Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Val en Verlossing

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Val en Verlossing by Leigh Bardugo

71 reviews

neko_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.25

I don't really know what I wanted the ending to be. at this point, every possible ending was an option I did not want.

Option 1
Alina saves the Darkling and falls in love with him. listen I found the Darkling's past interesting and he's a great villain but as a love interest? I hate him. if this happened I would have hated the books so much I would have liked to burn them.

Option 2
Alina marries Nickolai and goes into a political marriage. now I love Nickolai, his character, everything about it but there is absolutely nothing between him and Alina. this would just end up being more misery and fighting with mal.

Option 3
Alina kills mal to kill the darkling. Hurray, now she's miserable for the rest of her life.

Option 4
the plan worked out and mal and Alina go off together to get an alliance and work out the rest of the story. this would basically just be a repeat of siege and storm, and that was all-around terrible.

option 5 (what actually happened)
well, I certainly did not expect that. this honestly just feels like a way to end the series with a nice happy ending without really having to go to any work. this is the best ending out of the possibilities but that doesn't mean I like it. I wish Alina hadn't lost her powers and mal hadn't lost his own abilities in the most confusing, convoluted ending ever. I hate that they became completely different people and left behind literally all of their development, but I do love how they ended up at Keramzin.

Now the rest of the characters were actually amazing. The twins, Nickolai, Genya and David, Zoya, Nadia, Adrik, Baghra, Misha, and even Harshaw and Sergei were terrific characters. they are the reviving factor of this story.

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itsmemiana's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

GURLLLL this was such a good ending for the trilogy.

I still think a certain someone deserved worst for everything he did but oh well. I loved the confort of the last few pages. and I may or may not have shed a tear.... or maybe cried a lot who knows...

Nikolai has his own little space in my heart and I would love to have a chance to be his queen. 😌 I hope to see him in the other grishaverse books 🥺

I loved this trilogy and I definitely will be revisiting it one day.

I'm so excited to read the other grishaverse books, I've heard Six of Crows is even better so I'm sooooo excited.❤️

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infjkiki's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

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trintrin's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

Easily my favourite of the three. I loved Mal so much more in this one

and I'm glad I don't resent Alina ending up with him.

I've read Crooked Kingdom before I read this so I knew Nikolai would survive and that he is the King of Scars but goshhh I genuinely feared for his life when that happened. He is truly the best character that came out of this series and I can't wait to read King of Scars.

I liked the conclusion for the most part. The way the amplifiers worked, the Soldat Sol, the end of the Fold and the Darkling, Alina losing her powers and living a peaceful life away from the crown, Nikolai, Genya, David, and Zoya being the leaders of the future -- all that was great. But there was one part that I didn't really buy. One part that made use of my least favourite trope in the world. The Resurrection Trope. As much as I liked Malina in this book I still wish Mal either stayed dead or didn't have to die in the first place.

But apart from that, a pretty solid, fast-paced ending to the series imo. Leigh's writing is beautiful as always. I would've knocked some points off for the resurrection trope but since I couldn't put this book down and since it made me love Mal ~~though I still wish he were dead~~, I have to give it a 5. And I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss the Darkling already.

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riverlasol's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

5.0

Listen…. was is this book perfect in my eyes? No, it was not, but I am definitely allowing the Grishaverse to generally be some of my favourite books, and for Bardugo to become one of my favourite authors, so it is getting five stars. I will say that from the start of the series, I was a little worried about the main character and there were moments where I felt like she lacked depth, but by the time I got to the third book Alina had had great character development. Alina was essentially a total badass, but she continued to develop in this book, and I really did like the way that this book dealt with grief and loss. I did wish that it had addressed the toxicity of the darkling and especially his abuse to Alina, though. The thing that I loved most about this book was definitely some of the plot twists which I will obviously not be spoiling but I didn’t see any of them coming. this series or the Grisha verse at large might not be for some people but I am ready to wholeheartedly love it and I’m so glad I finally finished this series that is already becoming a modern fantasy classic!

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