Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

32 reviews

lottieingham'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Medical content

jodar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.0

Disappointing. The writing style is pretty banal for a novel that is immersed in a paranormal setting, with secret societies and an MC desperately trying to unravel a deadly mystery. It also comes across as much more YA than I expected at the outset.

I understand the MC had a depressingly bad background, but even so I found her unappealing, foul-mouthed and arrogant. I think the author was aiming at undaunted, go-getting and savvy. Perhaps it is a cultural thing? a generational thing? – but regardless, I have concluded that I am not at all the target audience!

As the CWs indicate, the novel has a lot of nastiness throughout, too. It’s not gratuitous, but be prepared for it if you decide to read it. I felt the novel improved a little from about the two-thirds mark, as some threads fell into place. And the twists within twists towards the end was a pleasant surprise, albeit a final twist unable to be deduced from prior clues by the the reader any more than by the MC until the final reveal.

As an alternative to Ninth House, I recommend Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko – a truly gripping, disturbing tour de force of this genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked this and I'm excited to read the next book. I don't read a ton of books with magic, but this world is just really well-developed, and I felt so connected to a lot of the characters. Excited to read more by this Ms. Bardugo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Blood, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Alcohol

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit

madinhoa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

losemeliketheocean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Vomit

Minor: Toxic friendship

fantaiil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Islamophobia, and Toxic friendship

csmall73's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

Dark intriguing mysterious 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Hoping between the 2 time lines was a little confusing at times but I enjoyed this murder mystery with a twist of a lot of ghosts thrown in the mix.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

mattiedancer'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Writing: 5⭐️/5 

The writing in this novel is stunning. Bardugo moves easily from highly controlled and crafted prose to snippy, sassy quips with ease. Part of the reason it took me a few hours longer to read than I would have guessed is because I spent so much time writing brilliant, eloquent quotes into my notes app. Absolutely stunning writing. 

Characters: 5⭐️/5

The characters felt real and fully developed. I enjoyed how much time was spent seeing characters from other character’s perspective, giving us insight into how each character presents themselves, as well as their internal bias and judgement they push onto others. Certain characters that, at the beginning felt fairly flat, were given time and space to showcase their personalities later, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way the female relationships were explored in this novel. The care in which these relationships were engaged made me very happy both as a reader and a woman.

Plot: 4.5⭐️/5 

**Spoilers below**

I took one issue with the plot, which was the employment of a rape scene. Personally, I felt this scene was unnecessary both to the development of our main character, as well as the progression of the plot. This particular scene didn’t really fit for me and could have been written in a different way to give the same effect. My main takeaway from the scene was that it mostly read as an easy way to give our MC “trauma,” which could have been done in a number of more interesting and less triggering ways.

Otherwise, the overarching plot was entirely enjoyable to read and kept me thoroughly engaged until the end. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Lovers of dark academia, fantasy and/or magical murder mystery novels
• Those who want an adult fantasy read with a spark of romance and little to no spice
• Readers wanting an engaging world and well-established magic system
• Someone looking for a strong fantasy read with strong female relationships 

Content Warnings? 

• Rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual content, gore, blood, vomit, medical trauma, death, abandonment, drug use, alcohol use, excrement, injury, pedophilia, 

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

I was engaged until the final page. Excited for the sequel. 

Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Classism