Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Six of Crows: Sangue e Mentiras by Leigh Bardugo

95 reviews

bookishfads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

A fun ride of a book, can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Leigh Bardugo really redeemed herself of the boring protagonist of The Grisha Trilogy with this fun new cast of characters, each unique and interesting in their own way, not to mention how their dynamics play out in the crazy job they sign up for. Some parts are full of plot-armor that takes away from the cleverness of the story, but I suppose sometimes it can't be helped. My main issue was simply making one character (read: Kaz) too powerful and not really what the story set him up to be. I'm glad the author got inspired from her own experience with chronic pain, but Kaz's disability hardly affects the plot. It's just character cosmetics.
Still, I enjoyed this read and its perfect if you want to get to know a fun group of characters, read some snappy dialogue full of clever clap backs and see more of the Grishaverse.
 Read more about it in spoiler section below.

So why 4 stars? I took off .25 because the last part of the book kinda started to get a bit too plot-armory for the characters and the clever plans got less and less clever and the plot twists at some points were simply because information was left out to the reader. Lame.
Another .25 is Wylan. I really liked him and wanted to get to know more of him... shame the author didn't feel the same. Not a  single POV from a character who's supposedly member of the titled ensemble... For what? A cheap plot twist? Wylan's reading disability would have been just as effective in the middle as it was at the end of the book.
 
Half a star is taken away because of Kaz Brekker.
Let's start with this age - 17! And he's this edgy criminal mastermind at 17. Ugh, it YA, I get it, marketing and all that, but making him 20 at least wouldn't have scared the teenagers away, trust me. Age aside, Kaz is so full of edge (some other characters had straight up edgy sentences torn from a local emo's diary, but Kaz takes the cake) it actually disrupted my immersion in the story and made me snort back a frustrated laugh. I can't take seriously this edge lord, who apparently first got arrested at age of 12.
Then his whole skill set is all over the place. Okay, he's the mastermind with neat sleight of hand and lock picking abilities. How come he can take down a dude who strangled a wolf with his bare hands?? With a disabled leg?? Okay, maybe the way he did it was plausible, but that still doesn't justify making Kaz good at everything just because the author wants you to think hes So Kewl! One scene - he hardly climbes up to third floor, another- he's running around and fighting and - you've guessed it - it has no impact on the plot at all. 
Kaz's weaknesses would have been so cool to explore: the touch aversion, injured leg, obsession with revenge and control, but they get swept aside to show us another clever triumph of Kazzle Dazzle. I really want to like him, but so far his comebacks, thieving tips and romance with Inej are the only fun part of the character, otherwise he's an edgy killjoy that course-corrects the plot just when it's about to get interesting.
Man just look at that paragraph.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, Hate crime, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Sexual assault

Plot revolves around an intense drug for magic users, throughout the story there's lots of forced usage of the drug and description of bodies of addicts. A character tortures and kills someone for information, quite graphic. There's also mentions of torture in prison. The aftermath of a hate crime over a fictional race is described and it happens quite suddenly - they're burned at the stake. A character gets trafficked as a little girl and sold into sexual slavery, the scene where she's sold is quite detailed, however the rest of it is vague mentions.

Moderate warnings:

A parent of a character hates them due to their learning disorder and calls them a mistake and many other hurtful things. A character who has had a radical religious upbringing defends an extremist ideology to another character. Character often get into violent situations and get injured, nothing too disturbing, but occasionally something graphic will pop up.

Minor warnings:

A character vomits out a necessary tool. It is brief and glossed over, but still to be considered. A female character has been trafficked and used for prostitution, therefore raped many times, which is mentioned, but never explicitly shown.

joslynmyers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Child death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Addiction, and War

Minor: Death of parent, Sexism, and Vomit

mckiheather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Torture, Cultural appropriation, Death, Slavery, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

vzarlb'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

as good as i remember

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Gun violence, Child death, Trafficking, and Hate crime

Minor: Cursing, Torture, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ofinkandscales's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Spoiler-free TL;DR Review:
This book is phenomenal, each character is well written, the pacing is great, and it will absolutely tug at your heartstrings at times.

Spoiler Review:

I originally got into this book because of my love for the Netflix series (#SaveShadowandBone) and boy do I regret not reading this sooner. Kaz Brekker will always be my favorite, the deadliest boy in all of Ketterdam. Of all the scenes in the entire book, the scene with the Crows riding the stolen tank through the Fjerdan streets, the sense of "this is it, we did it" had me in tears because for the entire book, everyone doubted this ragtag group of criminals kids, and despite all the doubters, /they did it/. And just as soon as they did it, it all went kettle up and now I can't wait to get into Crooked Kingdom. Even if I hadn't seen the show first, I believe I still would've fallen in love with this world of criminals and heists, each character is so well written, no one is flat and each one pops off the page as if they were a real, flesh and blood person. The way Leigh Bardugo describes her scenes makes the entire thing similar to a movie; the electric feeling of Nina taking the jurda parem and her power being felt by all, even the reader, the feeling of Jordie's bloated and slippery flesh under Kaz's hands, the turmoil Matthias feels between loyalty to his country or the girl he loves, and the feeling of walking through miles of snow and ice with only the promise of riches keeping you going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Trafficking, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Addiction, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit and Sexual assault

The entire book revolves around a heist between a crew in Ketterdam and the country of Fjerda. Those who reside in Fjerda have a rank of people known as Druskelle who use religion as a justification for eradicating the Grisha simply for being different. The Fjerdans regularly claim Grisha are less than dogs, are monsters, etc. One of the main characters is kidnapped and trafficked into a brothel and forced to "work down" her debt. One of the main characters has deep trauma and suicidal thoughts at times. One character deals with addiction, and another deals with an abusive family. Gore is described in detail.

eemi42's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

Reading Six of Crows is a somewhat similar experience to reading Dune in that there is a lot of vocab and world building to get used to, but it's worth it to stick with it.

The characters are loveable

and I like rooting for the couples that formed—Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, and especially Nina and Jesper.

Also, I found the Grisha vs. Fjerdan conflict very compelling and relevant.

It took me quite some time to get used to the world,

but things really pick up in the final 25%. Things would appear to go wrong and I'd get very stressed, only for it to be revealed that it was part of the plan all along. (Inej getting detained at the gate). There are many loose ends that make me want to acquire and read the second book immediately

I thought the constant switching of perspective would get annoying, but it was masterfully done and didn't detract from the story—only added to it.

Can't wait to read Crooked Kingdom!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Murder, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Death, Genocide, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault, War, Sexual harassment, and Trafficking

bookishperseus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, War, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Body horror, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Death of parent, Genocide, Misogyny, Blood, Deportation, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Child abuse, Vomit, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Cursing

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Trafficking, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Rape, Death, Addiction, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, War, Xenophobia, Sexism, and Vomit

terezasuchan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Violence and Vomit

Minor: Child death

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Trafficking

Moderate: Racism, Vomit, Torture, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Cursing