Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Six of Crows: Sangue e Mentiras by Leigh Bardugo

102 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.

theresamothinmyroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Violence, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Cursing, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Body shaming

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

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Murder, Kidnapping, Torture, Physical abuse, Gore, Cursing, Sexual violence, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, Religious bigotry, and Cursing

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

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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: Gun violence, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Medical trauma, Grief, Blood, Death, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Trafficking, Slavery, and Sexual content

sagerust's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Trafficking

specklethecrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry

kiwisandtea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? No

5.0

Third read and still one of my all time favorite books. The world building is incredible and smoothly integrated, as are the flashbacks/background for all the characters. I absolutely love the diversity in this book, the strongly built characters, and how fantastically well written they are. Even as a reread, the plot is thrilling and the twists and turns are still exciting. The found family aspect of a ragtag group of teens who couldn't be any more different from each other is so heartwarming. I could sing this book's praises for ages. There are many darker themes, so check your trigger warnings, but it is absolutely worth it in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, Murder, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gun violence

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Grief

Minor: Classism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Kidnapping, Ableism, and Child abuse

laurenkgrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail