Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

7 reviews

kt_timms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I think I enjoyed this book more than the first. I feel like there was a lot going on in this storyline that I found particularly interesting. There was definitely some explicit religious content that I found really interesting, how it was included in a fantasy/magical context. It was a different perspective on how that can play out, and I think it was an addition to the story itself, in a good way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide and Fire/Fire injury

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

konstantina's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.

This is an unpopular opinion amongst the fandom but I actually enjoyed this more than Shadow and Bone. Preparing for a war is more exciting than going to school, and Nikolai is one of the best characters in the trilogy. 

Alina might have some pick me characteristics but she's a likeable and impressive MC, and I'm excited to see what she does at the finale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and War

Minor: Blood and Alcohol

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ghostofthegallows's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

My favourite book in the trilogy. It improves off shadow and bone and makes it better, mal is still useless but he has a personality now. Alians character crows so much throughout the book especially towards the end. Nikolai, taymar and tolyor are the best characters in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, and Kidnapping

beatriks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

The book started a bit slow and entertaining, then Mal got really annoying and I didn’t like the first-person-story-telling too much, as the protagonist wasn’t really having the best perspective. (My critique might be harsh, is this is young adult fantasy and the thoughts just don’t to me anymore) 

Towards the end, I liked it better, especially the last 20%. 
Will finish the trilogy right away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

I'm sad that I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. It's still a good book but I found the first part too boring and the second too annoying. Which is probably not fair because there were cool scenes in the first part as well but it dragged a little too much for me. And the second part... I finally know why everyone says Mal and Alina are annoying. Because they are! Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I'm rooting for them. But their communication skills are nonexistent and this is SO frustrating. Nikolai rescued huge parts of the book for me. The banter whenever he was in the scene was just great. 
I also really liked the whole Saints mystery and I wish there was more of that. I hope this will be a bigger part in the last book. 
And there is one trope in this book that I realised I like a lot. It's when the protagonist and antagonist have this special... bond (when you know what I mean). And I think it is expertly done here. It makes sense and it is used very sparsely so it's quite effective. It gave me goosebumps everytime it happened.
Now the ending.... is amazing! The showdown and aftermath are perfect. I was glued to the pages the whole time. Loved the setting at the very end. I can't wait to continue (next month or so ^^; ).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt