Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

58 reviews

booksense's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

ta2dlibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Mysterious. Magical. All- consuming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Rape

kylajaynebooks'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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

abee21's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

• Ms Bardugo's fantastic world building!
• Intricate plot and twists!!
• Many many layers of "whodunit" and "what's going on"!!!
• Loveable characters that I would spend an eternity reading about!!!!
• Leigh took me to hell with this book and I enjoyed it!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

loudonuts's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

opening with several tedious chapters of Yale circlejerking was already a huge turn off. i expected to eventually like the main character- the author desperately wants you to- but i never came around on her. the institutionalisation of the magic was the most interesting part, but there was not enough substance to it. i can see that the author wanted to tell a story about the consequences of privilege and power in NINTH HOUSE, but for me, nothing truly satisfying was done with that premise. it is mostly a basic whodunnit with a main character that is handed answers rather than the reader being able to piece it together. a generous 2 stars from me, but only because of the hints of an interesting magic system.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

emmiemopho's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

I bought the sequel to this book at an airport not knowing it was a sequel until I realized certain terms were not being explained. So I did some digging and borrowed this one from a friend. So glad I did that! This isn’t my normal type of story but it had everything I love. Good adventure, natural mysteries, other worldly experiences, and the best of all? Not a single romance. It had a girl as the main character being a freaking bad ass and not one man came to knock her down or lose her shine with a relationship. It was all about enjoying that mystery murder and the drama of magic. Fun read! Onto the next one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction and Blood

Minor: Bullying

bristleconebby's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

I don't get the hype around this book - it was pretty slow and the worldbuilding was surprisingly surface-level given her previous work. I wish we got to know the societies more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture