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Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Sexual violence, Blood, Classism
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
I LOVED THIS BOOK! When I first read this book two ish years ago I didn't fully absorb everything that was going on and how intricately the story was webbed and grew from literally the first page. Reading back through a second time, I'm shocked by how much I underappreciated this book the first read. This is the perfect blend of fantasy and murder mystery with twists you never see coming. The world building and magic system is just.. chefs kiss. It's like you finally get to experience the magic you always dreamed of when you were younger and first learned about secret societies except this is the real world version. It's not sugar coated and happy, it's in a way the most true to life magic and fantasy book I've ever read. I can't wait to start Hell Bent tomorrow!
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
I overall really enjoyed this book, which was unexpected, since I DNF'd the second book in the Six of Crows duology. I thought the story was really unique and layered expertly.
My main quarrel is with Leigh's tendency (this is why I DNF'd Crooked Kingdom) to tell you rather than show you. What I mean by that is that there is very little dialogue and more paragraphs and paragraphs of text that are hard to focus on and make progress slow. I also was VERY concerned during the first 60 or so pages of this book, because we are thrown right in with NO context, and you just have to read and try to retain the information for when it is finally explained (it is finally explained, I promise). There are a lot of terms that you have to wrangle and a lot of characters to keep up with, but it is worth it to push through.
I loved the characters (Alex is my gf, I really hope we get more of Darlington in Hell Bent because I have a huge crush on him just from the Manuscript Party scene, Dawes is my other gf, North is my pining bb) and I thought the plot was really good. Dark academia, secret societies, a murder mystery, ghosts?! It's full of good stuff.
Can't wait to read Hell Bent!
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Vomit, Trafficking
Minor: Racism
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
The story switches back and forth between the past and the present. It took me a few moments to realize that events were occuring in a dual timeline, but it's not something that was too confusing or took away from the story. There were intermittent snippets of Alex and Darlington's backgrounds sprinkled in. It made it easier to understand their motivations within the story and also created a lot of sympathy for both of them. Additionally, it made me want to keep reading to find out more about them.
Furthermore, I appreciated the female to femlae relationships in the book. Dawes and Alex don't really like each other that much when they first. As the story progresses it is clear that the most unexpected people can become the best allies. We don't see Alex's roomates very often in the story. However, via events in the story, it is clear that they are becoming friends more than roomates. There were cathartic moments that they had together that involved pain, vengeance, and justice that felt satisfying to me. I also appreciated the loving mother/daughter relationship shown between Alex and her mother. There is a lot of painful history between them. Despite that, it is clear that they absolutely love and care for one another .
This books explores very dark themes including drug addiction, sexual assault, rape culture, etc. The theme exploration I enjoyed the most in the story is that of poverty and how growing up in poverty or scarcity affects how you think about things as an adult. There are a lot of moments where some of the thoughts Alex has or the way she perceives things show us that she grew up poor. That was also probably the most impressive thing about Leigh Bardugo's writing; she has an amazing way of showing you a character without having to tell you about them. It made this reading experience incredibly enjoyable for me. I'm looking forward to the sequel because this story was such a pleasure to dive into.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Classism