Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Wicked King by Holly Black

59 reviews

lifeonasofa's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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“For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”
I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”
He grins up at me. “They missed.” - Holly Black 🏹

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5 Stars

Thank you hotkeysya for sending this copy of The Wicked King as part of the second tandemcollectiveuk The Folk of the Air Readalong! 💝 

An applause for Holly Black for making the sequel better than the first! I’m always weary of the second book in a trilogy, they can often be slow but THE DRAMA in this book! 👏🏻 

Jude really grew as a character in this, I love her even more! I love that we got to understand the way she thinks before she carried out her plans. I’m glad we got to see more of the spies - still my favs. The scenes between her and Cardan were SO much better too. 💕

Cardan really came into his own by the end of the book and I’m LIVING for it! I was waiting for him to really take his king role seriously. Don’t get me wrong - I’m fuming with that ending but he’s smart right? I feel he has a long term plan. 👀

Loved how we had danger and deceit coming from all sides! I still do not trust ANYONE in this whole damn book - Taryn and Madoc being the worst imo. But it just made it all the more exciting, I had no idea what twists were coming! BOOK 3 READALONG END OF NOV!🤯

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

pattyblom's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Good second book. Not predictable and am now curious to read the third.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Self harm, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

katiareadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I can't even describe how mad I am at the ending...I feel SO betrayed but I loved it regardless. Most of all though,I love jude<3. Not just love,ADORE JUDE. She is so amazingly written and so realistic as well???Cardan has nothing on her,she carried THE WHOLE BOOK. She is honestly the definition of a strong female protagonist and I love that for her. Maybe I'm a little biased because I relate to her to a whole other level...but at the end of the day she still ate and left no crumbs. The writing is excellent,possibly magic itself. The settings are so vividly described,the characters very complex AND multidimensional. So in conclusion..THE BOOK IS PERFECT,even better than the first in the series which is a rare phenomenon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

sinjinsladle's review

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

revived_reading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

Absolutely loved this book! However, as with book 1, the only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I felt some of the wording was a bit odd. Otherwise, another amazing read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Death of parent

micapellin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

nicolekohl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

eveleam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

This was slow at first and I won’t lie I wasn’t really into it but it got way better and a lot of shit went down so in conclusion power through 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

zoeelora's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

egurgens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

To be honest, I don’t like this book as much as I did the first one. Although Jude is just as much of a badass as she was in the first one, there is a lot more at play in this book, and she doesn’t get to show it off as much as in the first book.  This book was also a little slower than the first one, although the ending was still super dramatic. The first book seemed to maybe be driven equally by both plot and character development, but this one seems to favor plot over character. Let’s just say, I’m pissed at the ending, and I’m mad at a great many characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol