Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

34 reviews

veerau's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Well, what to say? I liked it way more than the original trilogy, but not as mich as SoC and CK... 

Despite it being Nikolai's book, the focus wanders between him and Nina's (seemingly?) disconnected storyline. I did like reading about the character Isaak and his struggles in his new "position" 👁

His death was something I wasn't prepared for though! I hoped to see him in the next book as well, then the stabbing happened </3

The only thing I didn't really like was the ending... 

Why bring back the Darkling, Elizaveta could have been great on her own hhhhhhh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, and Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy and Trafficking

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

gayghostprince's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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: Death, Child death, Body horror, Murder, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, War, Torture, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Infertility

there's a paragraph describing insects burrowing into skin. it's not pleasant, but not very graphic. the content warning for drug use is for a fantasy drug

crybabybea'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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Trafficking, Addiction, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Pregnancy, and Drug abuse

Minor: Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Child death, and Misogyny

kittykaz's review against another edition

adventurous 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

I usually find the GrishaVerse Books lacking the same effortlessness that drew me in the Crow Series and Bardugos writing in general, but this time, the story was still compelling enough to carry me through potential rough patches. Any other icks i might have with the plot itself are really just personal opinions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Trafficking

laurennicold's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage

chattycali's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

4.75

As with most of Leigh’s books, this is slow to start. May seem boring at first but is one of her best works. You want to start this duology if only for Zoya and Nikolais development in rule of wolves. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Trafficking

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

syllareads's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a reread for me so I sped through it at the speed of light to get to the second book in this trilogy, Rule of Wolves. I think I gave King of Scars a 5 star during my first read but my second read makes me want to deduct one star - it was still a very good read imo but it left me to desire something else from it I didn't get in the end.

This book follows well-known characters from the Grisha trilogy and one of our main characters from the Six of Crows duology, Nina Zenik. Thrust into the role of a king for a land on the brink of one catastrophe after the other, Nikolai Lantsov wrestles with far more than just his everyday share of problems ranging from petty noblemen to Ravka's empty coffers. The war has left his scars on him, both physically and mentally - and there's this tiny thing about him turning into a monster in the night, scaring goose herders shitless and almost killing his only loyal friends. Zoya Nazyalensky, Grisha and general to a crumbling throne, is one of those loyal friends, her memories of the past as sharp and jagged as a knife's edge in her mind - for she fears that forgetting will make her fall for another man's lies again, and again. Nina Zenik has travelled far to lay her love, Matthias Helvar, to rest in his own country - but on the way there she discovers something she cannot let go, as much as she would perhaps like to.

Bardugo's perspectives are always a joy to read, her characters' voices as distinct as humanly possible, her descriptions sharp and accurate. Nikolai and Nina were two of my favourite characters from previous installments in the Grishaverse to begin with and Zoya grew on me (even on my first read) of this book - my sympathies did not diminish during my reread. It was fascinating to read about how differently these three main characters handle grief and memories of the past. 

The one thing that I found a bit lacking (which I might have missed the first time around due to sheer excitement lol) was the ending itself - some parts of it felt a bit too hastily done without too much love and I found myself not being as emotionally invested in it as I would have liked. Still, I enjoyed the book almost as much as I did the first time around, and I cannot wait to start Rule of Wolves to finally get to the (as of now) end of the Grishaverse!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Grief, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Vomit