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

This is a re-read for me. I needed to read it again because I first read it back in March 2021 and needed a refresher ahead of reading Hell Bent. 🤗

On my first read I had given this book 5⭐️, but upon reading this again I’m lowering it down to 4⭐️

🚨You NEED to check the TWs for this one. I appreciate that Bardugo went all in when it comes to the adult content in this.

Even if I was reading this for the second time I still was surprised at times with how things went. Bardugo really crafted an interesting world of magic and some interesting characters.

Yet, I think that what Ninth House lacked was that little something that originally made me fall in love with Six of Crows. While Alex had that “gritty” vibe, it just fell flat at times. Alex, who could have been so much more. While Bardugo kept poking at Alex’s potential, it just never materialised. 😕

I’m hoping that Hell Bent keeps Darlington POVs as I found them refreshing. I’m also really hoping to see way more of Dawes in the next book.

Overall a great book ☺️, and it did help make me excited about Bardugo’s work again after the big F that The Familiar was for me.

Content Warnings

abee_3_c's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

Ms Bardugo's fantastic world building!
Intricate plot and twists!!
Many many layers of "whodunit" and "what's going on"!!!
Loveable characters that I would spend an eternity reading about!!!!
Leigh took me to hell with this book and I enjoyed it!!!!!

Content Warnings

gremlin_98's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is a woman cloaked in darkness and tragedy.
It would seem almost as if her life was doomed to end in heartbreak & lonely.

Learning about the Houses, the magic and Alex made this a fascinating tell. I will not lie though. I do suggest looking up trigger warnings because if you're not in the right headspace I can imagine that some of the topics discussed and scenes that play out could really mess with someone.
I’ll also point out that the timeline in how the story played out could be confusing, but I was able to just go with it and I didn’t feel too lost as it all came to a close.

Thank you past me for picking up Hell Bent the same day so I am able to live in this world a little longer. I just hope the story continues in the way I’m hoping & it doesn’t focus on things I rather skip

Content Warnings

pauline_90's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

Content Warnings

jeggert10's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

Content Warnings

chasinggrace's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

abigailswigert's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Content Warnings

r0r0's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

3.0

Start was really slow and disorganised, should have been edited to be chronological rather than jumping. Ending was really good, saved the book.

Content Warnings

More...