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pageboi31's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ninth House has been on my "want to read" for quite some time, as a part of my quest into reading the popular Dark Academia books of yesteryears. After loving her YA book series in the Grishaverse, I was excited to see what Leigh Bardugo would cook up in her first(?) adult series, and see how it compared to other books like The Atlas Six and A Deadly Education.
I really enjoyed the world Leigh created within her interpretation of Yale, with its mysterious and magical secret societies. I hope the series continues to expand upon the history and culture of these groups, as the first book left me wanting to know even more. It was cool seeing how each society had it's own identity, focusing on a particular field of magic (necromancy, illusions, portals, etc.) and having it's own mythos based in various ancient cultures like Egypt and Greece. Having a nonpartial "ninth" society in Lethe House was interesting; a group solely based on making sure the others stayed in line and didn't cause trouble...but trouble they did.
Both Alex and Darlington were fantastic protagonists. It was fascinating and sad to see Alex's past, the way it made her who she is and path she took in life. She was a badass, and it felt good to see her grow throughout the book and step up in Lethe, as well as her and Dawes becoming closer friends. Darlington was a beautiful man! I loved his gentlemanly ways, his love for Lethe House and his sense of duty.
I was absolutely shocked when it became clear that Darlington was not stuck in some sort of trap or limbo, but was literally consumed by a demon!? I was so sad at first, but I'm glad to hear he might just be a demon stuck in Hell, and Alex and Dawes are going to rescue him! It didn't surprise me that Dean Sandow was behind the murder of Tara, but I wasn't expecting a connection to North and his story via Professor Belbalm, aka North's dead wife who took the souls of all those dead girls to stay alive. It's crazy to think that Alex has that same capability...wonder if that will come up in future books...
I'm a little sad that this book took me over two weeks to read, when it only should have been around one. I've just been busy doing other things with my time, instead of focusing on reading during the day. I think I enjoyed this a little bit more than A Deadly Education (very different books IMHO), and it was certainly better than The Atlas Six. I'm excited about where the next book is going! I'll just have to wait till next year to keep going.
I really enjoyed the world Leigh created within her interpretation of Yale, with its mysterious and magical secret societies. I hope the series continues to expand upon the history and culture of these groups, as the first book left me wanting to know even more. It was cool seeing how each society had it's own identity, focusing on a particular field of magic (necromancy, illusions, portals, etc.) and having it's own mythos based in various ancient cultures like Egypt and Greece. Having a nonpartial "ninth" society in Lethe House was interesting; a group solely based on making sure the others stayed in line and didn't cause trouble...but trouble they did.
Both Alex and Darlington were fantastic protagonists. It was fascinating and sad to see Alex's past, the way it made her who she is and path she took in life. She was a badass, and it felt good to see her grow throughout the book and step up in Lethe, as well as her and Dawes becoming closer friends. Darlington was a beautiful man! I loved his gentlemanly ways, his love for Lethe House and his sense of duty.
I'm a little sad that this book took me over two weeks to read, when it only should have been around one. I've just been busy doing other things with my time, instead of focusing on reading during the day. I think I enjoyed this a little bit more than A Deadly Education (very different books IMHO), and it was certainly better than The Atlas Six. I'm excited about where the next book is going! I'll just have to wait till next year to keep going.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
preslava1503's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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 just loved the way the author wrote it. All of the descriptions contributed to the overall ambience of the book. You could actually feel the emotions and situation that the characters are in. I love Leigh Bardugo. It was in fact triggering but it wasn’t a problem for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Vomit
Minor: Pedophilia and Suicide attempt
alienrosey's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this SO MUCH. Had me gasping and going insane. I did have to remove one star for the rape stuff, it wasn’t enough for me to stop reading the book but it was definitely upsetting and impacted my reading experience a lil bit. It’s not gratuitous or long or anything but I’m sensitive to that subject so it made me pretty uncomfy. Not sure if it really needed to be in there but it’s an overall dark ass book so it’s not out of question. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m so hype to read book 2!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Rape descriptions if you want to know the extent.guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, and Murder
jade_of_all_trades's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Addiction and Rape
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
etbliss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Excrement
Moderate: Addiction and Body horror
nhnabass's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse
Minor: Self harm
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Racism
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
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