Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Ninth House

This book took me a while to get into because of how scattered it was to set things up and going back I'm not sure if I'm glad I stuck with it. A lot of what this book tries to say about trauma and class gets washed away with how much good grace and how many resources Alex is handed. It's really hard to convince me that you're writing a character who's experiencing good things against the odds if she has personal connections to cops and school secretaries at Yale and managed to grow up in *Los Angeles.* It has interesting things it's trying to say, but I just don't know if this was the way to go about it.

I dunno. I've missed reading a lot and maybe that's why I originally rated this higher than I should've. I'm going to read the next book if only for Darlington because his story is really interesting, I just can't click with Alex.

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kimreads14's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious

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

4.0

This is a re-read for me. I needed to read it again because I first read it back in March 2021 and needed a refresher ahead of reading Hell Bent. 🤗

On my first read I had given this book 5⭐️, but upon reading this again I’m lowering it down to 4⭐️

🚨You NEED to check the TWs for this one. I appreciate that Bardugo went all in when it comes to the adult content in this.

Even if I was reading this for the second time I still was surprised at times with how things went. Bardugo really crafted an interesting world of magic and some interesting characters.

Yet, I think that what Ninth House lacked was that little something that originally made me fall in love with Six of Crows. While Alex had that “gritty” vibe, it just fell flat at times. Alex, who could have been so much more. While Bardugo kept poking at Alex’s potential, it just never materialised. 😕

I’m hoping that Hell Bent keeps Darlington POVs as I found them refreshing. I’m also really hoping to see way more of Dawes in the next book.

Overall a great book ☺️, and it did help make me excited about Bardugo’s work again after the big F that The Familiar was for me.

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chamaeleontis's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

Pretty slow start, but when it gets going, it gets GOING.

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lauskireads's review against another edition

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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

4.5

Amazing book and descriptions but the violent scenes sometimes felt like they were written for shock factor rather than adding to the story. I really loved the plot and the build up but it felt slightly rushed by the end. Overall though, I was totally immersed and couldn’t wait to keep coming back to the world, I fell in love with Alex and Dawes’ friendship and the world building was great.

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orlafitz14's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyable, dark academia meets ghosts, kind of scary but I loved it.

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