Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

166 reviews

hnicole01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexism, and Sexual violence

cmillerwang's review

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

5.0

Simply, I really liked this book. If you’re looking for a lighthearted page-turner, this is not the one. Read some of Leigh Bardugo’s other writings for that. But I HIGHLY recommend putting in the effort. Get through this one. Every bit you read, you will probably find something amazing. It will slowly attach itself to your heart. Bardugo’s writing has done this to me and I think it has changed my life.
Alex Turner is everything I want in a lead, especially an ‘imperfect’ female lead. She’s angry and powerful, smart but troubled, self conscious but bold, but she’s also human (I think?). Alex has such a dark backstory, but these funny little details sprinkled throughout. I loved hearing about her grandmother and the little adventures with Hellie and the oh, so realistic two-sided nature of her relationship with her mother. Who else can you steal from and abandon and yet they will come running when they think you need them?
In a rather unorganized list, here are a few other things I liked: 
Sephardic Jewish influence. We don’t hear much about Sephardic Jews at all, or the Jews who hid in Latin America, many of whom ended up mixing their faith with a version of Christianity to hide from persecution. As an Ashkenazi Jew, I’m hoping for little bits more in the 2nd book. 
Alex’s flaws. I know she has many. But I like that’s she’s not all-powerful. As a HUGE fan of Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology, this is common for her writing. The characters are so strong, but they are not gods. Alex is vulnerable, whatever happens next in her story. She’s even kind of pathetic and whiny, but not in a way that’s unpleasant for the reader. 
I love that this book has layers of understanding. The more you relate or a concept applies to you, the more meaning you can get out of it. Maybe this is true for all media. I don’t know anything about secret societies, but someone who does will have more insight into those aspects. I got more out of the Hebrew references that some might. A survivor of abuse might struggle more or gain more from Alex’s story. And so on. 
In conclusion, 5/5 stars. I think I’ll love it even more on a reread. This book was slow going for me. I’m usually a speed reader. This one took nearly a month. But every page I read was with love. And with every page I got more and more attached to the characters and story. You can put it down and come back. But don’t give up on it. I’m so, so excited to read Hell Bent next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Classism, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, and Cursing

prairieraven's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Violence

lottieingham's review

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

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

Minor: Medical content and Racism

iseeorionsbelt's review

adventurous challenging dark 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: Rape and Sexual violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Death

imjustmaria's review

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Classism, and Emotional abuse

dododenise's review against another edition

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

3.0

This book leaves me conflicted about how to feel about it. There are fantastic ideas, character elements and world building in this. However, I was never hooked. Something about the way this story was written left me feel detached from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Murder, Gore, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

cbrigs99's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was crazy from beginning to end. I loved reading about the Grays (especially the Bridegroom), the history of the Yale secret societies, and the morbid rituals that were involved with each society to function. Alex is a fantastic morally gray character, and I adored her, Dawes, and Darlington immensely. The author did a brilliant job of weaving together different timelines, and the mystery element surrounding the murder of Tara kept me on my toes the entire time. At no point did I fully know where the story was going, even when I thought I had a grasp on one part of the mystery. This story was a wild ride the entire way through and had me gasping numerous times while sending my mind reeling. I cannot fully describe the insane amount of plot twists and crazy occurrences of the paranormal in this book, so I’ll only say - read it. Truly the perfect dark academia and fall read. Can’t wait to see what happens in Hell Bent!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Sexual assault

whytrytohide's review

adventurous dark funny 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

Candidly, it’s nothing short of a masterpiece. Completely engrossing. What struck me most about this book was the writer’s talent for making you care deeply about every character. Alex, of course, but Dawes and Darlington and the hatable characters and even bit parts like Alex’s mom, who appears for only a few pages but gets a beautiful sequence that made me deeply sympathetic and reminded me of my own mom. 

There are MANY twists and turns, but impressively the pacing is quite even. Reveals come thick and fast but they keep coming. This is a fantasy book yes but I’d class it more as a thriller. 

I found the obsession with Yale and New Haven a bit alienating, as I just can’t relate. And if magic is so powerful, why leave it up to a few college kids to harness? So there are some oddities in the world building.

Plus, major SA trigger warning for this book. It’s a reoccurring theme. And I honestly have to say that the crucial backstory element where

Spoiler

Alex gets raped or almost raped by a ghost??

was super gross to read and honestly not even necessary to the plot.

But honestly, I can’t recommend this book enough. The pacing, the characterization, the adventure, the different types of magic. Once I got about 60% of the way through I had to finish it in one sitting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Medical content

kryfrh's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug abuse