Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

346 reviews

janchamp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, and Excrement

atrinh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

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

spworley's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Excrement

liv_graceish's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, 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

sarahr13jean's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Excrement

salty_mermaid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

3.0

Reading Ninth House was exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed the gothic vibes. I love Dark Academia and witchcraft. There were numerous times the writing felt grimy and raw and electrified, as if exposed to a live wire. 

Despite loving the story and world-building overall, I rated it lower because there was one huge turnoff. I felt the rape scene was far too violent. So much so that it felt gratuitous, from 0 to 100.

Like if it’s not based on a real story, god forbid, why have a 12 yr old who just got her period get brutally raped by a dead ghost?

At the time this event was announced, I hadn’t yet been completely sold by the fantasy or bought in to the world. 

After that, it felt like the author was trying too hard to explain why Alex was a tortured convict/ drug addict. As someone who has experienced the perils of drug addiction first hand, i can say that I don’t believe the author has experienced the type of drug addiction depicted in the book because the writing wasn’t believable in this regard. And maybe the author doesn’t proclaim to have this experience, I just think this part of the book needed more attention and care. 

Either way, I enjoyed the book and I applaud Bardugo for venturing into the realm of dark academia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

amarks's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, and Murder

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