Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Crooked Kingdom

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

44 reviews

annapolly14's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

leigh bardugo give nina and matthias one moment of peace challenge

Content Warnings

leahfoko's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

I love the crows and I loved this book. I knew I would because I liked the first one, and I really enjoy all the heists and seeing all the twists and turns and wondering how things are going to play out etc. This duology is so exciting and I am wondering at every step what is going to happen next. There’s just so much going on and figuring out Kaz’s schemes as they unfold is just so much fun. If you like a morally questionable crew carrying out heists and developing as friends along the way, you will like this series. I felt like this book wrapped everything up really well but also stood well on its own. And boy was watching Van Eck get his comeuppance at the end damn satisfying.

I am really, really glad that I decided to read the sequel after reading the Shadow and Bone series. The Six of Crows was the first book that I ever read in the series, it was recommended to me by a friend and I really liked the first book. When I watched Season 1 of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, it made me want to read the original series as well, which I hadn’t been sure of at first because I had heard it wasn’t as good (Leigh Bardugo herself says there are things she wishes she had changed and such). While this duology can definitely stand on it’s own and by no means do you have to read the original series in order to enjoy this one, if you are at all considering reading the original trilogy then I suggest doing so before reading this duology but especially before reading this book. Some of the characters from the original series show up in this book and again, you don’t need to read the originals to enjoy the book, but I enjoyed it so much more knowing who those characters were beforehand. I was so much more invested when they appeared, so if you’re wanting to read the original series then definitely do so first. It’ll be worth it.

Also DUDE THE STURMHOND CAMEO. I totally thought that he would show up somehow because I mean, he’s a privateer and Nina was a student during the civil war and was trained by Zoya and Genya. Like, of course he was going to be in it. And of course those two would be too. But yet I still absolutely shrieked when he showed up because I would die for Nikolai I love him so much. 10/10 cameo. It was so perfect and I adored his conversation with Kaz and Kaz seeing right through the disguise because of course he did. Perfect. Best part of the book.

I really liked this book, I thought it was super creative and thought out. I was so impressed with how the heists were planned out. If Kaz is a genius for scheming them, then Leigh Bardugo is a genius for creating Kaz and therefore also the schemes. Like damn girl you smart. The characters are flawed but extremely lovable and I thought they all got a really nice ending. Someday I want to read both the books in this duology again because the heists are so elaborate I think they would still be enjoyable to read a second time.

Content Warnings

ynkm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

riverlasol's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

OH MY GOD. I have no way to actually say this other than I am wrecked. I’ve never sobbed over a book…until today. I’ve cried but never SOBBED like I did for this ending. I took my time with this duology despite how addictive it is (mostly cuz school ugh) but that also meant I really got the sit with these characters and at this point, they just mean so much to me. I loved how sharp this book was, how witty and clever, the moments of levity were perfectly placed and the moments of sadness, of human desperation, of human love, they were all so powerful. I know this is a popular book and that it isn’t perfect (no book is) but it really is one of my favorite things I have read and it was more than a little life changing for me.

Content Warnings

shalladin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

aryaa_05's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

mary_do_12's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

„I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together —knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do, we never stop fighting.“

This book quite literally clenched my soul, wrenched it, and threw it out of the window. I don’t have any words to describe how amazingly this is written, not to mention the brilliantly created plot line. Leigh Bardugo, you have all my respect and admiration. And the way you not only created an incredible story, but brought this incredible sense of humor in it, is simply unbelievable.

As someone whose native language is not english, this was hard to read at times. I usually don’t have problems with english books, in fact, they’re all I read, but the vocabulary in this series was just a little different. This is something that I discovered in the Shadow and Bone series too, but I think that‘s a sign of the greatness of the writing. There is so much happening in these books, it’s hard to comprehend for me sometimes. And I think I’m not smart enough (or at least I wasn’t putting enough effort in) to fully understand every move they were scheming. Goodness, how could I, these people are brilliant. The world Bardugo managed to create is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever and I can’t get around being so grateful for being able to spend some time with these amazing characters.

We don’t even have to talk about
Kaz, he’s simply a genius. Much more than that, he’s a character you cannot help but sympathizing with, despite his questionable actions. Just like the other characters, he is neither fully good nor fully bad but I think that makes him even more lovable. Seeing more vulnerable parts of him, especially in this book, shifts the readers perspective a bit and helps to see what is behind that clever boy that managed to not only change but almost reign certain parts of his world at such a young age. Seeing his trauma and how he had to deal with it makes me admire him even more.

Inej. My beloved Inej. The amount of strength she has is out of this world. Her character is one of the best written ones I’ve ever read about. The way she described fear holds so much power, dang it, she holds so much power. I love that she was the first one directly involved in their plans and the way she was so close to Kaz from the beginning. Now some may say Kaz never trusted anyone fully and yes, even she didn’t know all about him, especially in the beginning. I feel like both of them were still loners, even when they got closer. But considering that Kaz was always really cautious about who he trusted, the fact that he himself said that he trusted her speaks so much more. The way they cared about each other even as independent thieves and fighters melts my heart. Also, the scene where he helped her with her bandages was just- AEKGDJABABSB
Sorry. Had to let that out. Those two human beings have my whole heart.

Nina is straight up a badass. She was from the very beginning and not only I admit that I wish to be like her, the others did too. I love when they talked about something they were not super good at and said they wished to be as good as another character. I love how in her relationship with Matthias, she was being the more dominant one at times and I love her bravery and how she stuck with her values even when he had different ones. Her rescuing him even though he was really freaking mad at her shows just how much she stands by her promises and beliefs. I mean, do we even have to talk about their relationship? The banter, the anger, yes, maybe the toxicity, but DANG they did that shit so well.

Matthias. Oh goodness, Matthias. I like how they author gave everyone different opinions and values, I like that Inej and and Matthias believed in a god and that even though the others didn’t agree with them, they still respected their beliefs. I have to admit, Matthias had questionable values to me at the start but I love that because it makes me develop a kind of respect for him and not reducing him to his opinions.

I really didn’t expect him to die at all, and it broke my heart. He had so much character development and all that for nothing? And the fact that him maturing, changing his opinions and moving away from things that he realized were wrong cost him his life in the end? Heartbreaking. He could’ve died at any point in the missions but it had to be at the very end, by someone he once was, too. And what all that did to Nina? I don’t even wanna imagine. Goodness, they’re all so strong.

Jesper. I feel like he has similarities with Kenji from Shatter Me and I don’t know why. I mean, they don’t have the same sense of humor or whatever. Maybe it’s his connection to Kaz. Him being the only one who had contact to his loving father made him different from the others. I like that he thought he was kind of spoiled because of that, even when it’s definitely not true. He went through so much, too. I like his flaws, the fact that he tried to hide his gift and made it seem like he was fine to the others. He was stronger than he thought.

Wylan. Wylan was just the innocent little guy that somehow got caught up in a dangerous heist and wasn’t able to get out of it after. I like that he was kind of an outsider in the group because he really didn‘t like doing bad stuff but I also like that he changed and somehow became a little bit more morally grey. Still, his innocence stuck with him and made him different. My view on him really changed during this book as I saw more of what his father had done to him. That poor guy.

Summed up, this book was perfection. No arguments. Go read it. Right now.

Content Warnings