Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

50 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! 

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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. 

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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

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Dysphoria

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

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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

frantically's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

While overall a great ending to the Grishaverse with appearances from many beloved characters (a certain introduction towards the end had me screaming), the way certain things are portrayed and resolved makes so much of the Grisha trilogy feel worthless — why did I read and love that trilogy just for its antagonist to get this ending in the end? Still not the biggest Nikolai fan but Zoya has my heart and the gender historian in me is satisfied.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Murder, Death, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racism, Confinement, Pedophilia, Grief, and Rape

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, War, Misogyny, Torture, Addiction, Blood, Death, Racism, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape and Miscarriage

Minor: Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

alyssadavis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.25

Nikolai had promised to do better, to build something new. But in the end, all his inventions and diplomacy had come down to this: a brawl in the dirt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: War, Grief, Abandonment, Death, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, and Drug abuse

micaelacccc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense 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

5.0

So queer, so beautiful, absolutely loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Death and Misogyny

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

OH MY GOODNESS! Zoyas character development was so amazing in this book! I love her so much! 💗💗💗 Also the other characters were so amazing! It was so cool that the Crows showed up again! >o< The thing I didn’t enjoy about this duology was the big war aspect. I also found the end a little far fetched and rushed, but overall it was a good and enjoyable book!

QUEEN ZOYA!!! 💗

Also I will never forgive Leigh Bardugo for killing of David, especially on his wedding night ?!?!?!?? ;-; He was my favorite character ToT

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Religious bigotry, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Misogyny, Violence, and War

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

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

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Mental illness, Slavery, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infertility and Sexual assault