present time where Darlington has disappeared, the past year of Alex joining Lethe, and then into the past fleshing out Alex's life). The privilege and classism of academia is exemplified through Lethe, a secret society in Yale. Magic is used as another institutional power that furthers real world problems. It's secretive and only a top 1% can access it. It is used to hurt minority groups or vulnerable peoples. The plot is slow to start but really tense and addicting later. I really liked this book as well as Alex and Pammy warming up to each other and working together. The sequel Hell Bent is not as exciting as this one, but it still ties up plot ends and starts new ones, so I'll definitely still be catching the third book when it's out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Vomit
grimdark_dad's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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
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