Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

73 reviews

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

5.0

This is honestly a masterpiece of a book. 
With a unique magic layout with the eight ancients and the house of Lethe overlooking them.  
I couldn’t put this book down at all and I am yearning for the next book already.  
Every tiny aspect was connected and every revelation made your jaw drop. Couldn’t reccommend more  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Death, Rape, Stalking, Bullying, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

burdasnest's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.75

I feel so lucky that my first book of the year was this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s crass and creepy, but deeply inventive and clever.

It’s amazing commentary about privilege that remains consistent in its own universe, which is eerily similar to our own.

If that’s not what you’re looking for, then stay for the dark academia vibes. You won’t be disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, and Rape

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Stalking, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cancer and Racism

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Rape, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Gore, Drug abuse, Medical content, Excrement, Drug use, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Bullying, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Classism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Antisemitism and Gun violence

nenya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

this was such an easy 5 stars holy smokes. i‘ve got to be honest, i found it quite hard to really get into it at first (it’s not being told chronically and there are like 3-4 points in time that keep changing throughout the narrative and that you need to keep track of - but once you figure it out, it really adds to the reading experience, i loved it) but the plot, characters and especially the plot twists (!!) really won me over - especially the plot twists, because they are partly very hard to predict (also because of the time jumps), which made this book a very mysterious and catching read. the only complaint i have is that the sequel won’t be out until next year :((

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, and Gun violence

beccam22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Read this if you like:
🔍🔪 Murder Mysteries 
🎓🕯 Dark Academia 
🪄✨ Urban Magic 

Please look at content warnings if you need to. 

This was pitched to me as a magical dark academia with Yales secret societies and while that is true I don’t think it does it justice. At its core it’s a murder mystery within the magic community of secret societies at Yale. The magic is so well done and both cozy and dark. 

I have my issues with this but I think what was well done over shadows them <spoiler/>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Medical trauma, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

takarakei's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Reread January 2023:
I'm so glad I decided to reread this prior to the sequel coming out. I enjoyed it even more than the first time. I remembered the basic plotline, but forgot a lot of the details, which allowed me to just awe at the way Bardugo weaves the story together. So many crumbs throughout this book that are left for not only the main mystery of this book, but more for the future of the series. Also listened to the audiobook at the same time which was very well done. Bardugo also does an interview with the narrator at the end (audiobook)!



Original Review Sept 2022:
If you like dark academia and murder mysteries this book is for you!

This book is wild! One of my reading notes was literally "wtf am I reading"? A murder mystery unlike any I've ever read. Will keep you guessing til the end. So many twists and turns. The MC Alex is badass but flawed and realistic. She is constantly underestimated and totally not given enough credit for how badass she is.

This is a very dark book. A lot of bad things happen, please check CW/TW!! 

The ending is a great metaphor for non-intersectional feminism (Belbalm) and the overall book has great metaphors for power imbalances and elitism. Also side note, to me Alex reads as bi

I'm curious to see where the sequel will go, it sounds like potentially in a different direction based on the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Alcohol

Institutional racism.

child rape/SA, date rape (serial date rape)

reallyandromeda's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Drug abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Classism, Cursing, Excrement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

charliethebooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.25

Leigh Bardugo's excellency stikes again! My journey with this author has been a whirlwind. I started with Shadow and Bone, but DNF'd the second book. I loved the Six of Crows duolagy, and then I picked up Ninth House. I first read it a few months ago, but I never finished. Then I saw it in my school libarary, and decided to give it another try. And I fell in love with it. The worldbuilding (and trust me, there was a SHIT ton of it), the characters, the mystery, and darkness and desnity that only a Leigh Bardugo book can deliver. It wasn't my favorite book of hers- that title belongs to Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom (I can't decide). But it was by far a solid fantasy book. It had flaws, of course- The pacing has painstakingly slow, and there's so much detail and worldbuilding that it overloads your brain- but nevetheless, it was great. Now this book is FULL of triggering things, so PLEASE read the trigger warnings before you read this book. It delves into very heavy topics with deatil, so please remember that mental health comes before books. Other than that, read on and have a deppressing time with this slam dunk of a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Drug use, Gaslighting, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape

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

5.0

If you start reading this book and you struggle to understand everything withing the first three chapters, I get it. Stick to it, it's worth it. Eventually, there will be more magic; eventually, you will find out more about all the dropped names and societies; eventually you'll get used to the jumping in times and characters. It takes a while to really get into it, but it's absolutely worth it! I think you'll get to like everyone, including Alex. Brilliant work. What I love most about it, is that the magic in this book is believable. I think if magic was a real thing, all the stuff they did in the book and all the problems connected to it would absolutely happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting and Stalking