Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

16 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

durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Nikolai knew. He was a king who had only begun to make mistakes. He was a soldier for whom the war would never be over. He was a bastard left alone in the woods. And he was not afraid to die this day.

Oh wow, this book. 🤯🤯🤯 Leigh Bardugo just keeps on writing masterpieces. I was so excited for this book since, you know, Nikolai, duh🤭. Honestly at the beginning I was a little bit disappointed, I thought he was better in Siege and Storm. But, actually, the characters were consistent. We get to see another side to Nikolai, a more vulnerable and deep side and I loved it! I also despised Zoya before, but she's had her reasons for being a stone-cold witch. And in this book she is forced to face her past and because of that she became all the more powerful. I loved her POV, and as always with Leigh's characters - it was downright tragic. 

All the POVs in the book were awesome, and so was the writing. Nina being a spy was just - that girl kicks ass dude!! I liked how Nina embraces her "new" powers and the grief written in this book was completely heartbreaking 💔. Reading about her transitioning between characters reminded me of Nikolai in Siege and Storm again. I loved Adrik and Leoni, and how they're the total opposite of each other. Once again, Ms Bardugo teaches you about trauma, in this case about the two very different ways people handle them. Having Hanne in the storyline added a new vantage point, from the Fjerdans who were stuck in their customs. I was skeptical about Isaak, but he did the job well, so he's good. Princess Ehri, OH MY GOD. (I can't say much more without spoiling anything, so I'll just leave it at that.) 😉 

Another thing I absolutely adored: When the characters mention "the couple who runs the orphanage" and the crows, I sort of get nostalgic (?) Especially when Nina said she wished Inej was there, I STAN THEIR FRIENDHIP!!! 😍 Towards the end, plot twists kept coming like one of those automatic gun machines🔫. There is no way anyone could have guessed them. Or maybe I'm just naive, whatever. Anyway, the characters were developed so, so well. Even though you're not a total bada** like they are, you'll find yourself relating to parts of their stories, which makes them attach to yourself like super glue 😎 So much themes were discussed: Fjerdan bigotry, sexism, feminism, abandonment, child marriage, grief, and of course, facing your demons. 

This book was everything I imagined and please please, Rule of Wolves, don't disappoint me. I can't wait to see more of Zoyalai and just everything else! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional 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

ellieprb05's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage

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

emmagrace's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Drug abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, and Gore

Moderate: Genocide, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage, Cursing, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry