Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

29 reviews

kelshenka's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted 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: Blood, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Child death, Death, Addiction, and Genocide

eguare's review

adventurous dark funny 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

3.75

I enjoyed this more than the original Shadow & Bone trilogy, not as much as the Six of Crows duology. This book was a happy return for beloved characters, but I wasn't always happy with where they went.

While I loved hearing more from Nina, I was heartbroken that the found family of the Crows broke up so thoroughly after Crooked Kingdom. It was also too soon after Matthias to enjoy Nina's burgeoning tension with Hanne (though I adore that Nina is canonically bisexual).

I loved seeing Nikolai and Zoya continue to develop

both independently and together

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Gun violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Dysphoria

fantasycat's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Grief, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: War, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Child death

adamparrishlover's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death, Miscarriage, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Drug use and Suicidal thoughts

maddiebo97's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

UGH i loved it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: War, Violence, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Vomit, Sexism, Miscarriage, and Grief

trintrin'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

4.25

I'm so confused? It got me hooked right from the beginning which definitely says something because not even Six of Crows managed to do that and it's one of my all time favs. I'm aware it's because I already know and love these characters but-

THE CHARACTERS!!!
Man I was already in love with Nikolai and Zoya and this is not helping!! Nikolai was the sole reason I picked up this book, and I enjoyed every bit of him. I did not expect to love Zoya's POVs but girl snatched my wig fr. I would die for these two at any given time istg. Isaak, you sweetheart, you stole my heart, and so did Hanne. And Nina, of course, I was beginning to worry she didn't contribute as much as she did in SoC, but she pulled through towards the very end. One more thing, I wanted to see Nikolai doing more king-y stuff. I wanted to see him in court. I wanted to see him rule. I wanted to see more of Sturmhond, more of the too-clever-fox, more of him charming people and just doing the Nikolai thing. By the looks of it, it will get more political in Rule of Wolves and I can't wait for that!

I have a love/hate relationship with the multiple callbacks to the previous books. Like yes I was nearly squirming with joy and even in tears at one point every time a throwaway reference to Kaz or Jesper or Alina were made but also they felt a little too much- a little overdone at times. They almost got me wanting to go back to those old characters instead of going forwards with the story, but the character dynamics were god tier so I'll ignore this one.

The plot
I was very surprised when I realised the first 2/3rd - aka the sloooow part where pretty much nothing happens - was actually my favourite. Felt like that's where the characters shined the most. And then after that it was just uhhhh???

I wasn't really vibing with the whole Saints in the Fold thing but yay go Zoya the dragon ig? And I'm absolutely 1000% not a fan of reviving the Darkling or the monster inside Nikolai for that matter at all. Reviving characters in general tends to feel very cheap. Reviving villains who were firmly put to an end is on a whole other level of cheapness and I absolutely cannot handle that. Nina's plot line, which was my least favourite in the first half, was my most favourite in the end. I wanna see more of whatever drugs the Fjerdans cooked up and more of Hanne as well.

It did get super interesting in the last like 5 pages and I'm excited to see how that plot will be continued in RoW. Fingers-crossed it's better than this one. 

So yeah an exciting-but-confusing-but-still-got-you-wanting-the-sequel read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Addiction, Drug abuse, Blood, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Animal death, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

Minor: Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Vomit, and Sexism

hmbrokaw's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

3.75

The Bachelor but in Ravka? Yes. The fold nonsense? No. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Religious bigotry

siennakt30's review

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

kredeprnz's review

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Murder, Death, Drug use, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Medical content, Grief, Torture, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

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