Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

955 reviews

chasinggrace'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? No

4.75

If you grabbed a golden cauldron and mixed Babel, Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and the Illuminati together, you’d get Ninth House. Dark academia turned demonic murder mystery, this book was a great surprise. While slow at points, the main character truly drives this story. Her banter, inner thoughts, and quick wit had me snorting. There’s a whole cast of characters that were difficult to follow at points, but this was a very enjoyable read that left me excited for the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Classism

abigailswigert's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed that the main character is an imperfect person. Alex is a good person but doesn’t always follow the rules or do what you might expect the “good guy” to do. She fails, she doubts herself, she hurts people who did bad things, and she find love and acceptance from a group of friends who seem to get her. I’m really excited to read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape

emmymgb'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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

hippievamp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

there is an intense and extremely vivid description of attempted rape on a twelve year old.

lauskireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Amazing book and descriptions but the violent scenes sometimes felt like they were written for shock factor rather than adding to the story. I really loved the plot and the build up but it felt slightly rushed by the end. Overall though, I was totally immersed and couldn’t wait to keep coming back to the world, I fell in love with Alex and Dawes’ friendship and the world building was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

alexaperez's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Getting into this book initially was a challenge. There was a lot of world building and setup involved for the plot, which was necessary but a lot to absorb nonetheless. I was also lacking interest for the first 20% of the book due to so much of what I was digesting mainly being centered around the culture at Yale, which is mostly upper class white men. (Factor in the time jumping that occurs throughout this book along with ADHD and the next thing you know, I was lost.)

However, as I said, it is necessary for the plot. The author’s work on this book feels very much like a commentary on what institutions like Yale represent (for better or for worse) and she does it well. There is conversation as the book progresses about how these institutions choose to view women, people of color, and anyone deemed to be of lower class. Our main character carries all of these qualities that institutions look down upon. Despite her mistreatment and struggles, she fights tooth and nail to understand this world she was thrown into and to survive it. Her character was the reason I powered through and fought to understand all of the detail this book contained that I wasn’t grasping. She has grit and spark.

As a reader I’m personally not used to reading books that take extra work to keep up with, but I’m happy I took the time to do so. If someone else is struggling to read this one and retain everything, I highly suggest listening to the audiobook and looking at a synopsis. Once I understood all of the intricacies of these societies and the larger mystery at hand, I was all in to continue the ride. 

The mystery of this book tied together so well at the end, and I love how the author made everything connect. It didn’t feel forced. It really worked, and I felt SO satisfied when all of the complexities of this plot linked together. 

Only knocking a star off due to my personal struggle to get into this book at the start, but this was truly a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Violence

inika_shetty's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Minor: Violence

s_jo4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence

juliana_erin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Vomit

kenziekat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse and Injury/Injury detail