Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

56 reviews

naturally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

for the longest time, i've held the opinion that leigh bardugo's work is adult fiction with YA packaging. in ninth house, i feel as though her creative voice was/is given the space to run free. and, honestly, i enjoyed most of the journey that ninth house took me on, as a reader.

BE WARNED: ninth house is NOT a light or easy read. the topics touched upon are very distressing, and the writing is overflowing with information. at times, it feel like i was reading a historical text book about yale, secret societies and new haven. the pay-off was definitely worth it, though. the real meat and potatoes of the plot is served up after the first hundred pages? the meal was plentiful! the mystery and suspense surrounding tara's murder and darlington's disappearance sucked me in, and i didn't want to put the book down...

as a supporter of both women's rights and wrongs, i really appreciated alex. she was a fascinating anti-heroine. her slow-burning friendship/alliance with dawes and turner were highlights. plus, there was a tension between alex and darlington that...ngl i was a fan of. very intrigued to see how that will develop because the origins of their sexual attraction to one another (whether they will ever admit to it) was pretty f*cked up??

i'm suspecting that darlington will be just as morally "tainted" as alex when he returns from hell in book 2. the revelation that he has committed an act of murder and was thus turned into a demon was...definitely a jaw dropper. my prediction is that he murdered his grandfather (with permission) so that he could hang into black elm idk

however, where ninth house fell short for me, is that alex's sense of moral justice toward the end never felt 100% believable to me. the young woman we are introduced to is understandably crooked and willing do whatever she has to do to survive/never return to her old life. i had a hard time believing that she would be so dedicated to upholding the function and strict rules of lethe. following on from this, the knowledge that hellie and alex were besties does a lot of the heavy lifting. on the actual pages, there is little to no development given to their actual friendship. alex's past was very f*cked up and drug addiction was a huge part of that...yet alex has virtually no inner conflict about being surrounded by drugs and alcohol? i get that her relapsing would have interrupted the flow of the story too much, but i was shocked that alex was able to get/stay clean so quickly, and that there was no temptation considering the drug culture at yale...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Antisemitism

maryliette's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Rape, Torture, and Murder

kissingface12's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I’m not a fan of mediums or fortune telling. It’s not my thing to read about. I’m not interested. I read the book because I like fantasy and thought this could help me try something new.

the drug use and magic were an odd mix in my opinion. I also don’t love the use of the secret societies and the surgical torture methods.

None of that sat right with me. Maybe it is for someone else but I didn’t care for it too much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Torture, and Blood

fantaiil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Islamophobia, and Toxic friendship

csmall73's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

Dark intriguing mysterious 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dixiecarroll's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

An interesting take on the dark academia genre though I would call this more of a murder mystery with some dark academia in it - Alex Stern is not in a secret society, she is the “law and order” for them (vague take). I ultimately think this was trying so hard to be an adult book that it was over complicated and confusing, but I had fun and I’m excited for the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

dokushoka's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

laurenbb23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

christina95's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The overall story of the book is really interesting and written very well, but there are of few scenes - mainly the 12 year old Alex butterfly sequence which I felt was really not needed in the book and spoiled my enjoyment of the novel. I would highly suggest checking the trigger warning for the book, as there is plenty of them.

Putting that to the side the murder mystery story was really intriguing and the magic system (for lack of a better word) was really cool too! The jumping timeline was a little hard to grasp at first but helped keep the story moving. The twists and turns at the end of the novel gives the book a great ending and an eagerness to read the next in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail