Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Ninth House

This book was alot to say the least. It's not my usual read but Leigh Bardugo is my favorite author and I wanted to give a try to her books outside of the Grishaverse. I knew this was dark going in, which was why I put it off for so long. I was afraid it was going to be too much for me and it might have been a little but I'm honestly hooked and definitely planning on reading the sequel.

I will be honest and say I don't think I would have gotten through this book, let alone so quickly, if I hadn't listened to the audiobook. The audiobook narrator does a really good job and makes the experience really enjoyable. I love the dark and gritty world Leigh Bardugo builds for us in our world today. I think the way she writes and tells this story is unique in how she flip-flops between timelines, giving us little bits of information to trail us to the big finish. That being said there is a lot of world lore that gets thrown at us at once which can be a lot to take in.
I love Alex Stern as our main character. She's tough and gritty and I love seeing how she fights to overcome and conquer everything in her life, despite everything going against her. I loved seeing how Leigh Bardugo deals with the themes throughout the book, of race and class. Of an underdog getting a second chance at life, but at what cost? Just seeing how she writes and deals with Alex Stern's moral grayness throughout this book.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart and is not a book for everyone but I'm glad I at least gave it a chance. I'm having mixed feelings about the ending but I'm interested to see what the sequel brings.

Content Warnings

aloe_v's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

In three words: ghostly murder mystery.

I thought this was good but a very slow read. It would've gotten a better rating if I'd been hooked, but unfortunately it took two weeks and some willpower to get through, despite liking it?

Would advise readers to be aware of the content warnings. I was glad I saw another review saying what happened at 26%. TW:

rape - about two pages (on digital), she's 12, its a man who is a ghost

. Very uncomfortable, skimmed through that bit. There are a few other bits with similar themes, so worth being aware.

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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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alexschrade's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

4.25

Took me a while to get into the story, but once I did it was exceptional. Couldn't set the book down. I am madly in love with Alex and honestly couldn't have expected the plot twist. Amazing writing style as well. Beware though, it was very graphic at times, so definitely not for the faint of heart in my opinion.

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alexijai98's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Heed trigger warnings!

Bardugo’s venture into adult fantasy was a good read! Weirdly predictable in the end, but still enjoyable. I’ll be reading Hellbent!

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rhimineecat's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Loved the pacing of the book, haven't had a nice pacing like this in quite a while.
Also the characters were so fucking cool. Alex was so badass and even the side characters were so loveable. Also please read the trigger warnings for this one, this was a heavy book with very serious topics.
The "magic" system was really interesting and it's always telling to see how these kind of powers are used and who uses them.

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themdash's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.75

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metaphorical_disaster's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

2.5

I don’t even know how to feel after finishing this book.
I definitely liked it. The story itself was unique and could be interpreted many ways to reflect the world today. The characters (most of them, anyway) had been pretty fleshed out and easy to understand their choices and actions.
My only gripe is that the first bit of the book was so very confusing. I had to reread the first 5 chapters twice because it felt like I was losing my mind.
The story does pick up and, while there are still very confusing bits in the middle, it’s beautiful and clever and dark and hopeful all at once.
This is DEFINITELY one of those books I would have to give a second read through to fully appreciate the story. Until I give it another go, I’m leaving it at a 3⭐️ because it’s still worth the read.

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