Reviews tagging 'Death'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

181 reviews

ladygetslit's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

There's a lot I could say about this book that wouldn't make sense if you haven't read the rest of the Grishaverse, so I'm going to keep this review short and simple. 

The King of Scars duology is about confronting our darkness, our demons. Every major character has to come to terms with the worst parts of themselves, but at some point that darkness is actually what saves them and others they care about.

Nikolai is terrified of everyone discovering that (a) he's a bastard aka not a "true" king and (b) he's got this whole demon thing inside him. What he discovers is that he has to make himself vulnerable, allow everyone to see his dark side, in order to save everyone he cares about and protect his country.

This is such a powerful metaphor for something I've been thinking about a lot lately: sometimes the scariest, most broken parts of us are exactly what people need to see to come to terms with their own messy parts. 

I docked this book half a star because I'm honestly a little dissatisfied with the ending.

Bardugo spent three books really building up the villainous nature of the Darkling, and I honestly didn't want him to come back at all, but I definitely didn't want him to get a redemption arc.

Overall, this duology was such a satisfying end to the world that started with Shadow and Bone. I truly hope Bardugo eventually revisits this world in the future! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, War, Misogyny, Drug use, Sexism, and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

I enjoyed this book, I enjoyed this world! But the story was a little convoluted and had lots of moving parts, and my love for Nikolai waned throughout this book (not for any particular thing he did or didn’t do, but I lost my connection with him because of everything else going on). I loved the twists and turns at the end of the book because I really didn’t know how it would work out, and I like that the ending is open-ended for another duology/trilogy in the Grishaverse in the future. This book was definitely a culmination of the books that are already out and you see glimpses of characters (good and bad) from the other books in this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Murder, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Rape, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcohol, Body shaming, Torture, Trafficking, Lesbophobia, and Pedophilia

jess_garner's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

the writing’s not great, but the characters and the plot are brilliant 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Death, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Addiction, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape and Torture

gohan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense 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

4.5

Rule of Wolves is another fast paced, well written addition to the Grishaverse. At 588 pages, it is a longer book but it’ll keep you reading until the last page. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and War

gillianengelbrecht's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Grief, Kidnapping, Suicide, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Addiction, Gore, Dysphoria, and Domestic abuse

killianshea's review against another edition

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

5.0

I think something I tweeted about this book sums up how I feel about Leigh Bardugo's books:

"It is a truth individually acknowledged that if a major story moment is going to happen while I'm listening to anything by Leigh Bardugo, it will happen just as I park my car as I get to work."

Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, and now Rule of Wolves, have all managed to send me into work in a state of shock at least once - occasionally still crying.

There are plot lines in here that I don't think were needed, but they weren't enough to take away from the rating or change the fact that I loved this one. I have a friend (hi Drew) who said this is probably his second favorite Grishaverse book (after Six of Crows) and I have to agree. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Misogyny, Death, Xenophobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Dysphoria

nova123's review against another edition

• 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

leigh bardugo really tricked me into thinking that she

killed off nina's love interest for the second time.. I was so angry lmao

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Torture and Rape

caelfind'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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Gore, Grief, and Blood

madisonstarkov's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Confinement, Drug abuse, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Violence, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Blood, Death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

justinekorson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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

Is... is there going to be another book after this. The ending made me think so but It's been a few year since this novel was published.

Either way, I was very surprised by the contents. The way Zoya became Queen was not in the way I suspected. I was also under the impression I think from a tiktok that Zoya had given up her grisha powers to be with Nikolai. I WAS GLAD TO SEE THAT WASN'T THE CASE AND SHE'S NOT JUST MERELY HUMAN. I was so pissed when I found that out but I'm glad it's not what actually happened in the story. 

It was also SO FUN to see the Crows in this novel that I nearly cried every time one of them was on page. I really do think the Six of Crows Duology is Leigh's best work. 

I still HATE how the Darkling was brought back for these novels and how Zoya, at the end, wanted to find a way to release him from his prison like... come on girl, forgive and forget NOT FORGIVE AND RELEASE HIM. After everything that mans has done, he didn't deserve even the tiniest bit of redemption he received from willingly going into the thornwood. He literally said he regretted none of his actions... I agree that Yuri the priest does need a bit of saving but... the Darkling does not. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Classism, Body shaming, Blood, Racism, Sexism, Trafficking, and Body horror

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking