Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

12 reviews

litliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Graphic: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.5

I had an awful reading slump whilst reading this book and I feel like that may have affected my rating for this book (Even though I am giving it 5 stars, it is more of a just about 4.5 stars because of the reading slump and the reading slump only type of situation) but even with that I still majorly enjoyed this and my reading experience cemented the Grishaverse series and particularly the Six of Crows duology as some of my favourite series of books. If I had been more consistent with reading I would have liked Crooked Kingdom even more than I already do. 

I absolutely love the Crows and their dynamics with one another. It expanded on them even more from Six of Crows, particularly with the relationships of Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, Jesper and Kaz, Nina and Inej etc. It was so fun seeing all of the characters continue to flourish and to expand upon their already established relationships as well as build new ones and it was one of the main things that kept me coming back even with my reading slump in full force. I liked the endings we got for our Crows as they felt both satisfying and open-ended enough to allow for a sequel or for them to show up in other stories like Nina in the King of Scars duology. 

The plot, while I don't think I loved it as much as the Ice Court heist, was still very interesting and was not what I expected going off of the ending of Six of Crows and where this book started off as the plot twists felt cleverly planned out and implemented without feeling like they were done to simply progress the story lazily. The last part of the book - Part 6: Action & Echo - was extremely interesting and one of my favourite parts of the boom because the chaos flowed very nicely to make it an unpredictable, fun, and memorable reading experience. Matthias' death was unexpected and while it wasn't extremely emotional for me as Matthias is one of my lesser favourite Crows (though I do still really like him as a character), it was still effectively done and I'm interested in seeing how this will affect Nina's story going into King of Scars. 

Overall, I really liked this book and while I do feel like reading this through a reading slump affected my opinion on the book, though to no fault of the book, I think it was very successful and met my expectations on how to end this duology yet left it in an interesting place to open up into another book to make it a trilogy, which I would not be totally against. I'm most likely going to continue on with my Grishaverse binge and read Nikolai's duology with Zoya and Nina, King of Scars, next as well as hopefully soon rewatch season 1 of Shadow and Bone as well as finally watch season 2 for the first time as I've been waiting until I finished this book as I have been unsure whether or not they included elements of this and Six of Crows into season 2 or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Misogyny, Terminal illness, War, Sexual violence, Child death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Mental illness, Racism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit, Ableism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

lelekochka'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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, Murder, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Grief, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Genocide, Torture, and Kidnapping

mlottermoser's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

After their last victorious job, the six crows return to Kerch to be paid. They are viciously betrayed and the wraith is taken captive. The book starts slowly but ends with a big finish. A fun mix between Sherlock Holmes scheming, Robin Hood’s den of thieves, and magic. 
Kaz has sworn to take Rollins and Van Eck down. Plans may change, but the team works together. The Wraith is my favorite, but you have to love Nina and Mathias coming together. Opposites attract.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder, Rape, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Kidnapping, Slavery, Bullying, and Sexual assault

anniereads221's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Drug use, Chronic illness, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Violence, Slavery, and Grief

narayan'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Murder, and Slavery

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Violence

brokoli's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

martynelson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

alexxm13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

  i am speechless, i am emotional. wtf amazing incredible i am shocked, the ending was so satisfying to see pekka be scared so much that he has to constantly move homes with his fear of the crows getting him, with inej about to stab him with the help of kaz unlocking the lock to his bedroom window a power duo!! kaz holding inej’s hand WITHOUT GLOVES…YES I AM CRYING FUCK. also jan van eck can suck it in prison that’s what u deserve for planning to kill the cutest boy wylan, thankfully jesper is there to defend him and read to wylan which is so cute. also jesper’s dad mr colm fahey i love you. now the pain…matthias…u are alive idc u are alive and u did not die to a fjerdan child saying that u are wrong because u realised it’s okay to love a grisha and to not fear them, the character development i’m looking at u leigh that was incredible and how much u wanted to destroy me, chapter 40-43 u gave me so much pain i couldn’t read the words even with my glasses on as my eyes were just filled with tears. the way the last words matthias was to nina and to find peace with the fjerdans and grisha and how they can change to be like him let me sit here and scream, “i have been made to protect you. even in death, i will find a way.” ALSO matthias’s last line saying he is already home in ketterdam with grisha’s surrounding him IS SO POWERFUL BYE. and u telling me the first and last chapter of matthias was about dreaming of nina. u can’t do that to me. nina deserved to be happy instead she was served with a dead matthias which is sad that her power is bringing the dead back to help her fight but can’t save matthias…yes pain. leigh really said let’s give alex pain and kill a crow within the last chapters cause why not but to hurt me and nina. 5 stars, i love i don’t know compared to soc as they are both top tier books especially fantasy top tier that this duology shouldn’t even complete with other fantasy books out there, leigh u win with the crows and their money, also money… kaz buying inej a ship that says wraith on it and then have a showcase on the ship with inej seeing her parents after so many years and FUCK I LOVE KAZ. jesper living with wylan and colm being the wholesome dad he is letting jes live with wylan and can visit the farm and accept being a grisha which hello is awesome with that bullet scene to kuwei (who surprise was happy enough to kiss jes and wylan being a jelly mess) anyways clapping for leigh and her amazing work on this duology that s&b can’t compare thank you, no waiting for s2 of the show :)))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, and War