Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

332 reviews

just_a_bibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

After having this book sitting on my shelf for the past few months, I finally decided to pick it up before the next Shadow and Bone series comes out on Netflix, and in all honesty, I don't know why I was putting off reading this for so long. I found Six of Crows so incredibly slow and hard to get in to, but there was something about Crooked Kingdom that was just a billion times better. Following on from Six of Crows, the next book in this duology continues Kaz and his crew's story, with the six back on the streets of Ketterdam.

The world-building was BEAUTIFUL. I think especially as this is the fifth Grishaverse book I've read now, I really appreciated how the whole world is just so intricately detailed and well thought out. There's something so magical about it all.

The characters were where things really got interesting. I adored all six of them. I felt like the characters had been developed on such a new level in Crooked Kingdom - we really got to understand them and their motives, and they all had such distinctive traits and quirks.  They all had such compelling friendships and relationships with each other, and again, it was just truly magical to read about. The sheer complexity of some of these relationships was explored in such a clever way, and I really loved how all of the characters had their own unique ways of expressing themselves and their love for each other. The six of them together had such a powerful dyanmic.

While I did think some parts of it dragged a little too much, it did feel like such an incredible amount happened in this. It was absolutely full of twists and turns and everything unexpected and spontaneous, definitely keeping me on my toes. On the flip side, I did think that other parts were skimmed over way too quickly

, such as the death of a certain someone

, so for me, the pacing was slightly off generally: some parts too slow, some too fast. My only other complaint was that there was just something lacking in this. I'm honestly struggling put my finger on it, but I felt the same way about Six of Crows, there was just something missing from this that made me not entirely love it as much as I could have. I think maybe it's the lack of connection I feel I have with the characters? As much as I love reading about them, I just didn't feel I could truly empathise with them in the way that I usually can with other characters. As irritating as this is, I do absolutely adore these characters' stories and individual developments throughout the whole duology.

Absolutely worth a read for any fantasy fan, and I'm actually quite interested in reading some of the next Grishaverse books after this.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Sexual assault

kendal_reads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism and Kidnapping

Minor: Forced institutionalization

riverlasol's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Violence

Moderate: Ableism and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

brekker_by_brekker'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Torture

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

10/10. I loved this book so much. Definitely my favorite Leigh Bardugo book that I've read so far. I laughed, I cried (especially at the end), and I gasped. I love found family books, especially fantasy ones so this was definitely up my alley. Since I'm such an avid reader, I don't usually get surprised by plot points but I loved that with this book, I never knew where it was going next. Wylan, Jesper, Nina, Matthias, Kaz, and Inej will have my heart forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

infjkiki's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Trafficking

Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Addiction and Classism

dkaps's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

luv_emery's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Addiction and Torture

kiwigon's review against another edition

adventurous 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

 I dont think I've ever loved a book series more than the six of crows duology. Crooked Kingdom is truly a fantastic book that I'll be thinking of for a long time. An absolutely deserved 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Ableism

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism