Reviews tagging 'Torture'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

37 reviews

readwithsophsx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Grief, Drug abuse, Blood, Deportation, Kidnapping, Confinement, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Death, Murder, War, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Addiction

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I absolutely loved the Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom duology, it was beautifully crafted. I was very excited to dive back into the Grishaverse again but King of Scars just wasn't it for me. It felt like a hard left from the previous series, the pacing was tough, and the Nikolai & Zoya chapters (2/3 of the book) just weren't engaging enough to make me want to see where things would go. I'm also generally not a fan of

dead villains/resolved challenges coming back, it feels uninspired and repetitive

. 

That being said, I really loved most aspects of Nina's storyline. It felt true to character, the pacing was good, and I loved the story. 

#ReadThisForNinaZenik

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, and Torture

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

emilywemily6'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I adored this book. While I like the idea of the multiple POV’s, I didn’t like Isaak’s perspective because I knew something bad would happen (call it foreshadowing). I also didn’t feel like Nina’s perspective was as needed in the entire plot. I still enjoyed all of the perspectives and seeing where the story went- lots of twists and turns so I didn’t know where the story was going, which was fun. And man, that cliffhanger!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Racism, Classism, and Death

soph22's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Genocide, Racism, Kidnapping, Ableism, Physical abuse, Blood, Pregnancy, Death, Child death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Gun violence

emilia_thereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Body horror, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship

themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Torture, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Child abuse, and Animal death

s1x0fh03s's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

gripping and vivid storytelling, the descriptions of grief and loss were so expertly written, Bardugo completely describes the effects of the civil war on both a societal and personal level

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, War, and Violence

goldensnitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

A heartbreaking and exciting story of how a young woman grapples with the loss of her love, a king's discovery of the demon within, and a Grisha who leads as a General. Love and loss cultivate in this book and allow you to understand how much loss can get to a person and what lengths a person will go to to retrieve or restore that love. Adventure that gives way to capture, a wayward king who wishes for something he cannot have. Betrayal and pain are frequent throughout this amazing story. Backgrounds of beloved characters are finally revealed and an alliance between a king and a princess could be in the works. If you've read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, you'll love this novel, a continuation with the same characters and some new ones as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and War

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Torture, Blood, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, War, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Vomit and Xenophobia

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

OH MY GOODNESS!!! The story continues!!! This book is a little hard to get into in the beginning, but it is amazing to finally see Zoya and Nikolais perspectives! Also how Nina’s life continues after Matthias ;-; It definitely picks up towards the end! It was a little confusing that Ninas and Nikolai+ Zoyas Plots were handled simultaneously in the book, because they had almost nothing to do with each other. Overall a good book! :> 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit