Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

101 reviews

bwwilhelm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Self harm

Okay, the list of content warnings makes this look horrific. And it is, in a way. It's a book about terrible people doing terrible things. But they get what's coming to them. It's worth it, promise 🧡

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

krista_timm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.5

The writing style was a little more complex than I had initially thought, however, the second half of the book captivated me more. Just be aware of the trigger warnings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual assault

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

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

vickymcckey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

I’m not a big fan of fantasy as a rule, but this book was a fun read once I got into it. It felt a tad preachy at times and at others it seemed a little “shock value for shock value’s sake”, but overall I adored the characters and world building and am definitely going to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm and Medical content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

abee21's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

• Ms Bardugo's fantastic world building!
• Intricate plot and twists!!
• Many many layers of "whodunit" and "what's going on"!!!
• Loveable characters that I would spend an eternity reading about!!!!
• Leigh took me to hell with this book and I enjoyed it!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

loudonuts's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

opening with several tedious chapters of Yale circlejerking was already a huge turn off. i expected to eventually like the main character- the author desperately wants you to- but i never came around on her. the institutionalisation of the magic was the most interesting part, but there was not enough substance to it. i can see that the author wanted to tell a story about the consequences of privilege and power in NINTH HOUSE, but for me, nothing truly satisfying was done with that premise. it is mostly a basic whodunnit with a main character that is handed answers rather than the reader being able to piece it together. a generous 2 stars from me, but only because of the hints of an interesting magic system.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

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

gabbyj's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

Very slow. Dense and difficult to get into.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

enaraccoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

FUCK YES. so so so good. 
The pace was both fast and slow. It was never boring or uninteresting. It didn't feel static. But the plot actually moved very slowly. You just  don't have that impression while reading. Love love love

Also I hadn't really figured anything out before you're supposed to and it all felt like plot twists or like unexpected to a degree. Very cool

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Self harm