Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

186 reviews

kaylokay_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

The final quarter of the book really saved it for me. I really like Leigh Bardugo’s writing and the premise caught me. However I think that since the bulk of the novel is put together like a crime-thriller story, it didn’t work for me for a while. I did absolutely find myself to drawn to Galaxy and her story, and overall invested in her success. It gave me Legendborn vibes which is a big win in my book. However with that ending I am definitely going to be moving on to Hell Bent in the coming months, I just think I need a little break from the universe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

emsavors's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

_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

arrr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

4.0

Check the content warnings. It's great and also horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sydoodle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to get into. i'm glad i did though. leigh bardugo and i have a weird relationship where i read all her books but im not sure what it is that keeps me there. alex's name being galaxy is insane. that was so long. time for the second one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Excrement, and Alcohol

olorin85's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kellirogue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

corrieroe's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

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

j_the_human's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK Y’ALL. 

Obviously this is Leigh Bardugo so I knew it was going to cook but I did not expect exactly HOW MUCH. 

Pros: 
- dark. Really dark. This is the dark in dark academia I’ve been looking for. 
- secret societies! Horrible unethical rituals!! A very traumatized girl not really given a choice but to get in the middle of it!! 
- complex, imperfect characters who you root for anyways because goddamn do they just deserve something good for once 
- REVENGE 
- 0 shying away from hard topics. Bardugo did not come to play (and please do check the trigger warnings) 

Cons:
- I think there were a few points that information was repeated almost verbatim and that was a teeny tiny bit annoying, but also most people probably didn’t read this in all of 2 days like I did. 
- I’m gonna reiterate that this is dark because if you’re not in the place for it, it could be REALLY bad 

Overall: 
I’ve not given a dark academia book more than a 3 star before but this gave me all that elitism, all that “the rich get away with it”, the “if you have what they want you can get in but never be one of them” vibe that is quintessential to dark academia, but in a way that engaged with the themes and how otherwise good people could fall foul of them, not just making everyone into cartoonishly evil people, because that’s not how the world works! This was dark and gritty and punch you in the teeth with violence and gore and horror, but kept from despair by genuine human connection and that sometimes, even on the worst days, eating junk food with a friend is enough to keep you hanging on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury