Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

34 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

This is the least annoying Alina has ever been 😅 I sped through this book and I loved that Mal and Alina weren’t together for the most part. They finally stopped whining about each other and the romance wasn’t a large focus. I was feeling great about this book until chapter 15/16.

The ending felt rushed and honestly I’m mad about it. Why is it ending this way?! It makes no sense to me and is the only reason it gets a lower rating because before the last 3 chapters it would’ve been a 4-4.5 star book!

The pacing was so good throughout the book, much better than the other two, right up until the last 50ish pages. I’m in the minority opinion it seems but book 2 was the best book imo, then this and then book 1 🫠

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, War, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Rape

wyrnn'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

mckiheather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

I’m conflicted about this rating because I feel like the reading experience was so much more fun for this book because there were twists and turns at every chapter and I could not put this book down- BUT- some of the things that happened to Nikolai and Mal and even a little bit of Alina bothered me at the end of the book. There were some tropes and cop outs that made the ending tie up too nicely, especially with how much build up there was to the climax of the final battle. I still love how much nuance the Darkling has. And while I liked Mal better in this book than the last, I am team Nikolai all the way!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, War, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Child abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

this_is_naomimi's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.0

An improvement from Siege and Storm and a fine conclusion to the trilogy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Gun violence and Grief

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual assault

louise_outthere's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

Well like the second book I had a hard time getting into it, only around 200 pages it started to be interesting. But what an end! Those twists actually made it worth it. It was worth reading the second book (boring) and the first half of this one also boring. After all it’s still a good trilogy, not my favorite though.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

A year ago today, I received this book trilogy as a birthday gift and eventually got around to reading this starting the first book in August and finishing it in October before leaving the series for a little while and then picking it back up at the start of this year in which within a couple of months I would have started and finished the second book and now finally I have finished the third and final book in this trilogy. 

Normally, I don't often finish book series that I start, or I take a while to do so (Like with these books) usually due to being interested in other books or just not wanting to continue the series right away but I'm very happy that I persevered after the first book because for me at least this trilogy kept on getting better and better with each instalment and each one managed to hold together my interest a whole lot better whether that was because what was happening was more interesting in each book or that when reading the 2nd and 3rd books I mainly read those and no other ones at the same time I don't know but I feel like this is one of the rare times that I read a series/trilogy that increased in quality with each instalment. 

The characters are at their strongest in this book with formally side characters such as Zoya and David getting their own developments that make them just as endearing as our main characters. I feel like the plot twists and turns were interesting and unexpected and I actually quite liked the ending even if it did have a happy ending that felt kind of YA. I do wish that Alina had somehow ended up with Nikolai who for me was the much more interesting and endearing love interest but it was obvious that with their shared history, Mal and Alina would be the ending place in terms of relationship wise but I do feel like each relationship while they did not have an air about them with it being unpredictable about who Alina would end up with, they did have their own dynamics unique to them. 

The action was actually pretty good even if the ending battle was a little short and I do like that the book for me was actually pretty fast-paced and engaging throughout. I am very much looking forward to reading the other books in the Grishaverse, particularly the Six of Crows duology soon-to-be trilogy which I will unashamedly admit was the main reason as to why I read these books so that I would have the background context for those books however I'm glad that I read these because not only did I really enjoy this story overall but it also introduced me to Nikolai and his character who has his own spin-off duology which will most likely end up on my tbr list soon. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this series as a whole and I'm glad that I stuck through with it when reading the 2nd and 3rd books. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the Grishaverse books and also finally watching season 2 of the Netflix show soon without spoilers for the ending of the trilogy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Cursing, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gun violence, Genocide, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Child death, and Death of parent

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

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

4.25

At long last, I have finished the S&B trilogy!

I’m honestly glad I waited until after season 2 of the show (yes, reader sacrilege, I know). And it’s fascinating to see what they changed!

Alina and pals have plenty of flaws, but they are literal TEENAGERS trying to save the world from being consumed by capital D Darkness. Nobody could handle that “perfectly.”

CW: death, violence, brief sexual content (non-explicit), some fantasy racism

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Drug use, and Torture

Minor: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Sexism, Infidelity, Alcohol, Incest, Cannibalism, and Sexual content