A DARK ACADEMIA MURDER MYSTERY | NINTH HOUSE BOOK REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- A non-spoiler book review for Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.
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Alex is that vine that's like "This coffee is black, like my soul"
the lack of depth on the characters annoyed me a lot, specially since the SoC duology showed us how well Leigh Bardugo can write characters
"If Alex had a personality, her personality would be that she wears black" 😂
I cackled when she said that. 😂
I've definitely met girls with that personality before lol
Look who’s wearing black...!?
I wear other colors. I just liked to match the books I’m reviewing 👍🏻
I thought the different behaviour between "Last Fall" and "Winter" made a lot of sense. For the former Alex was trying very hard to fit in that new world so different from anything she knew before, for the later you can see her giving up in her pretending and just being mroe herself. Or at least that was my impresion. It is not my new favourite book but I enjoyed it quite a lot and the ambient was really well realised for me.
Yes!
Another "Ninth" book... The sequel would be deemed in-Tenth-ional. 🤣
Am I the only one who didn't feel like she was edgy? It feels that way. She didn't see herself that way. I can kind of see how Darlington and the other kids might see it that way. My overall takeaway from this when I read it was how if you take away the magic, all of this is reality. I've seen and/or experienced all of this. So I wasn't expecting to identify with Alex so much.
As for the magic, I think its also somewhat realistic in an occult sense. My religion being somewhat related I can see she did her research. I do see though how its explained is a clunky. The ending for me was a big wtf. That could have been left for the next book. Both the reveal with the teacher and the actual epilogue. So I guess, the fantasy elements weren't that good to me.
I absolutely agreed with you on all your points. I think as a person who doesn't read fantasy quite so often, I couldn't put my finger on what exactly I didn't like about the book, but this was one. I definitely think it was a very fast paced book though and it did a good job in keeping me engaged. And I loved Darlington as a character but the open-endedness of the book pissed me off. I don't like reading a book to only be told to read another book. You know? Like close up some loops at least please!
I see that dark academia aesthetic with that fancy lacy collar
I loved this book. I just went with the flow and try not to have high expectations or to over think to much reading it. To be honest I enjoyed this more than her other books. About the girl handling the situation bout getting drugged. I think everyone handles things differently. Some just want to forget bout it happens or just want to act like it didn’t happen. Some feel better once that person gets their just deserts. If that’s how the phase goes. I know Leigh Bardugo wrote bout that cause she seen girls experience this when she went to school (at Yale) and maybe she wrote just how she saw how some reacted to the situation sadly. I know she spoke bout it in an interview I believe. But the book is defiantly isn’t for everyone. I love it and I do recommend but probably to certain people.
Don’t get me wrong but this book has a lots of important themes but IMO they are executed poorly. At least for me. Maybe I just don’t get it.
I think it’s personal preference tbh. I enjoyed her writing in this more. Was it slow sometimes - yes. But I also listened to this via Audiobook and I devoured it. I became quite obsessed with it. I think she was blunt with this piece which is why I think I liked it more. It was raw. If that makes any sense. But I do respect your opinion and I’m glad to have someone to discuss her book with. 😊
Ashlee Jo I think I know what you mean by rawness. It’s just not really book for me, but I didn’t hate it. I look forward to read Six of crows from her next year!
I agree about the drugging as well. So many people deal with these types of situations so differently. Some people just want to forget and get back to life as if it never happened and others want to crawl into a hole. Glad to hear Leigh Bardugo addressed this in an interview
I might be inclined to agree if the character had more development. Her character was simply, “the girl who gets raped.” Women in books get raped as a means for the main character to take action quite often, so the lack of following up with her or building her as a character felt like a convenient plot device-for me personally anyway.
Loved the look 🖤🐍
You said everything I had in my mind after reading this book. Though m still excited about the sequel because of Darlington 🚶
I’ve never been this early! Ahh. Can’t wait to hear what you think about the other academia murder mystery in your tbr - Truly Devious!
