Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

48 reviews

thegabscast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment

dahud's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I almost gave up on this book, but soldiered through due to supposed merit, anticipation and hype. It started to be interesting to me around 70%… I found some ideas interesting, some childish and the tell-all villain dialogue eyeball turning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

greenleafclarke's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Pro?: author goes after the elitest ethnonationalist patriarchal power structures that constitute the modern ivy-crusted university.

Con?: considers a cop "one of the good guys"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Sexism and Stalking

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

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Yum yum yum I love how polarizing this book is. For me, 4.75 stars rounded up. I had a lot of fun. 

Starting with cons: Due to the setting at Yale, this book runs the high risk of making its readers feel dumb sometimes. Leigh Bardugo went to Yale for undergrad, was in Wolf's Head, and also researched the h e l l out of Yale's history to make a cohesive, believable backstory. The depth of information fell flat to me as someone who doesn't care about the architecture and alumni of Ivy Leagues. It was a good plot device to show Darlington's intelligence, but occasionally read as, "Look at how much I thought this out and how smart I am!" She toes the line between knowing how grating academics can be and becoming an insufferable know-it-all herself (I understand this bc I am a huge nerd, currently in grad school, and can be academically insufferable). There are probably a ton of references I didn't understand (I'm sure some of it was written for English buffs and Yale students). This makes the book a bit too long, imo. Also, the chapters skip around in time and I don't think that was necessary, though it wasn't too hard to follow. 

To be fair, Bardugo's world building ability is unbelievable, and I thought all of her main characters were unique, real, and multifaceted. 

Pros: Pretty much everything else. Fun magic system, spooky dark academia, ghosts, sentient houses, whodunit, powerful misfits, revenge, a bi (?) female lead, extremely developed world, and a twisty-turny plot. 

Important to note - this book is DARK. Like, graphically dark, and sometimes very gross, and often sad. Check the TWs/CWs. 

Leigh Bardugo is an excellent writer and I highly recommend this if you like second chances, dark academia, and magical murder mysteries. It feels like this book was set up to knock the next one out of the park - I can't wait to start the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Xenophobia

caelinsullivan's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

emperor_aj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Cursing, Racism, Sexism, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

nopebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Stalking

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism

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

emilywemily6's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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

5.0

I’ve never read a book like this before, and it’s so refreshingly different than Bardugo’s YA novels (which I also loved!). I loved the sinister magic/dark academia vibes and how the multiple storylines unfold throughout the book. Lots of great plot twists I didn’t see coming and made me gasp out loud. I wish I understood more about the history of the houses/general world-building, but I think the book is written intentionally vague with a trickle of information as you are thrust into this world within our world, which adds to the mysterious, sinister feel. It kept me hooked and I can’t wait to read the next book. Apparently, lots of this book (not the magic lol) is true too, and now I want to go to New Haven.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Police brutality, and Stalking