Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

39 reviews

catmac15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

one of my favs in the grishaverse! amazing plot twists, worldbuilding and character backstory/development. it was nice seeing what Nina did after the events of Crooked Kingdom and what she plans to do next. Nikolai and Zoya were very interesting and lovable in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy but it’s nice to see their own perspectives rather than their character from Alina’s point of view

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death, War, and Murder

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Pedophilia and Miscarriage

blueberry0531'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Addiction

Moderate: Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Sexism, and Drug use

Minor: Miscarriage

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

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.75

Ich gebe dem Buch gerade noch so 3,75 Sterne. Eigentlich war es ganz okay, aber irgendwas hat gefehlt. 
Nina war in diesem Buch wirklich ein Schatz. In den Krähen-Büchern fand ich sie okay und manchmal ein bisschen nervig, aber in diesem Buch hab ich sie geliebt.

nach allem was sie durchgemacht hat, verdient sie sich ihr happy end mit Hanne. Die zwei passen super zusammen. Ich wäre echt enttäuscht wenn die im nächsten Band nur "bffs" sind

Ich muss ganz ehrlich sagen, dass ich Zoya am Anfang dieses Buches auch teilweise nervig fand, aber ihr Wandel im Verlauf des Buches war einfach toll zu lesen. 
Nikolai war ein Charakter mit so viel ungenutztem Potential.

ich finde nicht, (wahrscheinlich als Einzige) dass Zoya und Nikolai zusammen passen. Ich wünsche mir irgendwie was anderes für ihre storyline. Irgendwie hätte ich es auch cool gefunden wenn Zoya Zarin geworden wäre. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass sie das gut kann. Ich mag Nikolai zwar, aber ich glaub nicht, dass er für die Rolle als Zar geeignet ist. Will aber auch nicht, dass er stirbt. Vielleicht kann er einfach abdanken und sich ein gemütliches Haus irgendwo warmes kaufen und da einfach chillen. Das hätte er sich verdient.

Genya war dieses mal eher ein Nebencharakter, war aber trotzdem super.

und jetzt zu meinem absoluten Liebling: Isaak. Bitte gib ihn uns zurück, Leigh. Der war einfach so knuffig. Wie konnte sie uns das nur antun!!!!!!

Ich glaub das große Problem dieses Buches was, dass alle Vorgänger so verdammt gut waren (vorallem die Charakter waren so richtig gut ausgearbeitet und in den Krähen-Büchern gab es auch etwas mehr Diversität als in den meisten Fantasy-Romanen. Ich wünschte, dass hätte Leigh Bardugo auch in diesen Roman fortgeführt, weil mich diese Repräsentation echt gefreut hat) , da konnte das Buch nur schwer mithalten. Auch den "plottwist" am Ende fand ich jetzt nich sonderlich gut oder überraschend. Die Übersetzung war aber dieses Mal echt Klasse! Großes Lob an Michelle Gyo <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Misogyny

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Child death, Confinement, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

maryjames's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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: Addiction, Blood, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexism and War

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, and Murder

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

The Darkling is gone and the Fold is destroyed, but this is Ravka, so nothing is ever easy. Fjerda and Shu Han are at Ravka’s borders, ready to exploit any weakness left by the civil war. The Kerch are already asking Ravka to pay its debts, but the nation will only need more money if they are to survive the coming battles. Miracles have been appearing all across Ravka, and while most of the devout take heart from the old saints, some believe that a new saint should be added to their ranks: the Starless One. Amidst this chaos, King Nikolai is still playing host to the shadow demon forced on him by the Darkling’s nichevo’ya, and it is becoming increasingly hard to hide. Zoya serves by his side, trying to keep her king safe—and others safe from him. Nina is dealing with her grief as best she can, but throwing herself into her work as a spy in Fjerda.

Okay I know that everyone loves the <i>Six of Crows</i> duology best in the Grishaverse but...I think I might actually prefer <i>King of Scars</i> and <i>Rule of Wolves</i> (review to come)! This book started out a little slow but picked right up and then I could NOT put it down. The tension between Nikolai and Zoya is immaculate, and literally any scene with Nikolai bantering with one of his friends makes my heart explode. Even more than that (if that’s possible), I loved Nina’s storyline as she deals with her grief and throws herself headlong into every dangerous situation she can find.

I am also obsessed with her relationship with Hanne...it might actually be my very favorite wlw relationship that I’ve read!

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

Cliffhanger, of course, because this is Leigh Bardugo and there’s a sequel on the way. Thank god I picked it up almost immediately!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

whatevertheysay's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Racism, and Slavery

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

I went into this book fully expecting it to be completely centred around Nikolai and for him to be the star of the show, but this was definitely not the case in a surprisingly good way. Instead, the female characters absolutely SHONE in this book and completely stole the show. They were just incredible. It was a joy to read from Nina's perspective again, but it was actually Zoya who I fell in love with. She's had such an incredible character arc over the course of the Grishaverse and that was really revealed and expanded upon in this book. She's such a bad ass and doing a much better job of being the main character than Nikolai is. 

Being back in the Grishaverse was a delight, but so was reading Bardugo's writing again. It is wonderfully descriptive, and her plot development here is truly on another level in comparison to Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. I really enjoyed seeing her expand her world-building, and she REALLY knows how to write incredible endings.

I docked a half-star for two reasons. The first is that I felt extremely disconnected from Nikolai, to the point where (shockingly, given he was one of my favourite characters in Shadow and Bone), I was dreading his POV chapters. The second is that for the first half of this book the plot felt a little directionless in that I didn't really know what the book was going to be about until like 250 pages in.

Also, the return of the Darkling kind of feels like a cheap enemy and I'm worried about how it's going to impact my enjoyment of Rule of Wolves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, and War

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit

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