I've heard a lot of decent reviews on this book and then a few other negative reviews as well so I was a bit unsure about reading it until I saw your review lol. I don't think I'll be reading it now because I personally HATE when authors include multiple timelines in books. It has just always been super confusing to me in the past and does little to move the plot along in most stories (IN MY OPINION). It also just ends up being super over descriptive and I find myself having to literally skip pages to get on with the story. I'm also like you and don't care for that much detail either haha. The way you describe this book kind of makes me feel Ninth House will just not be my cup of tea even though the plot seemed interesting. Love the way you review things though! New sub for sure :D
I hated this book. 🤣 There were no real clues to the murder mystery and the reveal made no real sense. But what really bothered me was the idea that the only way to get out of poverty was to go to a prestigious college. Even though she was stressed and drowning in work and ridiculously unprepared. The people who wanted her there barely helped her with the coursework and just threw her into classes. Not for her own good, but for theirs. It just didn’t sit well with me and I couldn’t enjoy it.
I just finished this book and I totally agree with you on everything but I still loved it. The main things that got me were the lack of depth in the characters, the way we never truly got set rules for the magic system, and how we didn’t get set duties for the different houses we just sort of brushed up on those topics casually through the book so it was a bit confusing… and also the end of the book is so stupid and convenient. However… it’s interesting and really is a page turner. I hope with the sequel we get more in depth with the characters and maybe we’ll even get more of a set guideline for the magic system because they’ll be working with a new set of rules in the second book!
I just finished this book and I have some conflicting emotions for sure. The s**ual violence scenes were a bit much for me to the point where I had to take breaks from the book because it made me too uncomfortable. Another thing that I feel like was a bit vague was whether or not Alex was romantically involved with Helen. If Alex is bisexual I feel like this could be a chance for representation since LB is such a popular author. My question to others is, do you think Alex and Darlington will have some kind of romance in the sequel? I feel like it was set up in this book for Darlington to start catching feelings for Alex. I didn’t get the vibe that Alex was very interested romantically in him, but maybe that will come later? I like the trope of mentor to lovers so I personally would be happy to see that in the sequel.
The thumbnail on this one was 🔥. Just a really strong design with that top too.
Actually it would make sense that the girl might want to go back to another party, all survivors handle things in different ways
I was really excited for this book and it fell flat for me I kept reading waiting for it to get better. I think the only thing that kept me interested was the murder mystery.
I love your undramatically dramatic readings.
On a more serious note, one of my biggest book turn offs is poorly handled sexual violence. And when I bring it up there's always people saying "well that's just real life and you can't hide from everything" or something, but this is fiction. It's a trigger for me and beyond that, I spend a lot of mental and emotional energy in my day to day life to be okay with discussing and reading about the topic when it matters. I think it's frustrating when I'm reading a fantasy book in my free time and I have to deal with it, especially if it's in there for no good reason.
I really appreciate your channel because you always mention issues like this regardless of whether you personally found it poorly handled. I'll take this book off my TBR for the sexual violence issue and the dialogue/character issues, thank you!
You’re welcome! I’ve had people say similar things to me like what you described being said to you, as though it’s somehow better to not let people know that sort of content is in books...? I think people get upset that some individuals might not pick up a book if they find out that kind of content is there, but I’d rather someone look after their mental and emotional health than keep something a secret so that they’ll pick up a book.
My personal taste I lean more towards liking hard magic systems than soft, mostly because I want to know the HOW. When magic is a soft system it usually is used as an ex machina or a catch all for "i did it with maaaaaaagic" and it's just so booooring.
I think this novel is reality disguised as fiction.
Agree with you on basically everything here. I was really looking forward to this too. It's a shame because I think one of the things the Six of Crows duology did so well was to craft character and it seems like that was really missing in this book.
i was hella bored for therst half of the book, but then it knda grew on me. not a favourite, but still a decent book. Loved the library search system! 📚
Ahhhh I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT. So cute :)
ok I havent wached the whole video yet but..
1- I was waiting so badly for this review so I can decide wether or not to buy the book and..
2- the looks in this video!! the outfit! and the make up! its just so dark academia but cute I dont know..its perfect!
love your videos!!!
This review was SO helpful and saved me a lot of grief. I appreciate you. I don't read a lot of books, I don't ever watch book reviews. But I looked this one up on here and found your review. very helpful.
