Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

82 reviews

axel_p's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Ableism, Blood, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Trafficking, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Slavery, Xenophobia, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, War, and Torture

toastyghosty13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.0

I wanted to like this book since I somewhat enjoyed the book that came before it (Six of Crows), although I disliked the main Grisha series. I am utterly convinced that Leigh Bardugo has this horrid ability to create the most original and interesting characters, and then knows fuck all what to do with them. I have realized this after reading 5 of the Grisha books, since I felt obligated to finish after buying the boxset for $20 at Costco. The only character I found to be dull and lifeless was

Mal from the mainline series

. The rest of the characters have such interesting backgrounds that made me want to read more about them and see them use their abilities & experiences in subsequent events, yet I fond a lot of what they actually did to be lackluster and had me wishing for a lot more.

I especially lost it during this book when

Matthias was killed off for no reason other than shock value. Kaz dying would have been a much better death rather than Matthias, who has a 14 year old trembling boy sneak up on him and kill him despite being a highly trained soldier with years more experience. This was disappointing and ruined my day, because this is character I wanted to see more of, especially with the dynamic of his relationship with Nina since they started off as mortal enemies.

 

I also found the follow up plot from Six of Crows to be pretty boring in comparison. The Ocean's 11 type plot from Six of Crows was enjoyable enough and I did not dislike it. I originally gave it a 3.5/5 and have since changed it to 3, since I clearly desperately wanted to like it after loving each of the unique and interesting characters we were introduced to. I wholeheartedly feel the same about the mainline Grisha series following Alina Starkov, where

the Darkling is such an interesting and nuanced character yet, at the end, Leigh really does boil him down to "lonely different emo kid lashing out at everyone even though he's like 30 now because he wants a friend". There were so many opportunities to make the Darkling a fluid character that was between good and evil, and it really felt like it would take that direction in the entire first Grisha book, but then the rest of it was just status quo "shadow guy evil" and really boring to me. His character was constantly going back and forth between doing something bad, but it was for the greater good, which could have made for interesting plot where you want the bad guy to be good, but that was completely skipped over.

This has taken a tangent away from reviewing only Crooked Kingdom to ranting about my frustrations with Leigh Bardugo's imbalance in writing quality and character development. The main Grisha line is bleh but quick enough that you can read it all in under a week. The Crow's duology is much longer despite only being 2 books so I recommend reading the main Grisha line to see if you like it first. This way, you won't be stuck in an internal battle having to convince yourself to finish a book after starting it 2 months ago because you are already 55% of the way through. I started reading the Grishaverse books because I watched the first 6 episodes of the tv show on Netflix, and this is an exception to the rule of books being better than the cinematic adaptation. Ben Barnes is a great actor, and he's hot, so you're better off there. You also get the main Grisha line with the Crows duology all in one show, and the other actors for the Crows characters are superb and really bring the characters to life in new plotlines that are not even part of the books. 

TLDR; skip all the Grisha books, just watch the show. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Gun violence, Death, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy

jp1920's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Torture, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Death of parent

nils_0's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, and Slavery

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Addiction, Torture, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Cursing, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Trafficking

ford_defect's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Trafficking

Minor: War, Pregnancy, and Forced institutionalization

carolinacortez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

NADIE ME DIJO QUE IBA A LLORAR CON ESTE LIBRO MALDITA SEA

Amo con todo mi corazón a cada uno de los personajes, Leigh hiso un excelente trabajo escribiendolos, todos tienen una historia ni uno se siente como un extra y de verdad te encariñas con todos (obvio mi favorito es Kaz) 

"There's no time to constantly be apologizing for existing" 

Está secuela me gustó muchísimo más que el primero por qué siento que se desarrolló mucho más la dinámica de todos como grupo, lo acabo de terminar y ya los extraño 

"She had chosen to live freely as a killer rather than die as a slave" 

Y como desarrollo todos los romances UFFFFF, tengo a mi pareja favorita y no es la obvia,te amo Leigh bardugo aunque me hayas hecho llorar en las últimas 40pgs 

"No mourners
No funerals" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Trafficking, Torture, Pregnancy, Slavery, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

emeraldrose809's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Slavery

josiee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Rape, Blood, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Abandonment, Classism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I...wasn't expecting this to make me cry the way it did. The character all still being teenagers is still a sticking point for me--although, props to Leigh Bardugo, she did turn that into a little tongue-in-cheek joke in the book. But Bardugo handles both plot and character tension so well and balances them with each other so evenly that I could hardly bear to put the book down sometimes. My only, relatively minor issue is that, as an Asian person, I found the handling of the Shu (particularly events

around Wylan wearing Kuwei's face

) characters uncomfortable. But overall, Bardugo really stuck the landing with this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Trafficking, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia