Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

199 reviews

nataliebootlah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

Normally being trapped on the tarmac of an airport is a big no for me, dawg. But when it leads to an extra hour of uninterrupted reading, it’s not the worst thing in the world. 

This is my first dive into Bardugo’s GrishaVerse. It was what I expected it to be: a fantasy book complete with the bad boy, the good guy, and the ordinary girl who’s really the heroine. Luckily there were some plot twists that I didn’t see coming, thus holding my attention despite the typical fantasy tropes. And despite the somewhat predictable plot twists, love triangle, and character growth, it seems like the promising start of a good series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship

le3713's review

adventurous dark medium-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

4.0

It took me about half of the book to get into the story, but the ending left me very much wanting to read the next book! I enjoyed the world building and magic system.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship

casdelvo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Genocide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual violence

jjjjo's review

• 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: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Racism, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

samone2's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual assault

emohell's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i was going to!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

Moderate: Grief, Death, Blood, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol

rwilcox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

3.75

The female protag lacks agency until the very end. Other than that little fact, it was an amazing plot with well developed characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Animal death, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

mia_luvsreading'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: War, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent

dani_2006's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Toxic relationship

zhaenya's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

(started reading this right after finishing s&b s2) wow, i really just love grishaverse and everything in it. the netflix adaptation is great and did so many things right (and some things better) but i don't think i realized how much time was actually passing when i was watching the show. here, time really feels like it's moving, but unfortunately they didn't have the luxury to take their time in the show, things just had to keep going. in some cases it was a good thing, in others it really wasn't. i just can't believe it took me so long to actually sit down and finally start reading the books, it's about time.. i have this bad habit of watching movie/show adaptations first before looking for the original. but this time around, i think i don't regret waiting, if i read the books first i feel like i would be a little underwhelmed by some of the things but now the book just provided me more context and showed how things were originally. some things i didn't like, like alina having less agency in her choices (this one is a big one), mal wasn't as bad as everyone described him to be but maybe i just haven't seen all of it yet, so i guess we'll see how i feel about him by the end, i still find him quiet boring though; and some things i liked a lot more here, like having genya around more often and seeing her friendship with alina, and her actually talking about david, and baghra's interactions with the darkling too (now THAT i wish we could've seen in the show more), and just darkling being horrible, manipulative and scary in general, there's not enough of that in the show. other than that, very good! i can love and appreciate both at the same time now and that's exactly what i'm going to do!!

though it will never not be weird to me, as a native russian speaker, to see so many russian names and terms (often misused but that's not that big of a deal, it's a fantasy after all, it just makes me smile)

favorite chapter: 22, it was so satisfying to see alina take control of her own power and use it so save herself and mal, and not just using it but LIKING it, that's exactly what i love to see!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault