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wishyouweresober's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Death, Death of parent, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
livvya's review against another edition
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Child abuse, Rape, Murder, and Death of parent
cnannery19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Kidnapping, War, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Torture
cristina_reading24's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, and Torture
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
bubbly_lara's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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? No
5.0
I absolutely loved this. All the stars, 10/10, highly recommend this series! I literally did not know what to do with myself for hours after finishing it. We meet Alina and the group of survivors in the White Cathedral right where "Siege and Storm" ended. We follow along as they grow together as a group and plan their escape from underground to find Nikolai and his troops in order to face the Darkling and save Ravka. They venture on the journey to find the third amplifier while they learn more about the Darklings past, Ilya Morozova and how it is all interconnected. At the end of the day, they must each choose whether they can live with the price to be paid to end this war.
"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."
For a moment there, I thought my little heart could not take how the story was unfolding. In what the Darkling decided on as a punishment forNikolai we see once more how cruel he can truly be. The moments between Alina and Nikolai in his monster form made my heart ache for the both of them and the choices they must make. Also, how could I not talk about Alina and Mal. For a moment there, I thought they would not get to live the life they both want and deserve. What with Mal being the Third Amplifier and both of them knowing he must die in order for Alina to absorb the power within Mal. No words, just heartbreak. I did love the epilogue and how they rebuilt Keramzin to be a better home for others than it was for them. Zoya handing Alina blue Grisha robes with the note "You will always be one of us" makes me tear up even writing this review. .
Please do yourself a favour and go read this series. It deserves all the hype it's getting. I cannot wait to go dive back into the Grishaverse with "Six of Crows" next.
"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."
For a moment there, I thought my little heart could not take how the story was unfolding. In what the Darkling decided on as a punishment for
Please do yourself a favour and go read this series. It deserves all the hype it's getting. I cannot wait to go dive back into the Grishaverse with "Six of Crows" next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit
toastyghosty13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I felt that this book actually started off pretty strong and was much better than the previous book of this series for the first half of it. As the book drew to a close, it felt too slow and too rushed in parts.
One thing that bothered me was that Mal was the third amplifier. This just seemed strange to me, especially when the idea of Morozova and his normal daughter surviving being drowned in chains is a huge reach, on top of the fact that Mal is some supposed descendant of the daughter. I found this to be a weird plot point, but I guess it can work.
Something that really bothered me that stems from this is that when Alina killed Mal to try to use him as the last amplifier as a last resort, she lost all of her power and it was reflected in all of the other normal citizens instead. I found this very cheesy and a weird way to take it. I doubt I am the only one that wanted to see Alina go super saiyan on the darkling in some massive showdown, so this was a huge letdown to me.
I did not realize how many people would die off, nor did I realize that they had even died until spoken about in past tense. Harshaw is one of these, plus Ruby and some others that were from the final battle and the battle at spinning wheel. I think all of these characters got done dirty, plus Genya got done dirty for no reason, in my opinion. Same goes for Botkin and anyone that was defending the orphanage; I feel that that was totally unnecessary for them to die and did not really add anything to the plot.
The end bothered me unbelievably. Leigh pulled a Game of Thrones, where we are all expecting some epic showdown just for the big ending move to be getting stabbed in the heart by some forgotten dagger. This was boring and a disappointing cop out, since she is the main character and I expected a lot more for the final scene.
The afterward I actually quite liked. It was quaint, and pretty wholesome. I enjoy that they still have contact with everyone that stayed on to be advisors to Nikolai in the palace and that Alina and Mal are not just cut off from the world completely. They opened an orphanage that they really care about and are able to reminisce whenever old friends from the palace come by to visit. Overall a great afterward.
I have heard that the other duologies are a lot better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the turn this series took after how much I enjoyed the first book. I have the boxset so I will at least be reading The Six of Crows Duology since I already own it. I would not purchase King of Scars unless Six of Crows makes a huge turnaround of what Shadow and Bone left me feeling.
One thing that bothered me was that
Something that really bothered me that stems from this is that when Alina killed Mal to try to use him as the last amplifier as a last resort, she lost all of her power and it was reflected in all of the other normal citizens instead. I found this very cheesy and a weird way to take it. I doubt I am the only one that wanted to see Alina go super saiyan on the darkling in some massive showdown, so this was a huge letdown to me.
I did not realize how many people would die off, nor did I realize that they had even died until spoken about in past tense.
The end bothered me unbelievably.
The afterward I actually quite liked. It was quaint, and pretty wholesome. I enjoy that
I have heard that the other duologies are a lot better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the turn this series took after how much I enjoyed the first book. I have the boxset so I will at least be reading The Six of Crows Duology since I already own it. I would not purchase King of Scars unless Six of Crows makes a huge turnaround of what Shadow and Bone left me feeling.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Torture, War, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
hayleythegoose's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape
Minor: Suicide attempt and Cannibalism
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.
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
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