Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

35 reviews

evilspazcookie's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

0.25

SA , child SA, hard drug use, mind control. Started good but deteriorated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

the_unmaker's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Forced institutionalization

himpersonal's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Leigh Bardugo is another writer I have to remember that I don't really like. This book was marginally better than The Familiar for me. There were a couple of things that stood out as especially odious to me:

1) She casually drops that Alex was a good fighter because she was once a stripper. It was just one line in the middle of the book. It was a throwaway line that was completely unnecessary to building Alex's character. We already knew she could fight for life at this point because she'd done it before. Anytime a writer throws in a salacious tidbit like that in the guise of building character indicates to me: A) the author lacks confidence in their writing abilities, or B) the editor missed. Either way, it really turned me off even more than I already was.

2) She says Edmund Spencer's The Fairie Queen was a bore. I strongly disagree. I am not the biggest Arthurian fan, but I did really love this epic poem. It's possibly one of the longest books I've read, but it was worth every word. This is clearly a disagreement of opinions, so ok, but I still take exception.

These two points aside, like The Familiar, I really disliked the writing. I was bored all the way through. I have no desire to continue with this series, and I must remember to stop trying to read Bardugo's books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ceciltheceaselesswatcher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Toxic friendship, 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

mealexc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

A book you won’t want to put down. The plots and twist of this book were wonderfully unpredictable. At first it was to follow the time change in between chapters but it comes to a cohesive ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

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

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

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

4.0

It was confusing at points, random flashbacks without warning causing me to have to reread paragraphs. It was good though. I really like Alex and Darlington.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

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

lotusmoon's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship