Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

13 reviews

david_slack110507's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I had an awful reading slump whilst reading this book and I feel like that may have affected my rating for this book (Even though I am giving it 5 stars, it is more of a just about 4.5 stars because of the reading slump and the reading slump only type of situation) but even with that I still majorly enjoyed this and my reading experience cemented the Grishaverse series and particularly the Six of Crows duology as some of my favourite series of books. If I had been more consistent with reading I would have liked Crooked Kingdom even more than I already do. 

I absolutely love the Crows and their dynamics with one another. It expanded on them even more from Six of Crows, particularly with the relationships of Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, Jesper and Kaz, Nina and Inej etc. It was so fun seeing all of the characters continue to flourish and to expand upon their already established relationships as well as build new ones and it was one of the main things that kept me coming back even with my reading slump in full force. I liked the endings we got for our Crows as they felt both satisfying and open-ended enough to allow for a sequel or for them to show up in other stories like Nina in the King of Scars duology. 

The plot, while I don't think I loved it as much as the Ice Court heist, was still very interesting and was not what I expected going off of the ending of Six of Crows and where this book started off as the plot twists felt cleverly planned out and implemented without feeling like they were done to simply progress the story lazily. The last part of the book - Part 6: Action & Echo - was extremely interesting and one of my favourite parts of the boom because the chaos flowed very nicely to make it an unpredictable, fun, and memorable reading experience. Matthias' death was unexpected and while it wasn't extremely emotional for me as Matthias is one of my lesser favourite Crows (though I do still really like him as a character), it was still effectively done and I'm interested in seeing how this will affect Nina's story going into King of Scars. 

Overall, I really liked this book and while I do feel like reading this through a reading slump affected my opinion on the book, though to no fault of the book, I think it was very successful and met my expectations on how to end this duology yet left it in an interesting place to open up into another book to make it a trilogy, which I would not be totally against. I'm most likely going to continue on with my Grishaverse binge and read Nikolai's duology with Zoya and Nina, King of Scars, next as well as hopefully soon rewatch season 1 of Shadow and Bone as well as finally watch season 2 for the first time as I've been waiting until I finished this book as I have been unsure whether or not they included elements of this and Six of Crows into season 2 or not.

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josiee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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


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nevermoregothic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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zoey_blk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A masterpiece! I had a few problems with the pace changes throughout the book, and I mainly read it for the characters at the beginning, not the plot. At first I really wasn't that interested in what was going on, but with time it got more intriguing, thanks to Leigh Bardugos writing style and Kaz Brekkers genius mind. And though I very much enjoyed how their schemes came together, I also have to admit that I wouldn't have kept going if it wasn't for our crows. I love them so much, with all my heart and soul, so this book was pure happiness but also pain. The lil cameo of our favorite Ravkans was the cherry on top. Kaz and Nikolai meeting was glorious. I would like to give the book a 5☆ rating, but because of a particular outrageous plot decisions I cannot agree with I have to give it a 4.75☆. 

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serendipity421's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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deerlybeloved's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

If I could rate it any higher, I would.

Crooked Kingdom is a phenomenal sequel to Six of Crows, leaving the reader antsy and waiting, on the edge of their seat with every new twist and turn. Every revealed detail, paid off foreshadowing, character interaction, and planned event leaves you in a new bout of stunned silence as you listen, tense and wanting to know more.

Each character is unique, and fleshed out, meaning every chapter (each written from a different perspective) leaves you excited to learn more about that individual, and has its own personal bit of characterized flair that makes you excited to turn the page and learn who the next point-of-view is fore-- Matthias, Inej, Wylan? You just have to find out, sleep be damned.

So much weaves together to form a plot where just as one issue is resolved, you remember that ah, that's right, three chapters earlier that other plot point was introduced, and all of a sudden it's coming back-- You can't believe you forgot, but how could you not when the fate of the world was being handled first?!

The end will break your heart, as much as it heals it, giving you as many tears as it does grins as you flip through the ending chapters and realize just how much has been lost...and how much is being rebuilt.

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glen3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0


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purplehulk713's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

Truly compelling and masterfully crafted, Leigh Bardugo is truly a Grisha, a Corporalki able to both rend and heal your heart with her cruel and beautiful tales. My friend Alice was so right to keep insisting that I read this series. As much as I hate Kaz, he is wonderfully written, Inej is epic, Jesper is hilarious and precise, Nina is witty and pragmatic, Matthias is gorgeous and admirable in his change of heart which made his fate all the more lamentable, and Wylan is adorable and his struggles of character and family are fascinating. I find this book was even better than the first with all of its swerving twists and triumphant victories coming from the most downtrodden individuals in all of Kerch. Inej’s reunion at the end Gad me close to tears and the development of Nina’s unique power was eerie and fascinating. Leigh Bardugo is a master of her own Small Science—the manipulation of words for her own incredible manifestations! When you can’t beat the odds, change the game.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.75


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elthechameleon's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.75

This book is easy to get lost in. It has the classic found family trope, but the plot twists are so well structured and planned that it keeps you on your toes the entire story.
Matthias’ death was crushing, but does this promise to change drüskelle ways mean another book for Nina? Or another book for Inej and Kaz finally taking down slavers and swindlers? And how incredible to see the fearless couple develop so thoughtfully, carefully…the ending with Inej threatening Pekka and Kaz finding her parents reminded me that these two always find small ways to show love, even if the other doesn’t know it.
The overarching narrative of struggle and sins was artfully done. The investigating quotation is: How does one forgive after such acts? A good takeaway message with thrills and adventures. 

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