Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

32 reviews

therobinjoyce's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Shadow and Bone really is one of the greatest Young Adult/New Adult fantasy series I’ve ever read.

Not only does it encompass tropes such as the found family, the chosen one, a thrilling love triangle, and friends to lovers, but we also see so many amazing and wonderful creatures and countries through the eyes of her characters.

The writing style is just incredible and so easy to read. It sucks you right into the story. All of the characters are so diverse but so well written, their character arcs providing just the perfect amount of tension and fulfilment.

There’s still a debate open whether this series will have me leaning more towards darklina or malina but I’m so excited to dive into Siege and Storm and find out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Genocide, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Death, Body horror, Animal death, and Abandonment

jstarshine16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

catmac15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Is it my favorite book in the grishaverse? No, not really. But is the book bad by any means? Definitely not.

I think the show does a good job of picking up the pace of Alina's time at the Little Palace while still acknowledging the struggles she went through staying there (ex. loneliness, dealing with her newfound power), the first like 200 pages of this book are kinda slow and just consist of Alina adjusting to the change of setting [at the Little Palace] but enjoyed the last 50-100 pages more because that's where a lot of the action was

and when Alina leaves the Darkling and everyone else on the ships, that's when Alina begins to question herself morally, to me that's when I truly to saw her character development come to light

 

It was cool to see how the first season of the show compares to this book; I honestly think any changes the show made from the book were good ones.  I did read the Six of Crows duology before starting the Shadow and Bone trilogy so I know that Bardugo does end up writing the other books in the grishaverse as multiple POVs; this book would have been better to me had it been written in different POVs (ex. Mal's, Darkling's, Genya's), luckily the show does add those different POVs in (and it adds a lot more to the story).

Overall, I think this Shadow and Bone is a good book to start to the grishaverse with; it's just not my favorite book by any means. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is a great start to the Grishaverse series. This was a reread for me and I appreciated it a lot more the second time around! There were a lot of great quotes and I liked seeing stuff I had missed the first time. Knowing how it ended really let me see the clues hidden in the text. I can’t wait to continue my reread of this series. Team Malina!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Violence, War, and Murder

Minor: Blood

diem's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.75

fast&fun
could be more in depth with the interpersonal relationships
Should have read it before I watched the show though

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Gun violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

fenna2002's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, Gore, and Animal death

writtenbydnicole'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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Grief and Slavery

abigailnoack's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.25

Shadow and Bone is a classic fantasy series. I have previously read the Six of Crows duology so I was already a bit familiar with the world. (Although I think reading this series for the knowledge of the Grisha would have been more helpful in reading Six of Crows, but alas, that did not happen.) Six of Crows is far superior in its writing, plot, and character development, but I don't want to spend this entire review comparing the two.

I thought it was interesting enough. The characters and plot were pretty good, but nothing really made it a stand out. It's a pretty typical girl discovering her powers, training, becoming a part of a new world, etc. I would have liked more consistent action - it doesn't really pick up till 3/4 of the way through, and by that point, I found it kind of anticlimactic

that we spend so much time with Mal and Alina tracking the Stag, and then they don't kill him and Alina becomes the Darkling's slave anyways. That kinda made me mad because what was the point?

I'm not team Mal or Darkling I guess. I am not here for the "mysterious-old-man-who-lives-a-long-life-is-suddenly-chatty-and-charming-when-he-meets-an-average-girl-whose-not-like-other-girls." I love friends to lovers so I should probably be on team Mal, but idk, I just didn't think he was developed enough, didn't fall for the chemistry, I'm not sure what, but it was missing something for me.

Also just want to point out that I still really hate it when authors don't do their research about horses. It's such a minor thing near the beginning, but as a horse person, it always bugs me when stuff isn't accurate. I've been riding for 9 years and I have never thought I could fall asleep on a moving horse, especially at a trot or canter, even more so if Alina isn’t a very good rider. If they travelled 200 miles on horseback, they would definitely need to switch out their horses several times. And if you’re double riding, the second rider is definitely not the one in control. Just small details, but they do matter when it comes to making an authentic believable story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Genocide, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Minor: Stalking