Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

174 reviews

hsvensrud's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really really enjoyed this! Excited to read the sequel. One point that did irk me though was the references to white cotton gloves being used in handling rare books and materials. That’s false! No longer are they typically used because they dampen the dexterity of the fingers and can cause more damage to materials than clean hands can. Anywho, that’s just my one irk cause I work with rare books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

bookdrag0n's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

raisinreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

wanted to do a quick reread before finally reading hell bent. imo, of the recently released dark academia novels, this is one of the best. bardugo creates an interesting world with a compelling plot. i also think the way the plot & the intricacies of the novel unfold comes across very naturally, just the right amount of letting people be confused before slowly unveiling the mysteries & magic system etc. 

 none of the characters in her stories have held up to the cast of six of crows, but that is a high (and gay) bar to meet, so it's understandable.

this book discusses sexual assault/rape. it is not described in graphic detail, but it is briefly described and comes up multiple times throughout the novel, so i would keep that in mind if the topic is a trigger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

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

blue_skye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

thisistrashpsyd's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

slowry44's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really like the characters, the writing and the world building, but this book would not let up on the abuse, SA, and constant bleak/grim violence against its characters. The tone is occasionally unbearable to the point of sometimes skipping large chunks of text that are just the author describing the particular manner in which a character is being brutalized this chapter. The magic system is really cool and the creativity in the world design is spectacular. I am glad I got through it cause I quite liked the ending and the answers it brought, but fuck was it a dark and dreary trudge to get there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

corvidcorvid's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Excrement, and Vomit

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