Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

13 reviews

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

mc_castle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I don't know if I enjoyed it, but I was GRIPPED. It's was a blend of dark academia, fantasy, a commentary on the upper classes and a murder mystery. Everything bad that could happen to someone happened to the protagonist but with ghosts involved. Also was interesting pacing as it wasn't linear storytelling, especially at the beginning where you're thrown into a weird future telling ritual, where a group of students reach into a man's innards to predict the stock market prices. With NO context. I was very confused at first. Also why do college kids have so much power? Read to find out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thenoodlevore's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think the book tackled some difficult issues well and I could identify with some of the complex feelings of the characters. I appreciated the honesty in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Antisemitism, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Colonisation

naturally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

for the longest time, i've held the opinion that leigh bardugo's work is adult fiction with YA packaging. in ninth house, i feel as though her creative voice was/is given the space to run free. and, honestly, i enjoyed most of the journey that ninth house took me on, as a reader.

BE WARNED: ninth house is NOT a light or easy read. the topics touched upon are very distressing, and the writing is overflowing with information. at times, it feel like i was reading a historical text book about yale, secret societies and new haven. the pay-off was definitely worth it, though. the real meat and potatoes of the plot is served up after the first hundred pages? the meal was plentiful! the mystery and suspense surrounding tara's murder and darlington's disappearance sucked me in, and i didn't want to put the book down...

as a supporter of both women's rights and wrongs, i really appreciated alex. she was a fascinating anti-heroine. her slow-burning friendship/alliance with dawes and turner were highlights. plus, there was a tension between alex and darlington that...ngl i was a fan of. very intrigued to see how that will develop because the origins of their sexual attraction to one another (whether they will ever admit to it) was pretty f*cked up??

i'm suspecting that darlington will be just as morally "tainted" as alex when he returns from hell in book 2. the revelation that he has committed an act of murder and was thus turned into a demon was...definitely a jaw dropper. my prediction is that he murdered his grandfather (with permission) so that he could hang into black elm idk

however, where ninth house fell short for me, is that alex's sense of moral justice toward the end never felt 100% believable to me. the young woman we are introduced to is understandably crooked and willing do whatever she has to do to survive/never return to her old life. i had a hard time believing that she would be so dedicated to upholding the function and strict rules of lethe. following on from this, the knowledge that hellie and alex were besties does a lot of the heavy lifting. on the actual pages, there is little to no development given to their actual friendship. alex's past was very f*cked up and drug addiction was a huge part of that...yet alex has virtually no inner conflict about being surrounded by drugs and alcohol? i get that her relapsing would have interrupted the flow of the story too much, but i was shocked that alex was able to get/stay clean so quickly, and that there was no temptation considering the drug culture at yale...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Antisemitism

dlvanness's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Colonisation

lizzieinmt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I struggled to figure out what this book was really about, but on reflection I believe it's about the struggle for and abuse of power. And how people are willing to maintain, commit to and sacrafice themselves and others for power, often a power they don't fully understand. This is reappeared for us in the book over and over each time it becomes a larger and higher steaks example. I did enjoy it and it falls comfortably (or rather nice and uncomfortably) into dark academia. I do have a few criticisms that I feel didn't pull their weight in the story, but overall it was a compelling read with a heavy, deep magical feel.

I think the use of rape as a plot point repeatedly through the book did show the misuse of power and illustrate terrible people. But I don't think this was the only way that could have been done and I did feel that even with the big revenge ar "ground zero" she was really trying to make up for rape as a plot point. Like, why is murder and emotional/physical threat and mistreatment not enough? Why throw that in to. Didn't ruin the book but did make me like it less than other dark academia novels for sure

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

orndal's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

2.5

Could have been real great with a better story structure and more world building. Linear storytelling would have helped with upping the stakes.

The ending came out of nowhere with little to no setup for the reveals. As a mystery novel, this is terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism