Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Das neunte Haus by Leigh Bardugo

37 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Leigh Bardugo is another writer I have to remember that I don't really like. This book was marginally better than The Familiar for me. There were a couple of things that stood out as especially odious to me:

1) She casually drops that Alex was a good fighter because she was once a stripper It was just one line in the middle of the book. It was a throwaway line that was completely unnecessary to building Alex's character. We already knew she could fight for life at this point because she'd done it before. Anytime a writer throws in a salacious tidbit like that in the guise of building character indicates to me: A) the author lacks confidence in their writing abilities, or B) the editor missed. Either way, it really turned me off even more than I already was.

2) She says Edmund Spencer's The Fairie Queen was a bore. I strongly disagree. I am not the biggest Arthurian fan, but I did really love this epic poem. It's possibly one of the longest books I've read, but it was worth every word. This is clearly a disagreement of opinions, so ok, but I still take exception.

These two points aside, like The Familiar, I really disliked the writing. I was bored all the way through. I have no desire to continue with this series, and I must remember to stop trying to read her books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lateralus2001's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book took me a while to get into because of how scattered it was to set things up and going back I'm not sure if I'm glad I stuck with it. A lot of what this book tries to say about trauma and class gets washed away with how much good grace and how many resources Alex is handed. It's really hard to convince me that you're writing a character who's experiencing good things against the odds if she has personal connections to cops and school secretaries at Yale and managed to grow up in *Los Angeles.* It has interesting things it's trying to say, but I just don't know if this was the way to go about it.

I dunno. I've missed reading a lot and maybe that's why I originally rated this higher than I should've. I'm going to read the next book if only for Darlington because his story is really interesting, I just can't click with Alex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

russell183's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

(4.6)

Fun and spooky. I found the nonlinear story telling a little confusing at the beginning but then it really shaped up into a page turner. Really good world building of an underground world of privileged A-holes messing with dark force and some strong characters. I also liked the soft magic system which worked with the unknown elements of the story. I found one of the POV characters a lil grating at times and there also felt like there was a slightly gratuitous/exploitative amount of sexual violence at times which sort of tonally clashed with the like supernatural mystery vibe. But all in all a gripping macabre mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Trafficking

kimreads14's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious

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

4.0

This is a re-read for me. I needed to read it again because I first read it back in March 2021 and needed a refresher ahead of reading Hell Bent. 🤗

On my first read I had given this book 5⭐️, but upon reading this again I’m lowering it down to 4⭐️

🚨You NEED to check the TWs for this one. I appreciate that Bardugo went all in when it comes to the adult content in this. 

Even if I was reading this for the second time I still was surprised at times with how things went. Bardugo really crafted an interesting world of magic and some interesting characters. 

Yet, I think that what Ninth House lacked was that little something that originally made me fall in love with Six of Crows. While Alex had that “gritty” vibe, it just fell flat at times. Alex, who could have been so much more. While Bardugo kept poking at Alex’s potential, it just never materialised. 😕

I’m hoping that Hell Bent keeps Darlington POVs as I found them refreshing. I’m also really hoping to see way more of Dawes in the next book. 

Overall a great book ☺️, and it did help make me excited about Bardugo’s work again after the big F that The Familiar was for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Murder, and Classism

szuum's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use and Trafficking

jeggert10's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny

mercurysflame's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

I loved alex and darlington, spending time with them in their dark world was a good time. Well done characters but get a little wandering sometimes. Non linear narratives can be a bit halting but this one came together nicely in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Vomit, and Trafficking

adrienreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

themdash's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dayabraxas's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I mean this in the best way when I say I had no clue what was coming next at ANY point in this book. I ADORE Alex Stern and her badassery. This book kept a fast pace and kept me on my toes. A mega mystery conspiracy where I never knew who to trust and who to blame until the last page (and I suppose that may even change in Book 2). Great writing, humorous main character, and badass women.
Major trigger warnings for SA, drug use, and r*pe (as traumatic experiences of characters), along with lots of gore and violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail