Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

73 reviews

kaylamoran's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.0

This book was so slow at the beginning I almost DNF'd it so many times.  I didn't care at all until about 75% of the way in.  However, I'll be reading book two when it comes out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

oktuber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, and how the conflict was deeply woven into the setting. I have only two complaints. One, it was a bit hard to get into the book at the beginning because it starts directly in media res: Alex is already mostly through the semester in which the plot develops, and we're slowly told the backstory through flashbacks integrated with the rest of the story. The amount of characters and world building at the beginning was hard to push through, but once I did, these aspects made the book more enjoyable. My other main complaint is that the big reveal seemed out of nowhere: it contained information that the reader could have never figured out beforehand,

as Professor Belbam seemed to come out of left field. She was there at the beginning, but then seemed to be so absent through the story, that I was genuinely surprised when she was there at the end. I wish that she and Alex had more interactions leading up to the reveal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Excrement, and Gun violence

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Vomit

crowfolio's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical trauma, Grief, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Body horror

Extreme trauma is a fundamental aspect of the main character's backstory and is explicitly brought up several times throughout the book. This trauma is complex and involves sexual abuse as a minor, severe and life threatening substance abuse, abusive relationships and living situations, and a whole lot of other heavy topics. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone in a fragile state of mind who can be easily triggered by any of those subjects or closely related subjects.