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seren's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Murder, War, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
tiramisuandpasta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
5.0
Leigh Bardugo, you’re a master of words (and fantasy).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Violence
matild_o's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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 Alina and her arc, I loved the world building and the building threat of the Darkling and I loved Tamar and Tolya. I didn't love Mal or Nikolai, Mal annoyed me at the end <when he was all whiny and I didn't like Nikolai's charisma and sarcasm. I know that's why people love him, but he just felt arrogant and rude, and I hated his and Alina's romance. >I did like when he was more serious and we saw more depth in him.
<PS, the ending of this book really reminded me of the end of catching fire and mockingjay>
<PS, the ending of this book really reminded me of the end of catching fire and mockingjay>
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Murder, Sexual harassment, Child death, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Genocide
therobinjoyce's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Once again, Leigh Bardugo has done it and produced a fantastic and gripping piece of fantastical fiction for the world to enjoy.
The action definitely heats up in this one with the introduction of Sturmhond and the whole Pirates, nichevo’ya, and Rusalye arcs.
It’s so wonderful to dive back into the mind of Alina Starkov as she tries to escape the dark forces after her and her strained relationship with her old friends. While it was a little slower pace-wise than Shadow and Bone it was still wonderfully written and I absolutely loved the new characters we got to meet in this novel.
The ending also was insane and I cannot wait to finish Ruin and Rising and find out what happens!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death
kathshiroma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
tiemzahra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Surprisingly, I like the sequel. I’ve jumped to the third book atm. Still, I cannot say for sure that my opinion for the two leads is much different from before. In fact, they have infuriated me more. The one person who brought excitement to this book is Nikolai Lantsov. I’m not sure if this character has been casted yet for the Netflix series, but I love him. Both Alina and Mal exaggerated their reaction around him that I don’t understand. Especially of Mal, now I know what other readers have been talking about when they talk about him. What a hinderer. He prevented Alina from doing anything remotely heroic, that I mistook it as jealousy, while he deemed it protective.
And because of that I see why people ship the Darkling and Alina. Not that I do, butit's true that the Darkling saw Alina for what she is capable of, unlike Mal who saw Alina as someone to be protected and shouldn't meddle with the upcoming war, that they should just run away and lived together without interference, like that was an option to begin with!
And because of that I see why people ship the Darkling and Alina. Not that I do, but
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: War
blume13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Genocide and Torture
Minor: Sexual harassment
notacartoonyet's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Genocide
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
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
3.0
I'm sad that I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. It's still a good book but I found the first part too boring and the second too annoying. Which is probably not fair because there were cool scenes in the first part as well but it dragged a little too much for me. And the second part... I finally know why everyone says Mal and Alina are annoying. Because they are! Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I'm rooting for them. But their communication skills are nonexistent and this is SO frustrating. Nikolai rescued huge parts of the book for me. The banter whenever he was in the scene was just great.
I also really liked the whole Saints mystery and I wish there was more of that. I hope this will be a bigger part in the last book.
And there is one trope in this book that I realised I like a lot. It's when the protagonist and antagonist have this special... bond (when you know what I mean). And I think it is expertly done here. It makes sense and it is used very sparsely so it's quite effective. It gave me goosebumps everytime it happened.
Now the ending.... is amazing! The showdown and aftermath are perfect. I was glued to the pages the whole time. Loved the setting at the very end. I can't wait to continue (next month or so ^^; ).
I also really liked the whole Saints mystery and I wish there was more of that. I hope this will be a bigger part in the last book.
And there is one trope in this book that I realised I like a lot. It's when the protagonist and antagonist have this special... bond (when you know what I mean). And I think it is expertly done here. It makes sense and it is used very sparsely so it's quite effective. It gave me goosebumps everytime it happened.
Now the ending.... is amazing! The showdown and aftermath are perfect. I was glued to the pages the whole time. Loved the setting at the very end. I can't wait to continue (next month or so ^^; ).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence
kaiulanilee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
3.0
Book two down!
