Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

219 reviews

jelkebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I have been excited to read this book ever since it first came out. However, I have been putting of reading this book because I was just kind of intimidated by it. For some reason I thought this book would be a bit dense, and far out of my comfort zone. I am very glad I finally pushed through that intimidation though because this book was not that, and in the end I really loved this one.
It did take me a little to get into this book. We just get thrown into this world, and the different societies can be a little confusing to navigate. At the start the overall story of this book is also a bit unclear. However, once that came into focus I could not put this book down. It was just such a compelling read, and I was very curious to see how this mystery would unfold. Ultimately there ended being a couple of things going on, and I honestly thought some of these things might be wider series things. However, the ending of this book brilliantly waved them all together. It just all worked together really well. I predicted some parts of it but the way it all blended together truly blew my mind.
I also absolutely ADORED Alex as a main character. Her backstory was absolutely brutal, but also quite interesting. I feel like it gave her a very unique perspective within this world, and I adore how she fought for what she believed in throughout this book, even when no one else would join her. She's just such a good main character, in my opinion and I loved following her. The side characters aren't as well developed, mainly because they also don't have a lot of page time yet. However, there are some that I feel like are going to play a bigger part in the overall series and I am extremely excited to get to know them better.
The only reason this wasn't a five star for me was because I just still feel like I don't fully get how the magic nor the secret societies work. I feel like we didn't really get enough explenations for that. It still feels so vague to me. We definitely knew enough to be able to follow the main story of this book, but there were still so many aspects to the magic system that I truly do not understand, and therefore I just felt a bit lost.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Racism

_meganrose's review against another edition

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

A slow start, but I enjoyed this. Thought I was going to be able to predict the ending and I was wrong. Good read for spooky season.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

andrewav's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• 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, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore and Grief

Minor: Vomit

jessrox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A bit of dark academia with a complex yet easy to follow magic system. The FMC snark had me laughing out loud, her flaws added to her charm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Gaslighting

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Because there is so much magical stuff to unpack, and a world within our own to establish, it takes a little time to get into this book. Once I was in though, I needed to know what was going to happen next. This book is thrilling with twists that were unexpected and gruesome. We love an underdog story especially when she comes out on top. Looking forward to the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lex_is_bookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

required reread for fall season, one of my favorite books

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

evelynnreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

2.25

Was extremely boring💀 The last 100 pages were good tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

mealexc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

A book you won’t want to put down. The plots and twist of this book were wonderfully unpredictable. At first it was to follow the time change in between chapters but it comes to a cohesive ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

sarahcelia's review against another edition

1.0

I don’t mind an “I see dead people” story, especially when dark magic and secret societies are involved. Ninth House was way too much for me in terms of cursing, sexual assault, sexual content, etc. I read far longer than I should have because the premise of the book is so compelling. And for a little while the content that bothered me just seemed to distract from the narrative, not overshadow it. But it quickly built up to eclipsing the story for me. 

Leigh Bardugo is an excellent writer. Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are new favorites from my reading list this year. But Ninth House was absolutely not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

emily_therese_4's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

If I could rate this book 6 stars I would. I love this book with all my heart, it made me feel all the emotions and I’m so so excited to read book 2

Update: reread October 2024

This is and will always be my comfort book. These characters feeling like family to me and this world feels like finally coming home after a long day. It’s like my own fucked up culty version of Harry Potter and I eat it up EVERY DANG TIME.

PLEASE check the triggers before reading this. It is full of trauma and heartbreak, but also really cool shit and an incredible setting.

This book has all of the things I love in it. Dark academia, murder mystery, complex characters, a unique world and plot. Brilliant banter. 

If I wasn’t crying I was laughing. My heart breaks for Alex and all the things she is put through during this book and her life. I can relate to her. She’s a freaking badass who’s been dealt a shit hand but STILL never ceases to stand up for the people she cares about. She is an incredible character and her tenacity is enviable. 

Also the way I feel so immersed in this book is like no other. The deeper meanings, the descriptive language, the utter perfection that is this fucking plot. I will never stop loving it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail