Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Ninth House

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

1096 reviews

sanktjosten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

this book was absolutely phenomenal. this is definitely one of my favourite leigh bardugo books, the raw realism of it made it bone chilling and an intensely loveable read. im not often a dark academia reader but this might just have to change that. i thought the premise was super fascinating, and the rites that each of the houses perform are super realistic to what would happen if that kind of magic was accessible. following alex, who is very much an outsider to the yale prestige crowd, is an incredible narrative choice to point out the way elitism operates in high level academic institutions. the book makes such a perfect criticism of the lack of moral integrity and dehumanization of the middle class that takes place in wealthy schools. being part of lethe, the ninth house meant to protect the safety of students and outsiders from the occult activities of yale should be a righteous position, but it shows exactly how elitism operates and how wealthy institutions will prioritize profit and their own benefit over the causes they're meant to achieve. i also love the characters! alex, darlington and dawes are all so loveable and i am so excited to see where they go.

Content Warnings

minnettie's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

mollymoll44's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

Trigger Warning: Ninth House has a fair amount of sexual assault. It’s not glorified at all, but it is pretty graphic at times. The plot and character development are pretty wrapped into it. It wasn’t bad, but very startling coming from Leigh Bardugo’s ‘Shadow and Bone’ and ‘Six of Crows’ series. It has thought and intention behind it from her and her peers experiences, especially from within an institution. But parts were very tough to read.

Overall I really enjoyed the dark academia investigation, but was a bit disappointed by the conclusion. The author attended Yale and it's all based off of real secret societies there, minus the magic and ghosts (maybe), which is pretty neat. It makes me want to explore around Yale and visit these giant tombs.

Content Warnings

dielilla's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

rachelblair's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

em_1920's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

bellascheider's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I would like to start by saying that in terms on thematics, this book was right up my alley. Dark occult fiction with a murder mystery? Perfect.

I absolutely loved Alex, which I know is an unpopular opinion, but I tend to fall in love with morally grey bad assess with dark pasts. I loved Darlington, which, considering we didn’t see much of him, means the author did a fantastic job conveying her characters.

Now the bad: I literally had to read the first 40 pages twice. Reading the back of the book, I assumed we were going to start with Alex’s journey in CA and follow her to Yale. Instead, we were tossed right into the story. Not just the story, the END of the story. There was so much new terminology that the main character already knew and I obviously didn’t. Usually we learn with the character but the audience doesn’t get that luxury and has to piece it together themselves. Now that the book is over, I do appreciate the extra mystery of having to put the timeline together, and figure out the way the societies operate. However, I know that to some people it could be too frustrating to finish.

In addition to it being confusing in the beginning, the story unfolded pretty slowly until a little after half way. But, considering the author intended for the series to be a long one, it makes sense why she took a lot of time to build the world.

I loved the concept of Ninth House, and it really scratched the itch of needing a thriller/dark fiction/horror novel. However, the speed and confusion took it down a couple notches. I’m excited to start Hellbent, and now that I know what’s going on, it’ll be much easier to follow. I got high hopes!

Content Warnings