Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Ninth House

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

deanchaudhri's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I have never rly read fantasy before so this was a first and i was really pleasantly surprised - it still had the darkness and grit that I like in thriller/horrors in addition to the magic and world building which was really cool. Also it had one of my fave atmospheres: ‘dark academia university’ vibes which really made it that more immersive & I kept wanting to enter this world. Was slow at first and a little convoluted but the last 1/3 or so was very action packed and thriller-esque with some nice twists. Very unique story and I really was rooting for the characters - they were very well crafted.

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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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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kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

This was a fantastic adult debut by Leigh Bardugo, I was genuinely impressed. It was a bit of a rocky start with the time jumps but about 80 pages in it definitely came into its own. Great magic system in the contemporary world, great mysteries surrounding the characters, and the plot twists were brilliant.

The concept for this book is well thought-out: Alex is a young girl plagued by ghosts, both metaphorical and literal, who finds herself with a free pass to one of the most prestigious universities as a result of her gift, and also where finds herself in the midst of at least 3 murder mysteries. However, at times the chapters were too long, paragraphs too clunky or generally too wordy. Her roommate characters were also super forgettable and definitely plot devices.

I would highly recommend checking your trigger warnings for this because there are some heavy topics and triggering scenes in here if you are unprepared.

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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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merylas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I had some trouble getting into the story at first (between the flashbacks, the prompts, the writing style, and the time it took to lay a useful foundation), but once I got about a third in, the plot roots were cemented.

This story is very twisty in a fun and interesting way. There is a lot of violence and vivid descriptions of assault which is definitely not everyone’s jam.

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