I’m an academic, but I wasn’t entirely sure what’s meant by Dark Academia, so thank you for some clarity! Based on your review, I doubt I’ll pick up this one, but I feel more informed now.
What's your favorite genre?
Zakx Darma For fun, definitely fantasy, but I tend to love high fantasy, epic fantasy, and grimdark the most!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy haha honestly like I actually read your mind haha
It felt to me like that is exactly the genres you read... What an odd thing 😁😂😂
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy maybe it's because that's me and the kind genres I love lol
Zakx Darma Great minds think alike, they say! 😁
I actually loved the split timeline!! The last timeline actually added more towards the Darlington mystery (which I personally was more interested in than the Tara one)
I was too; I really liked his character. I wish we’d just gotten a book before this one with him 😆
I wonder it reading the book in text vs audio book affects experience of this book. I just finished it tonight and I didn't have the same issue with the dialogue, some line with clunky but it came off more as the characters being sarcastic to me.
I also felt like the narrator from Alex's POV balanced her out in a way that didn't come off as too *edgy*. She reminded me of people in my life who had lives hard lives/struggled with trauma.
I read Ninth House in January 2020 and I remember the scenes you've mentioned. I thought the book was over hyped and chunks of the story were clunky, the timelines at times confusing. I switched between physically reading the book and audio as I was struggling through some parts. I thought the audio book was way better to read the story, the voice actors were good; otherwise it would be dnf.
"I'm pretty sure when my mother was talking about the devil she had you in mind" = Alex is tempting "Bob" to bend his moral code as an officer by offering him something he really wants, answers.
Bob isn’t the officer :) Bob is the person they’re talking about.
Thanks for sharing. I DNRd after I lost my place a quarter of the way through and realized starting in a random spot made no difference in my understanding or appreciation of the book
Hmmm... I think this book is not for me! It has such mixed reviews, I haven’t been able to decide, but your review has solidified this for me.
Yo this look is ON POINT
I absolutely adored this book and can't stop thinking about it and wanting to reread it. I didn't expect to love it so much because I've always had some issues with other Bardugo books but this one was perfect for me.
Well yay! I’m glad it worked for you; that’s the best :D
Your video quality is amazing! What is your camera and lens setup?
It’s actually just my iPhone :) But I did just recently buy some lights from Amazon, something like these ones: www.amazon.com/HPUSN-Professional-Photography-Continuous-Reflectors/dp/B07NBP6D98
I had very conflicted feelings on the book (and I personally like Bardugo's writing with a preference for the Grisha spin-offs). It took me a while to be invested in the book. I'm still lukewarm on Alex as a main character, and being a character-driven reader, this is a huge factor for me in the overall enjoyment of a book. I also noticed a lot of the conveniences you pointed out (plus the handling of sensitive experiences). The plot seemed very predictable, but I loved the atmosphere and the setting. I will probably read the sequel to see if I will continue on with the series since my reaction was so mixed, but we'll see after that. I really wanted to like this book, but even after time away from it, I still feel very blah about it.
I felt similarly in that I was interested with certain elements, but not others. I kind of wish Darlington had been the main character; I enjoyed the voice he was given so much 🙈
@@ebnovels 🙌 100% agree about Darlington and his voice. I’m hoping the sequel features him more. (I’m also hoping maybe we’ll even get his POV.)
There were a couple instances where it felt to me like the author was forcing in some progressive buzzwords that didn't particularly move the story forward. "Don't you be victim-blaming now" *wags finger* "We're all a little racist" *wags finger* (paraphrased). While those are very important and relevant themes, I think it was the way they were presented in dialogue that made it feel cheezy and forced to me.
That’s pretty much college lol, everybody being super woke and taking every opportunity to show others how woke they are. I also thought those lines seemed weird but in a college setting they’re fairly par for the course.
Listening to this review made me realise I'd have a similar issue with this book as I had with The Six of Crows. In short, Bardugo's stories and style of writing is just not my cup of tea and I don't suppose I'll be reaching for her books in the future. Though I'm happy so many people found her novels to match their taste perfectly. :)
Not sure if it was the authors Intention or not but it is not exactly an uncommon reaction to have. It's a coping mechanism where the victim wants to regain control over their life and not let what happened to them rule their life. The trauma would still be noticeable in them
I should’ve added that there was basically no other reason for the character to exist. It felt like she was there to get raped, but not for us to have to follow up with much after.
