Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

163 reviews

madinhoa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

alicia_ann_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

I actually really enjoyed this book. I think I really appreciated that the blurb really didn't give away the plot; and I was definitely not able to determine how everything was going to go which I appreciated.

The dual POV/Flashbacks were hard to wrap my head around at first but then I ended up liking them, it gave just enough info without being dumpy. 

There are a few parts that I kinda wonder about.. but it didn't really detract much for me. 

I could have gone with some TW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Addiction, Blood, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

Moderate: Blood and Alcohol

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

Let's get this out of the way first: I picked this book up because it was recommended by someone who LOVES it, and if I hadn't wanted to give this a fair shot for them, I would have dropped this book by 200 pages in and never looked back.

My biggest problem with it is that you can just tell this is the first adult novel by a YA author, and I don't say that to disparage YA at all!! It just feels like Leigh Bardugo wanted so badly for this to be an Adult Novel with Adult Themes, but rather than actually writing a story that engages on an adult level with complex themes, she just decided to throw in a bunch of drug use, body horror/gore, and graphic sexual assault to remind you that her characters are Adults in College. (Check the content warnings on this one if you need them!!) It was just way too much, and yet it did nothing? Like, Alex is a recovering drug addict, but at no point in time does that actually affect her as a character except to remind the reader of her fucked up backstory, even though she's constantly exposed to and using all kinds of magic drugs (and has no qualms about using them on others). Also, as an MC she's literally just so boring. All the characters kind of are tbh, and there's so much telling instead of showing about characters. We're told blatantly that Dawes likes taking care of people, like Bardugo doesn't trust the reader to put that together from context clues. We're told that Darlington's a gentleman, but he's really just a mediocre white guy with money (literally do not get me started on Darlington, he was such a nothing character to me and the fact that he's the fan favorite is disappointing, but not surprising.)

As for the plot, it's WAY too slow. I know even the people who love it say that it picks up like 100-150 pages in, but first of all, it should not take a third of the book for things to actually get moving. That's straight up just bad pacing. Also, the dual timelines were entirely too much. It took so long to catch up to the present, and the way the flashbacks were inter-spaced, it tended to disrupt any momentum in the actual story. Even when it did "pick up" it still felt like was crawling along at a snail's pace up until the very end. And speaking of the ending, it was SO unsatisfying. It was a mediocre resolution to a bad mystery because it wasn't like there was enough information thoughtfully woven into the story to encourage the reader to put together actual clues; it was all just withheld completely until the two (TWO!!) villain monologues at the very end which is just super frustrating.

Also let's be so fucking honest here: Leigh Bardugo thinks she's saying a lot about privilege, class, race, and gender at Yale, but she's not actually saying anything. This is a world where secret societies of privileged students use and abuse those they see as below them, but in this world, they're using magic to do it, so it's different. Also in this world, a woman is secretly behind it all, so actually the secret societies were never the problem, and we don't have to actually interrogate whether they should be allowed to continue to operate. It's such a nothing point, but it's said like she really thinks she's done something. Sure, Leigh, whatever you say.

This was such a disappointing read for me. I'm genuinely so glad that so many people love this book so much!! But it was definitely not for me. Literally the only thing that saved it from being a 1 star was that sometimes her prose was good when she wasn't beating me over the head with empty statements about characterization or waxing poetic about fucking New Haven. (I get it, you went to Yale! I do not care!!)

All of that being said, I am indeed still going to read the second book because the person who recommended it to me has insisted the second one is better, but I'm not optimistic it'll actually change my mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Physical abuse, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Classism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Excrement, Pedophilia, and Violence

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Classism, Sexual assault, Medical content, Sexual content, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

Minor: Racism and Vomit

avie_1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment, Gun violence, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Medical content, and Cursing

There was awful scene with bugs Generally I wish there were option of "insects"/"bugs" content warning

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cancer, Colonisation, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Infidelity, and Slavery

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Addiction, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Racism, Suicide, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Cursing

Minor: Bullying, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

patienceholmes's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.75

Want to make it very explicit that the SA referenced in the content warnings in one instance refers to a minor/p*dophilia. The scene is very graphic. Be safe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Sexism, Torture, Racism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cancer, Classism, Cursing, and Gaslighting

dealfea's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

This story was much darker than I had anticipated. There was quite a lot of violence on page and I think content warnings would have been useful. 
Storywise I quite liked the book. I enjoyed the murder mystery, the supernatural elements and the magic system in use. It also felt quite culturally relevant with some obvious criticism of the rich kids being able to get away with anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Child abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Grief, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Drug abuse

bonjour11111's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing