Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

24 reviews

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

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

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, and Vomit

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, Abandonment, Grief, Violence, and Murder

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

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

mooxine's review

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

Minor: Vomit

madinhoa's review

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

losemeliketheocean's review

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: Murder, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction

Moderate: Vomit and Drug abuse

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

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

Minor: Torture, Islamophobia, and Toxic friendship

csmall73's review

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

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