Yea fair that's just weird 😊
I know it's kinda off topic but you look amazing!
"But we'll still get answers"
"You are the devil"
Does actually make a lot of sense from a lawenforcement perspective tbh. If I had a prime suspect confess to me, knowing that I could not use any of that testimony in court, I'd rather not get that chance in the first place.
ELLIOT, You are very clever.. (not being sarcastic!) 😊 I Have not read the book, maybe a library pick in the future....we shall see. I really enjoyed your take on it though. The bit about all the ways to compel people made me giggle.
Just gotta say. I LOVE your hair. The thumbnail makes you look like Vin!
Glad I watched your review because this book ticks off everything I appear to hate in a book. That cover though def stands out.
I got to page 150 before I dnf-ed it. Was curious about your opinion. Whenever a booktuber now says a book is about "dark academy" I am thinking: "Nope. Not for me. Next book pls" :D
I went into this with such high expectations and that maybe why I felt like this was kind of a letdown even though I was engrossed in the story and like it to a certain extent. But I felt like much of the plot depended on the shock factor of it all? And yes, there were many plot conveniences throughout.
I really love LBardugos' Grisha verse books, I tried reading ninth house twice but just can't able to connect to it. Will try to read it again soon
Love your videos!! I was waiting for your review for this book, it’s usually that I take your recommendations, but for this one I actually read it first. It doesn’t bother me at all, but I felt that there were some spoilers for this book and the video was marked as non-spoiler. Maybe I just don’t know what constitutes a spoiler, it might be, but just wanted to comment on this. Other than that, keep up the good work 💜
I agree with most of your issues with the book but the thing about going to another party after what had happened to her is a possible reaction. It could be denial of what happened to her, or an effort towards establishing normality again. But (I forgot if it was explored) she definitely might not have been normal at that second party.
On the other hand, I didn’t have high expectations with Bardugo’s work, because I wasn’t crazy about SoC or even Grishaverse (though I did like the latter better than the former. I just needed another DA book to while away my days until RF Kuang releases hers =)))) Bardugo is pretty good at establishing worlds so I did like that part.
If you want dark academia try Naomi Novik new book! Fantastic!!
I got an ARC of this book way back when and was not impressed. I love the SoC duology, and went into this book knowing it would be extremely different and still didn’t like it. I completely agree that Darlington was much more interesting than Alex! I would read a book about him.
That scene, in the bathroom, with the Grey, pulled me out of the book and almost made me DNF it. So completely unnecessary.
I. Completely. Agree.
Other than the over the top, pretentious, moody setting, I felt like the pacing was off and I didn't really care for Alex at all.
Thanks for the review!
I started reading Ninth House last year and got 100 pages in and just thought ‘nah this really isn’t for me’. I’m really grateful for this review because it has confirmed that I’m not going to pick it up again so thank you 👍
I bought the book because I kept seeing it everywhere… boy do I wish I read the reviews beforehand. Can’t wait to finish it and get it over with 🙄
So I'm wondering whether people would feel as negatively about ninth house if they never read SOC or Grisha. I enjoyed ninth house, because of her writing style. It's very engaging and quick paced for me. That being said, I did feel there were issues with the dialogue. So it's a strange one. I want to read further, specifically because I enjoyed Darlington.
I feel sort of the opposite; I’d be VERY hesitant to pick up her other works if this was the first one I’d read.
I tried to listen to this book for a virtual library book club & just couldn't get into it🤷🏾
I DNF'd this book originally then I borrowed it from my library as an audio book so I could just finish it. I hated the ending! In my opinion the worst part of the book! So many unbelievable plot twists. I would have been fine not finishing it lol
I didn't enjoy it, maybe it was my head space at the time. But I the incidents being swept under the rug seemed strange. Alex wasn't pleasant to read and the book was confusing most of the time.