On the whole I enjoyed this so much more than the first. The characters were much more enjoyable and filled out, the writing was much less up and down for me, and it kept me much more engaged throughout. Nikolai, Tolya and Tamar have to be some of my favorite characters in the series and I enjoyed every moment with them. This book really solidified itself as a fantasy novel/part of a series that has its own unique charms whereas I felt with the first book it was a bit too trope heavy and felt too similar to other fantasy novels I’ve read. I really like how much more Leigh Bardugo addressed the class issues and politics of the world as opposed to simply touching on it. The novella at the end that focuses on Genya completely tore my heart out and I felt it was context for her character that was really needed, despite the fact that I wished it hadn’t come in the form of a simple novella at the end.
My main issues with the book lay mostly with moments where writing simply felt too melodramatic or where things that happened felt quite rushed (one being Alina’s extremely quick transition to being confident as a leader). On the whole though, the writing improved a TON. I do find myself getting quite bored with the consistent love triangle/jealousy trope going on and while I understand that people enjoy that type of story, it feels a little bit unnecessary when I personally would prefer more having to do with the politics, adventure and other characters. That being said, I thought that the dynamics of the relationships were much more enjoyable to read in this book so it’s not a huge issue.
My only other critique is a small one but has to do with being identified by his “dark skin”. I’m wondering whether he’s quite literally the only POC in this series (or in this part of the world maybe?) to the point where he would be identified by that or if he simply has the darkest skin there. I feel like Leigh Bardugo simply threw that in as a way to make it canon that there were in fact POC in the books but instead it just feels like he’s the only one? Or the only major enough to have a descriptor of his looks used. I think this was more of a carelessness error but regardless it caught my attention and thought it should be mentioned. I’m hoping this gets better in later books and I know the Netflix cast is completely different from how people are described in the books, for the most part, so i feel better about that but still, I wish more thought had went into this. Most of the characters who were described physically in any way had some mention of blonde hair or blue eyes or something along those lines that is usually thought of to be a white feature so it felt a little jarring to hear someone being described as “dark-skinned” when it seems he was the only one (so far) to have any mention that would point to him not being white. I hope the future books do better in this regard.
On the whole I enjoyed this so much more than the first. The characters were much more enjoyable and filled out, the writing was much less up and down for me, and it kept me much more engaged throughout. Nikolai, Tolya and Tamar have to be some of my favorite characters in the series and I enjoyed every moment with them. This book really solidified itself as a fantasy novel/part of a series that has its own unique charms whereas I felt with the first book it was a bit too trope heavy and felt too similar to other fantasy novels I’ve read. I really like how much more Leigh Bardugo addressed the class issues and politics of the world as opposed to simply touching on it. The novella at the end that focuses on Genya completely tore my heart out and I felt it was context for her character that was really needed, despite the fact that I wished it hadn’t come in the form of a simple novella at the end.
My main issues with the book lay mostly with moments where writing simply felt too melodramatic or where things that happened felt quite rushed (one being Alina’s extremely quick transition to being confident as a leader). On the whole though, the writing improved a TON. I do find myself getting quite bored with the consistent love triangle/jealousy trope going on and while I understand that people enjoy that type of story, it feels a little bit unnecessary when I personally would prefer more having to do with the politics, adventure and other characters. That being said, I thought that the dynamics of the relationships were much more enjoyable to read in this book so it’s not a huge issue.
My only other critique is a small one but has to do with being identified by his “dark skin”. I’m wondering whether he’s quite literally the only POC in this series (or in this part of the world maybe?) to the point where he would be identified by that or if he simply has the darkest skin there. I feel like Leigh Bardugo simply threw that in as a way to make it canon that there were in fact POC in the books but instead it just feels like he’s the only one? Or the only major enough to have a descriptor of his looks used. I think this was more of a carelessness error but regardless it caught my attention and thought it should be mentioned. I’m hoping this gets better in later books and I know the Netflix cast is completely different from how people are described in the books, for the most part, so i feel better about that but still, I wish more thought had went into this. Most of the characters who were described physically in any way had some mention of blonde hair or blue eyes or something along those lines that is usually thought of to be a white feature so it felt a little jarring to hear someone being described as “dark-skinned” when it seems he was the only one (so far) to have any mention that would point to him not being white. I hope the future books do better in this regard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Fatphobia, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt