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adamparrishlover's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death, Miscarriage, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Slavery
Minor: Drug use and Suicidal thoughts
sea_sea's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
Minor: War, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit
onefineelephant's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gaslighting, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Child death, Rape, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo is book one in the King of Scars duology, a continuation of the Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series. If you haven't read those yet, beware of spoilers for those series. I'm glad I picked this one up. I remember when this first came out people said is was slow or it wasn't good when compare with Six of Crows, but time has given me a gift. My opinions on Six of Crows is so clouded, that it impact how I feel about this book. I quite liked it.
This time we focus on Nikolai Lantsov, the King of Ravka, after the events of Shadow and Bone. We see him grapple with the monster inside him left by the Darkling. He struggles to control the beast, and seeks a ritual to rid him of it. We get to learn about Zoya's history in this book and get her point of view. I love that Bardugo never softens Zoya, and leans into her thirst for power. Nina Zenik is under cover in Fjerda helping persecuted Grisha and testing out her new powers granted by her use of jurda parem. I love Nina so much. I could read just about her. She gets to do some amazing things! Give me more Nina. And waffles.
I loved getting an inside look at Nikolai without all the bluster and charm he protects himself with, so we can see his insecurities and his doubts. It makes for some really great growth. As funny as Nikolai usually is, Davis stole the show with his dry, comedic timing, along with Genya. We get plenty of twists, some of which I saw coming and some of which I didn't.
Looking forward to Rule of Wolves.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Blood, Violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Death
jazzsilvestri's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Suicide attempt, and Addiction
prettynerdy3's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Child death
Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Slavery, and War
infjkiki's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Confinement, Blood, Violence, Gore, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Addiction and Drug use
Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Sexual assault, and Rape
math_scooter's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Grief, Animal death, War, Kidnapping, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Miscarriage, Alcohol, Genocide, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide
jessicaludden's review against another edition
- 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 loved being back in the Grishaverse and seeing what these characters are up to now. I loved the politics in this and there were definitely some plot twists I didn’t see coming. I really liked learning more about Nikolai and Zoya especially because we really didn’t get a lot from them in the books before. Of course I loved seeing Nina again, even if it meant hurting my heart every time she mentioned Matthias.
But I did feel like there was some pacing issues which caused a disconnect with the characters and the plot. I just couldn’t get into it and never really cared a huge amount about the characters. It was very slow in some parts and very repetitive which often left me feeling like I was reading parts that were unnecessary to the character and plot development. But overall, I’m excited to read the next one!
Minor: Sexism, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
joensign's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Addiction, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship