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madinhoa's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
_cece_'s review against another edition
4.5
Note: This novel is SLOW at the beginning, but like a thriller would do, the world-building unravels with each page turned and read. Alternating timelines introduces new characters that are beloved at the start and grey characters that seem to unravel as the novel unfolds bringing more mystery to the already mysterious storyline. Ninth house has a bit of everything, including a murder mystery that grounds the novel even more alongside its location in Yale University.
Overall, I singlehandly devoured the first two books in this trilogy. It was the perfect blend of genre that enjoy reading and couldn’t ask for a better author to write it.
Also, this story has many content warnings but on the top of my head, SA is very present in this novel and among other things that are in the same realm so please try and find a full list of these warnings on social media sites so that you understand exactly what you are getting into before reading.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder
nitas_reading_list's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse
maddiereadswords's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
uncreativeoops's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism and Vomit
xiggy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
laurenmvmills's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
libraryofcacw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
it felt like reading two different books. so, very conflicted on how i feel about this book.
the start was very slow and alooooot of information dumping but by the end i had really started to connect with Alex and the plot.
also shout out to Pamula (Dawes) my wife 🥰💋
read via audiobook
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Rape
jelliestars's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Antisemitism, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
ularoyal's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence