Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

45 reviews

luluslittlelibrary'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

3.5

I really liked this book more than I expected. The beginning is painfully slow, so it was hard to get into, but once things started moving at a faster pace, I was hooked. I loved getting to read Zoya and Nikolai's POVs for the first time. They both have very clear "voices" so it was super engaging to read from their perspectives. I would have also been interested in getting a POV from Genya or David as well in this book. 

I LOVE Nina's storyline. For me, I was a lot more interested in what was going on with her in Fjerda than I was with the others in Ravka. I'm not going to give any spoilers but I would recommend this to anyone interested in reading more about Nina and what she's doing as a Ravkan spy in Fjerda.

And then there's the sequel. I definitely liked Rule of Wolves more than King of Scars so I would recommend reading it even if you didn't love King of Scars (I think it is much better). Once again I love everything that happens with Nina (and Hanne!). And I think the connection between Zoya and Juris is very interesting. I'm not big on the storyline surrounding the darkling, I think it was interesting but maybe didn't belong in this book (?). Also, the ending is SO GOOD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Murder, Gore, Child death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Racism, Slavery, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

ghostofthegallows's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Great stand alone duology. It was a strange mix of fast and slow. A bit confusing as to what was going on but its very good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Torture, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Grief

madireadssometimes'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? It's complicated

4.5

The first half of the book was really everything I expected to happen. 

Then the mid point hits and both storylines are turned upsidedown. One in a fully unexpected way and the other in the most disturbing way possible. 

There were two twists later on that I easily predicted, but the last chapter took me fully by surprise. 

I love that the author put in a blatant Beauty and the Beast quote into one of her chapters. I loved the Romeo and Juliet style tragedy. I loved how healing after grief can take you by surprise. 

I am concerned I'm being queer baited. I would love for a good bi rep for a main character 💖

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse

lagiven'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? It's complicated

3.0

If I wasn't such a fan of Six of Crows, I wouldn't have read King of Scars. I loved returning to the Grishaverse and Bardugo's detailed worldbuilding and complicated plots. However, this book started out incredibly slow, and much of the last third of the book was too weird to enjoy much less understand. Zoya and Nina are amazing characters and stole the show from Nikolai which was great. The ending is so terrible that it cancels out most of the book's positives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Grief, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction and Child abuse

lainiereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD!!!!!
I had no clue what happened in this book before I read it, except that it had Nikolai and Zoya, and that people loved them. And both of those things were true. Plus, other great characters, and a lot of crazy plot twists, AND amazing quotes??? Perfect. 
The style of this story was so much more similar to the Shadow and Bone trilogy than the Six of Crows duology, and the only explanation I can provide for it is that the main location was Ravka again, and the tone of the story was more serious and grim than the heists of the crows. 
I did think that this book felt mostly like a set up for the next one, so I am really looking forward for the action in Rule of Wolves (which I also know nothing about). There was a lot of time spent as exposition for the main conflicts to come, but I still could not have predicted that the book would have ended the way it did. Leigh always knows how to keep me on my toes.
Also, the dialogue was amazing, as always. I mean, this story revolves around some of the funniest characters in the entire grishaverse, so what do you expect if not constant witty retorts? Like with the previous books, I found myself laughing out loud one chapter, and holding my breathe the next. 
I definitely recommend this book to fans of the Bardugo's other works, and I really look forward to reading Rule of Wolves. Since this one felt a bit like a set up for its sequel, I am hoping to get a new favorite out of that one. :)))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death, and Addiction

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Misogyny, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Child death, and Miscarriage

shetland_pone's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, and Slavery

tomi_delano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.0

An emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. I fell more and more in love with familiar characters and some new ones. I got very angry at other familiar characters. Spectacular writing from Leigh Bardugo as usual. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Xenophobia

Minor: Body shaming and Bullying

citymouse's review against another edition

3.0

Nina deserves to have her own series and her story entwined with Nikolai makes quite literally no sense. The book was good, but I would have preferred to see them as individual books rather than alternating between stories many lands apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Trafficking

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Infertility, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

gothicmoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

revisiting nikolai and zoya in their own stories, by a much more experienced author... i am overwhelmed. i loved the main characters of this story. recurring characters such as adrik, leoni, and the rest of the triumvirate remain weak and rather unmemorable as side characters.

not five stars because nina's story doesn't really connect with nikolai and zoya's. it just feels like two books smashed together, and even though i was interested in both, the cuts were annoying. i didn't want to put nikolai's story down nor nina's once i got back into it, but together they were disconnected. it doesn't help that nikolai's story branches into two later and the three stories just get in each other's way. 

nina is bi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicide, Trafficking, and Vomit

fairytaleriots's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is insane. Fun! But insane

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage