Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

32 reviews

marine2907's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Misogyny, and Trafficking

chloenrogers's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

The first book in the Grishaverse that I haven’t been totally in love with. The plot felt somehow crowded and slow and the same time and could have benefitted from having Nina’s story in a separate novel. I’m not totally sure what it is about this instalment but it just never clicked with me, even though it features some of my favourite characters. I’m so used to feeling high stakes from the Grishaverse but this, unfortunately, fell flat. I feel like so much happened, yet the characters remained essentially the same as at the start as we got very little time with any of them beyond surface level observations. There was also next to no romance (or there is but there’s little chemistry compared to the other books)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Slavery, Addiction, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Child death

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, War, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Vomit

siennakt30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

lethukhanyile's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Addiction, Miscarriage, and Trafficking

meg_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.25

Overall I enjoyed this book and just really love anything within the Grishaverse. I will say, I was not expecting the plot to take the turn it did because I honestly was expecting the main focus of the book to be Nikolai navigating the political dynamics within his invitation to his neighboring countries to Ravka while keeping his infliction a secret, but when he and Zoya disappeared into the fold, it became less interesting to me. The whole plot point with the saints was just not something I enjoyed personally, but it ended in such a way that kept me interested and intrigued. Also I am super invested in Nina's plot line and the twist that occurred closer to the end of the book regarding who she encounters. 

The thing I loved most about this book was the characters and their development, which is honestly what I love about Leigh Bardugo's writing and the Grishaverse as a whole. After reading this story I am absolutely obsessed with Zoya as a character. She is such a powerful female character who does not apologize for taking up space or occupying her positions of power and simultaneously does not shy away from her femininity which I love. She is also full of female rage which is relatable and endears her to me even more. Beyond that, I found her storyline and her process of managing her grief throughout this story was so well done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Trafficking, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

jessy_caca'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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence

jupitermond's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Addiction, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Child abuse

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