I have read this, but I only bought it because it was like $3 on Kobo... I passed on it when it was on the best sellers wall in my local bookstore, which I'm glad of, because it wasn't really worth it...
Starting this after my current read ...see how it goes
After the whole ghost scene in the bathroom, I stopped reading. It just felt a little ridiculous
I honestly can't get through this book, I don't know what it is about it but I am either bored to death (two pages about a rubber shoe factory, I mean why!?!?!) or it drives me mad (the pretentious suspense that is supposed to hook the reader but in the end it just ended up being irritating)... I want to finish reading the book (started reading it 5 months ago) but I'm not sure if I can. I already read like 15 other books meanwhile :)
Yeah I read this book in August and didn’t love it like I thought I would. It was just super slow and the plot wasn’t that interesting. It sucks because the SOC duology is my favorite series of all time, so I thought I would love this too. But none of her other works really hit for me. I’m interested to see where it goes, but im kind of apprehensive if I want to continue on.
I feel the exact same way! Soc is my all time favorite and I too didn't much care for Ninth House.
I love your top❤ Can u tell me where You bought it from
You know, I think I got it from Forever 21 years ago. I’m sorry that’s not more helpful! 🙈
I recommend ( Habits, wisdom and mindset of highly successful people 2020) best book available on Amazon and kindle
Haven't read this yet, but as someone who watches and reads a lot of murder mysteries, I will say that whole pretending you went somewhere already in order to get the information you need is used a lot in them.
Haha, it’s a terrible plan! It shouldn’t work 😆
The beginning of this book is outstanding but the ending is a rush job
I agree that it was a bit slow but I still enjoyed this book and will definitely read the sequel.
Oh no, I really wanted to read this but I can't stand stories with split timelines. It's always felt really pretentious to me and I've never seen it done well..
I think I liked it more than you but I also wouldn’t call it a favorite of all time. I enjoyed the murder mystery elements and I think some of Alex’s past was super relatable. Like her and her moms very strained texting is verbatim what I do with one of my folks who lost my trust. But she also isn’t the strongest character ever written. I really found it annoying that the detective was black but it only was obvious when he was asking if a house was racist? Also Alex’s perspectives seemed obsessed with clothing which felt odd, like I new more about the detectives outfit than I did about his personality
You all should try cradle (unsouled) by will wight , it is a really wonderful fantasy book.
Vin is that you??
Indeed 🔪
You’re giving me major Vin vibes today, lady.
11:15 was giving me Aubrey Plaza vibes lol
*Spoliers alert*
I've been reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo for a couple of days now and something baffles me.
When Alex gets attacked by Lance Gressang, the scene goes like this -
“Portal magic,” Alex grunted out. North looked back once over his shoulder and vanished through the wall of the apartment.
Pain came at her in a sudden swell, a time-lapse photograph of a blooming flower, as if North’s presence had kept the worst of it at bay and now that she was empty the damage could rush in. Alex tried to push herself up.
Turner had holstered his weapon. Turner slammed his fist on the counter.
“That isn’t possible.” “It is,” said Alex. “You don’t understand,” said Turner. He looked at her the way North had, as if Alex had done him a wrong.
“That was Lance Gressang. That was my murder suspect. I left him less than an hour ago. Sitting in a jail cell.”
What I don't understand is why would Turner have to point that out? Didn't Alex already see Lance's face when she tried to find out what happened to Tara through the wound map haze on her corpse in the following scene? -
Alex didn’t want to put her hand into the haze above the gruesome wounds on Tara’s chest. But that was what she’d come here to do.
She took a breath and thrust her fingers forward. She was on the ground, a boy’s face above her-Lance. Sometimes she loved him, but lately things had been …
The thought left her. She felt herself open her mouth, tasted something acrid on her tongue. Lance was smiling.
They were on their way … where? She felt only excitement, anticipation, the world beginning to blur. “I’m sorry,” Lance said.
I DNFd this book, I don’t do that often but I just didn’t care
Most people don’t ‘read as writers’, and won’t analyze or dissect a book as such. I had no issues with any of the things you mentioned.
When you said "we have seen this in books a lot." I first thought you were talking about having seen that in a book called (Booksalot.)😂 was wondering what book that was. Then realised that you said "books a lot."
🧠
I'm not trying to sound cryptic but it's very unnerving how a lot of 'people' are really trying to down play rape like it's not a big deal. Just very disheartening
I know!!!!!! People are sick!!!!! Thx to Elliot for review.
@@rozusperelko seriously 💖
I bought it cause the cover looks dope
ninth house is one of my all time favorites. seeing these comments all say they didn’t like it or arnt going to read it is so sad :(
Go to.doctor
Hey. I agree with you... (obviously, look at my thumbnail). I understand some people won’t like this book but I really don’t get why it’s SO divisive and gets tons of hate. It will always be a fave of mine.
I think I hate the book.
Im given so so so much Information before I can even start to care about anything of it. And the Setting is terribly uncomfortable, theres nothing nice at all. Nothing that makes me go "wow this is cool" or "I like that".
I think I hate this book.
Not going on my TBR.
I think it's a good adult debut but having read her previous works leigh could've done better
I DNF'd this book earlier this year. I couldn't get past the initial satanic sacrifice🤮 and people's attitudes towards it. I just will never be ok reading books THAT grimdark.
TW: Sexual Assault, drug use
Spoiler warning: I'll be naming characters the review alluded to.
I appreciated the fact that Mercy's reaction to sexual assault was different to Alex's. Everyone's reaction to sexual assault is different and honestly I hate when all we ever do is luxuriate over a poor broken woman who will never be whole again, only to rise up stronger than before.
Had Mercy been the only character to be assaulted - yeah it would have rubbed me up the wrong way, but that we had a comparison between the two was nice. Mercy had someone looking out for her, Alex did not.
Not to mention we also had Darlington's sexual assault and his reaction to it - pure shame and suppression.
My problem with the books edginess was the drugs, the real life ones. addiction is not a minor character background detail. We don't deal with cravings. Lets say it wasn't full blown addiction and to give them up was easy enough for her (she's been doing drugs since she was 13 but sure, lets say) We don't have anything about how hard it is to build up new healthier coping mechanisms. I know she wanted to focus on rape over addiction and that's fine. a couple of lines every now and then where she pushes away the temptation to go back to old habits of using was all I needed. As it stand the addiction felt cheap and edgy, and ultimately felt very YA, a label she was trying so desperately to run away from in this book.
Darlington experienced sexual assault? How did I miss that ?
@@yaseminakan1611 this is super late but i think they were talking about the scene where he's drugged/hypnotised to put his hand under her shirt and he put his mouth on her panties?
So many amateur mistakes made in this DA/fantasy/magical realism/who done it novel. I do not consider this dark academic proper. Also; I could not keep track of the side characters. It just felt like bait to keep me reading cuz I want Darlington back. I would not read the sequel. Kinda disappointed I wasted 450 pages. But with all the unexplained magic; it needed more pages. It just didn’t work
I appreciate this review! Just finished it and felt much the same about it as you. I really thought this book was going to be deep dive into this secret society magic, I thought we would visit and understand all of the Houses. It was like 40% magic and 60% murder mystery and the murder just wasn't that interesting. And Alex was very annoying imo. Missed potential overall.
I loved the first 3/4 of the book but really didn’t like the ending :/
I can't stop staring at those glasses! Beautiful! 💯🔥
Her personality is that she wears black. 🤣🤣🤣
Great review! That dialogue tho.
I love this review. Thank you. I've heard bad things about this book.(rape scenes etc, hurtful for victims)and it's good to have it confirmed by you. Not on my tbr.. You go girl
Elliot I have to say. I've never seen somebody pull off a top like that before! So amazing :')
Dnf this book
Ah man...I hated this book 😅😅 I feel like the premise and concepts of the book sounded so awesome but I didn’t like anything about it tbh
I love Leigh Bardugo, and the subject matter and "lore" but I didn't enjoy this one at all. I can't put my finger on why..m
Everyone should watch mynameismarines review of the book on RUclips. So enlightening. This book sucked.
I loved it, but I'm also a " Night circus" fan or " the house of salt and sorrow " ❤️
Sounds boring and grody! Lol