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sedammit's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
siannn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Sexual harassment, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Infidelity, Excrement, Cursing, Classism, Blood, Torture, Suicide, Sexism, Rape, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Drug use, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Trafficking, Racial slurs, and Racism
laurence0917's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical content, and Drug abuse
scarlettskyes's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny
findmeinunderland's review
- 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
First of all the cover is just so aesthetically pleasing, even more so after actually falling in love with the characters…
I kind of equate it to being about Alex’s tattoos. Alex’s most prominent tattoos are the snakes that wrap around her collar bones, and I feel like they would be the epitome of her shame when it comes to her tattoos, it’s the most blatant in the macabre nature of the art on her body, spider webs are a more common choice, other things could be given an alternative explanation of importance, but not many people, especially those within the stereotypes of ivy league alumnus, have two huge black snakes curling around their shoulders. I love the symbolism of it being on the cover of the book because Alex used the stereotypes of her outward appearance to avoid attachment, when given the opportunity to flee her environment she covers them as a way of separating herself from the memories she had of being ostracized. Her tattoos later become a different kind of cover, an armor.
I even saw some people say Bardugo tried to hard to be dark in her content by making Alex’s trauma explicit but failed to give the character any justice, but my response is that the entire present day timeline is Alex’s justice…. Alex was abused and violated by something the most privileged people she knew saw as a gift. It is a widely known horrible part of our reality that the world doesn’t believe or protect victims, it doesn’t protect women. The fact that so many people saw her trauma even if she didn’t want them to and completely wrote her off so they didn’t have to deal with what it meant, is the most realistic part of her character. She was poor, a woman of color, homeless at more than one point in her life…I can think of nothing more realistic that her not getting feasible, malleable justice. But to say she got none at all would be wrong, Alex’s justice was cosmic and metaphorically and more meaningful than some get in the real world, she gained a different sense of self worth imprinting herself onto Tara’s circumstances, fighting to find out what happened to tara meant acknowledging that she and Alex were one in the same— at least in The sense that the world values them the same, she became attached to Tara because she saw herself in a dead body that no one else seemed to care about and couldn’t help but imprint on that experience. Alex knew the world valued her and Tara the same, she saw the parallels between Tara and herself and yet she still came to the conclusion that Tara deserved better than what she got in death, and in life. Those thoughts are more kind than Alex was to herself on a normal basis, and maybe they wouldn’t have meant anything if Alex wasn’t the narrator but she was, she was the one aligning their value, and ultimately accepting that she deserved better than what she got out of life…Alex’s justice was aligning her value with every victim belbam took and saying that they all deserved better.
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Murder, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, Animal death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking
taysa_gzd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
As it aims to be the first book of a series, I think it does a good job at laying down the setting for a hopefully better sequel, because I do see a lot of potential for this series, I just don't want to be let down again.
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Death, and Animal death
Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
claudiamacpherson's review
- 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
3.0
<i>Ninth House</i> was totally unlike any other Bardugo books I’ve read, and not entirely in a good way. While I am okay with some violence, the gore in this book was too much for me, not to mention sexual assault (definitely check out the trigger warnings before you pick this up!). I’m also generally not a big fan of heavy themes of drugs and addiction. But there were some good points, namely, the main characters. Darlington, Dawes, Turner and even Alex made me love them despite their (many) flaws. I also liked that it was continually pointed out that no one should have the kind of power that exists in this world, especially not a bunch of college students. Most YA/NA brushes over that, but it felt especially necessary to acknowledge here. I like a lot of the magical systems Bardugo created: the rites and rules for ghosts were super interesting.
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
Minor: Stalking and Suicidal thoughts
inbigtreble's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
lucyrosemack's review
- 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
this is technically adult fiction but it still read like YA. some of the things with alex bothered me, with a lot of main character syndrome, not like other girl vibes, etc, but the story and conclusion and overall world building saved it for me.
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
crowfolio's review
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical trauma, Grief, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Body horror
Extreme trauma is a fundamental aspect of the main character's backstory and is explicitly brought up several times throughout the book. This trauma is complex and involves sexual abuse as a minor, severe and life threatening substance abuse, abusive relationships and living situations, and a whole lot of other heavy topics. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone in a fragile state of mind who can be easily triggered by any of those subjects or closely related subjects.