Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Das neunte Haus by Leigh Bardugo

116 reviews

jelkebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I have been excited to read this book ever since it first came out. However, I have been putting of reading this book because I was just kind of intimidated by it. For some reason I thought this book would be a bit dense, and far out of my comfort zone. I am very glad I finally pushed through that intimidation though because this book was not that, and in the end I really loved this one.
It did take me a little to get into this book. We just get thrown into this world, and the different societies can be a little confusing to navigate. At the start the overall story of this book is also a bit unclear. However, once that came into focus I could not put this book down. It was just such a compelling read, and I was very curious to see how this mystery would unfold. Ultimately there ended being a couple of things going on, and I honestly thought some of these things might be wider series things. However, the ending of this book brilliantly waved them all together. It just all worked together really well. I predicted some parts of it but the way it all blended together truly blew my mind.
I also absolutely ADORED Alex as a main character. Her backstory was absolutely brutal, but also quite interesting. I feel like it gave her a very unique perspective within this world, and I adore how she fought for what she believed in throughout this book, even when no one else would join her. She's just such a good main character, in my opinion and I loved following her. The side characters aren't as well developed, mainly because they also don't have a lot of page time yet. However, there are some that I feel like are going to play a bigger part in the overall series and I am extremely excited to get to know them better.
The only reason this wasn't a five star for me was because I just still feel like I don't fully get how the magic nor the secret societies work. I feel like we didn't really get enough explenations for that. It still feels so vague to me. We definitely knew enough to be able to follow the main story of this book, but there were still so many aspects to the magic system that I truly do not understand, and therefore I just felt a bit lost.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Racism

olorin85's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

veskumelooni's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism

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

aimeeanastasia's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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