Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

117 reviews

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

The emotional whiplash that this book has left me with is astounding. Leigh Bardugo has perfectly crafted the Grishaverse and has perfectly tied in character history with the other books in the series. This one broke my heart and gave me hope for future books in the best way. 

This book follows Nikolai, Zoya and Nina and takes place 3 years after the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and a year after the Six of Crows duology. All three of these characters are aome of my absolut  favourites from this series.

As someone who loved Zoya from book one of Shadow and Bone, rightly or wrongly, this was more her book than Nikolai's story. This gave her already tenacious character a brutal backstory and an awe-inspiring yet tragic redemption. This gives us understanding of who she is and why. I am honestly in love with her.

This book, from the Triumvirate's perspective, and Zoya and Nikolai's perspectives turned the whole Grishaverse on its head and the second that happened I was lost in the story in the best way possible.

Nina's character has always been a law unto herself, but her story in this felt disconnected from the rest of it. I feel Nina, Adrik and Leoni could have done with their own spin-off really however I did love learning more about their characters and recognising the references to previous books.

However, I am very confused as to what happened with the men from the very start of the story. Maybe I misread that bit but the whole time I was asking where they went and if they ever made it to Ravka.

That ending honestly has me in a spin, what an absolutely genius yet evil way to end a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, War, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Body horror

eguare's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

3.75

I enjoyed this more than the original Shadow & Bone trilogy, not as much as the Six of Crows duology. This book was a happy return for beloved characters, but I wasn't always happy with where they went.

While I loved hearing more from Nina, I was heartbroken that the found family of the Crows broke up so thoroughly after Crooked Kingdom. It was also too soon after Matthias to enjoy Nina's burgeoning tension with Hanne (though I adore that Nina is canonically bisexual).

I loved seeing Nikolai and Zoya continue to develop

both independently and together

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Gun violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Dysphoria

alyssadavis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

“Zoya of the lost city. Zoya of the garden. Zoya bleeding in the snow. You are strong enough to survive the fall.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Addiction, Murder, War, Abandonment, Violence, Child abuse, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Rape

fantasycat'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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Grief, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: War, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Child death

danicakvcs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Murder, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, and Child death

Minor: Suicide attempt and Fire/Fire injury

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Drug use, Violence, War, Sexism, and Drug abuse

serendipity421's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Pregnancy, Addiction, Drug use, Murder, Violence, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Murder, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal death, Child death, Miscarriage, Medical content, War, and Pedophilia

goldensnitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

A heartbreaking and exciting story of how a young woman grapples with the loss of her love, a king's discovery of the demon within, and a Grisha who leads as a General. Love and loss cultivate in this book and allow you to understand how much loss can get to a person and what lengths a person will go to to retrieve or restore that love. Adventure that gives way to capture, a wayward king who wishes for something he cannot have. Betrayal and pain are frequent throughout this amazing story. Backgrounds of beloved characters are finally revealed and an alliance between a king and a princess could be in the works. If you've read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, you'll love this novel, a continuation with the same characters and some new ones as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and War

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Torture, Blood, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, War, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Vomit and Xenophobia