Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

101 reviews

naturally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

for the longest time, i've held the opinion that leigh bardugo's work is adult fiction with YA packaging. in ninth house, i feel as though her creative voice was/is given the space to run free. and, honestly, i enjoyed most of the journey that ninth house took me on, as a reader.

BE WARNED: ninth house is NOT a light or easy read. the topics touched upon are very distressing, and the writing is overflowing with information. at times, it feel like i was reading a historical text book about yale, secret societies and new haven. the pay-off was definitely worth it, though. the real meat and potatoes of the plot is served up after the first hundred pages? the meal was plentiful! the mystery and suspense surrounding tara's murder and darlington's disappearance sucked me in, and i didn't want to put the book down...

as a supporter of both women's rights and wrongs, i really appreciated alex. she was a fascinating anti-heroine. her slow-burning friendship/alliance with dawes and turner were highlights. plus, there was a tension between alex and darlington that...ngl i was a fan of. very intrigued to see how that will develop because the origins of their sexual attraction to one another (whether they will ever admit to it) was pretty f*cked up??

i'm suspecting that darlington will be just as morally "tainted" as alex when he returns from hell in book 2. the revelation that he has committed an act of murder and was thus turned into a demon was...definitely a jaw dropper. my prediction is that he murdered his grandfather (with permission) so that he could hang into black elm idk

however, where ninth house fell short for me, is that alex's sense of moral justice toward the end never felt 100% believable to me. the young woman we are introduced to is understandably crooked and willing do whatever she has to do to survive/never return to her old life. i had a hard time believing that she would be so dedicated to upholding the function and strict rules of lethe. following on from this, the knowledge that hellie and alex were besties does a lot of the heavy lifting. on the actual pages, there is little to no development given to their actual friendship. alex's past was very f*cked up and drug addiction was a huge part of that...yet alex has virtually no inner conflict about being surrounded by drugs and alcohol? i get that her relapsing would have interrupted the flow of the story too much, but i was shocked that alex was able to get/stay clean so quickly, and that there was no temptation considering the drug culture at yale...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Racism, and Mental illness

Minor: Antisemitism

alisonluongo's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

I loved the way she weaves plot points throughout the story. It really added to the mysterious vibe and character and world building really well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Sexual assault, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Classism, Drug use, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Sexual violence, Addiction, and Death

sam_wal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Gore, Drug use, Rape, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

ptoridactyl30's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Addiction, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

koerli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Addiction, Violence, Physical abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

maggieereads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Sexual assault, Violence, Mental illness, Death, and Addiction

samreadssometimes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

i really enjoyed this book, and the worldbuliding was impeccable. the only thing i would say is that the last couple of chapters and 'the big reveal' seemed to come out of nowhere, but i did like it. i can't wait to read hell bent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

karinahull's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Was definitely engaged in the mystery and will most likely pick up the next one but for some reason I don't feel satisfied? Perhaps the rapid unraveling of the plot at the end of the novel came to quickly for me to properly absorb, but the sprint and then abrupt stop isn't working for me at the moment. We introduced a lot of concepts way too fast in my opinion (

demon Darlington? soul eating? the shit about the wheel??

).

Really enjoyed the characters and the world building, could have done without the sexual assault in my opinion but thankfully nothing was extremely graphic. Do look up content warnings before reading please, going in blind was perhaps not the best choice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexual assault, and Blood

readrabbitwrite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

dokushoka's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexual violence

Minor: Blood, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Death, and Adult/minor relationship