Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

12 reviews

ladygetslit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

It took me too long to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked! King of Scars starts off with two storylines that pick up where Crooked Kingdom left off: Nina Zenik and a crew of disguised Grisha are trying to gather intel and rescue Grisha in Fjierda; meanwhile, King Nikolai Lantzov and the inimitable Zoya Nazyalenski navigate the tribulations of running a war-torn country while coping with Nikolai’s teensy little demon problem. 

The strength of this book lies in the world itself and the complexity of the characters. In the Shadow and Bone books, Zoya is… kind of a b****, but here we see that it’s her coping mechanism for all the nasty stuff she’s been through. Nina’s dealing with her grief

from losing Matthias

and trying to find her purpose now that her powers have changed forever. In a way, every character is confronting their demons in this book, but the heaviness is broken up by the hilarious banter between Nikolai and Zoya that has me dying for more. 

Where the book falls short for me is in the pacing. Even though I was invested in the characters, the pacing in the beginning felt too slow, and I wasn’t able to feel intrigued until about 1/3 of the way into the book. Perhaps this is just the nature of a story that relies a lot on political intrigue, which requires a lot of exposition. That being said, the payoff was well worth waiting to get really into this. I read the last 2/3 of the book in 3 days because I could hardly put it down! Overall, this is one of the best books in the Grishaverse and I would read anything Leigh Bardugo writes at this point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Ableism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Genocide, Suicide, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail

ashleighamble's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I love the characters, world, and magic, and I think that's what made this book enjoyable for me. 

My issue is that the plot was not engaging or worthwhile. It was a little unclear why things happened the way they did and while I liked the multiple big sub-plots that were engaging, yet the main one was just weird and felt unnatural. I'm not sure how to explain it properly. I say this with every book I've read recently: I enjoyed reading it, but I will likely forget about it the second I pick up another book. I'm just slightly disappointed and not one bit starstruck.

I also want to note that I like the characters they introduced and the backstory for Zoya and Nikolai (my favorite pair <3).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Violence, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility, War, and Miscarriage

math_scooter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Leigh Bardugo er muligvis vores tids bedste forfatter fr. Jeg elskede at læse om de diplomatiske problematikker og de realistiske forhold mellem landende mere end jeg havde troet jeg ville. Mathias forevigt i mit hjerte, og Isaak vil ikke blive glemt.

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Content Warnings

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

lis4so's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Drug use, Gun violence, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Addiction, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, War, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Slavery

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Rape, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, War, Torture, Slavery, and Vomit

spaghettii'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, War, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Child death, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexism, Death, Drug use, and Torture

kredeprnz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Murder, Death, Drug use, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Medical content, Grief, Torture, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

nenya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I read this book after having read the Six of Crows duology, being excited to continue the Grishaverse. I would not say that I was disappointed but it wasn't entirely what I had expected. The only crow it focusses on is Nina Zenik (who is an icon, I love her with all my heart, don't get me wrong) which is amazing, because she is so developed, driven by her grief and ready to seek revenge -

it is beyond fulfilling to see her get it not only for her but also for the dead women and children by having them speak their truth and avenge themselves through her power

, but I did wish for some insight of how the other crows have been going on. Apart from that, the plot was great and the writing very true to Bardugo but I do feel like it can not entirely match the atmosphere and brilliance of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Nevertheless, the ending took some turns I did not expect and left me pretty shocked. I'm most definitely excited to read the sequel!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Medical content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Violence, War, Addiction, Misogyny, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Miscarriage, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Infertility, Suicide, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Vomit

ali_debookness's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Self harm, Slavery, and War

astoryofpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.75

An interesting plot, but a few lengths that sometimes makes reading a bit boring. I was glad to find Nikolai, Zoya, Nina and the crew again! And this ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Death

megloveswords12's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Suicide

Moderate: Pregnancy