Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Das neunte Haus by Leigh Bardugo

102 reviews

midnightowl5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Excrement, Sexism, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

alexstartsthings's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Drug abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Excrement, Addiction, Classism, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Murder, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Vomit, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Torture, and Toxic relationship

emilywemily6's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

I’ve never read a book like this before, and it’s so refreshingly different than Bardugo’s YA novels (which I also loved!). I loved the sinister magic/dark academia vibes and how the multiple storylines unfold throughout the book. Lots of great plot twists I didn’t see coming and made me gasp out loud. I wish I understood more about the history of the houses/general world-building, but I think the book is written intentionally vague with a trickle of information as you are thrust into this world within our world, which adds to the mysterious, sinister feel. It kept me hooked and I can’t wait to read the next book. Apparently, lots of this book (not the magic lol) is true too, and now I want to go to New Haven.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Classism, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Gore, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Body horror, Grief, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Racism, Addiction, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual violence, and Stalking

adrienreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, Gore, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Rape, Addiction, Death, Child abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Minor: Vomit and Racism

mitzee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

Schools for magic but based in the real world and specifically Yale and some real consequences. Kind of feels like a bit of Constantine with all of the references of tools of work they do. Has themes of classism, sexual assault, drug abuse, ghosts and magic school rules. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement, Medical trauma, Drug use, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit

isabellemay14's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.75

This book was such a fun mix of fantasy (dark academia and supernatural vibes) and murder mystery (multiple). There were various major plots unfolding from various perspectives/timepoints in a way that kept you so engaged and wanting to keep unfolding the secrets hidden in plain sight at Yale University. The obvious research and planning that went into fleshing out the Ancient Eight Houses of the Veil created such an immersive reading experience. Such a well written and enjoyable read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use

Moderate: Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Excrement, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death

subtlyfurious's review against another edition

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

1.0

Never before have I read a book that so utterly fails to live up to its spectacular beginning. 

The first few chapters are excellent (and the only reason I’m giving this book any stars). Bardugo weaves the character’s personalities and worldviews and backgrounds into the action flawlessly while also setting up a number of compelling topical themes. 

It’s all downhill from there. 

To me this feels like a YA book made “adult” by throwing in a bunch of disturbing content in for shock value alone. At first, I tried to give Bardugo the benefit of the doubt, believing she’d be able to give us a reason for why things weren’t just graphic, but borderline (or maybe fully) pornographic. But no. She fails to explore anything on a  deeper level, speaking about complex issues such as classism, racism, and sexism without doing any work to ever dip below the surface. In fact, her ability to swerve away from actually choosing a side and stating an opinion is almost impressive. 

Still, I pressed on thinking “surely Bardugo will find a way to wrap this up in a somewhat satisfying way.”

No.

The last 15% is a slog and (spoilers) the who that dunnit turn out to be both the most boring who-you-expect and the most throwaway character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Excrement, Death, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

paperbacklyds's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Murder, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Mental illness