Scan barcode
kerrygetsliterary'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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a tricky review because I quite enjoyed the Netflix show of these books, but found the actual source material rather boring. Alina, the main character, has zero agency on what happens to her and seems to only be important because of her power; Mal barely appears and when he does his personality tends to be the trope of gruff pining friend; The Darkling feels childish in his motivations and means. The whole plot is a bit boring and over-extends itself given that we're only following the story of these three people that are barely fleshed out.
Some diversity is pointed at, but none of the main characters is explicitly described as of being from a different race and most of the characters called "beautiful" tend to be described with Eurocentric features. Zero LGBT+ rep is present (which is shocking, given the amount of rep in the tv show).
Overall I'd say that if you haven't watched the show yet, don't let the book deter you from it. It's a completely different beast than this, and much more diverse, enjoyable, and fun. I also hear Leigh Bardugo had a lot of room to add these little details in the show so I'll count it as a more developed version of the canon.
Some diversity is pointed at, but none of the main characters is explicitly described as of being from a different race and most of the characters called "beautiful" tend to be described with Eurocentric features. Zero LGBT+ rep is present (which is shocking, given the amount of rep in the tv show).
Overall I'd say that if you haven't watched the show yet, don't let the book deter you from it. It's a completely different beast than this, and much more diverse, enjoyable, and fun. I also hear Leigh Bardugo had a lot of room to add these little details in the show so I'll count it as a more developed version of the canon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Blood and Slavery
Minor: Racial slurs
elenamarmiroli'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Non lo so, non sono convinta del tutto di quest'opera, ma al contempo essa mi è piaciuta discretamente.
L'inizio è stato lento e non troppo interessante, così come parte del periodo che la protagonista passa nella città reale per allenarsi .
Inoltre, la rivelazione riguardo l'Oscuro mi è parsa un po' troppo campata per aria, senza abbastanza indizi a sopportarla prima ; al contempo credo però che la cosa fosse però voluta.
Altra cosa, avrei voluto veder sviluppato il cambiamento del rapporto tra Alina e Mal .
Nonostante ciò, la storia in generale mi è piaciuta abbastanza e sono curiosa di scoprire come continuerà.
L'inizio è stato lento e non troppo interessante, così come parte del periodo che
Inoltre, la rivelazione riguardo
Altra cosa, avrei voluto veder sviluppato il cambiamento del
Nonostante ciò, la storia in generale mi è piaciuta abbastanza e sono curiosa di scoprire come continuerà.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Slavery
Moderate: Confinement and Suicide
Minor: Death and Death of parent
writtenbydnicole'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Gun violence
Minor: Grief and Slavery
erynmcvay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
My review is probably biased because I watched the show first and really loved it, but I really loved this book. I’m so enthralled by Ravka and the Grisha and can’t wait to see how Alina’s journey will progress over the next two books. Obviously ... a big part of my love for this book is my love for all-powerful, ancient, impossibly handsome, mean men. The Darkling is a true villain in the way that his actions are objectively evil, and yet I really can see his own justification. I can understand why he does what he does, without feeling sympathy for him. Also I want him to kiss me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Slavery, Torture, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood
silverlily's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Blood and Slavery
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think this is a great introduction into this world, and there's a lot of information in here that I wish I would have known reading Six of Crows. Plus, with the way that it ended, I need to know what happens next. Good thing I checked out all three from the library!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual content
gothicmoon's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
To start positively, I praise Bardugo for the Darkling. I'm a lesbian and tend to find male characters boring or unworthy of the hype or generally not sexy. But not the Darkling. Every scene between Alina and he had me hoping for a kiss, hoping for something – and boy did I get it! I kept hoping he had ultimately good intentions (I still do) because he's just SO hot. The idea of him is really appealing and really sexy. He's all about black and darkness and a vampiric everlife – damn it, he's hot! Of course, he's also a manipulative, nearly undying emotional abuser engaging in a semi-sexual relationship with a minor with the specific purpose of "distracting her," dampening all his layers.
I like the idea of this world. They're bender-type people, rather similar to the world of Aveyard's Red Queen, though this book came first. I also found it supremely satisfying both times Alina discovered her powers: first by letting go of her hopeless crush, and secondly by realising her good deed also gives her power. It's brilliant. </spoilers>
More negatively, I found the beginning boring, the middle slow, and the overall motion of things really bland. This read like Red Queen, as I mentioned before, and also many other fantasy novels. This entire book really feels like a drawn-out prelude to the series.
I also found it difficult to connect to characters on a deep scale. Alina, the main character, falls under the curse of main characters who have to be bland enough to let a story unfold through their eyes. Mal is hardly known and I'm not a fan (Only know you love her when you let her go, really?). Characters like Genya and Alina's bending master are just what they need to be to lighten or darken a scene, respectively. The first-person narration from Alina's perspective doesn't help. After reading books like Carry On and The Raven Cycle, it just feels cliché, boring, and uninspiring – I don't know any characters who aren't Alina well, and I don't know Alina herself well, because she has to be the vessel of a story accessible for all.
I had to cringe at the scene when the Darkling's mother comes and basically gives her son's evil speech for him, just spewing all his plans. It came all of a sudden and in full! A slow understanding that his plans weren't ultimately good rather than a sudden evil speech would've been preferable.
I like the idea of this world. They're bender-type people, rather similar to the world of Aveyard's Red Queen, though this book came first. I also found it supremely satisfying both times
More negatively, I found the beginning boring, the middle slow, and the overall motion of things really bland. This read like Red Queen, as I mentioned before, and also many other fantasy novels. This entire book really feels like a drawn-out prelude to the series.
I also found it difficult to connect to characters on a deep scale. Alina, the main character, falls under the curse of main characters who have to be bland enough to let a story unfold through their eyes. Mal is hardly known and I'm not a fan (Only know you love her when you let her go, really?). Characters like Genya and Alina's bending master are just what they need to be to lighten or darken a scene, respectively. The first-person narration from Alina's perspective doesn't help. After reading books like Carry On and The Raven Cycle, it just feels cliché, boring, and uninspiring – I don't know any characters who aren't Alina well, and I don't know Alina herself well, because she has to be the vessel of a story accessible for all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Slavery
juliette_95's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Torture
ehmannky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
This has been on my TBR forever, and now that it's going to be a Netflix adaptation, I couldn't put it off any longer. And I really enjoyed it! It's the nice fantasy-adventure ride that I can't help but lie. And that *twist* halfway through! That's where I felt that the book really came into its own and I couldn't put it down. I really loved Alina, and I loved her role in the subversion of the idea of a "chosen one" plucked out to "save" everyone. It's a really fun, lush magical world.
On the whole, I felt that my biggest gripe was that I felt that the characterization for the secondary characters could have been deeper. I felt this especially about Mal. I felt that I didn't care about him until nearly 2/3 of the way through when we actually got to see him spend time with Alina. Up until that point it felt like we were told that she liked Mal because she did. It's not until that 2/3 mark that you really feel their connection in my opinion. More insights into Alina's head, less exposition. But I don't know, in a book that's more plot-driven and action-y, I don't think that this is necessarily a detraction from the overall story, just something that I wasn't a fan of.
On the whole, I felt that my biggest gripe was that I felt that the characterization for the secondary characters could have been deeper. I felt this especially about Mal. I felt that I didn't care about him until nearly 2/3 of the way through when we actually got to see him spend time with Alina. Up until that point it felt like we were told that she liked Mal because she did. It's not until that 2/3 mark that you really feel their connection in my opinion. More insights into Alina's head, less exposition. But I don't know, in a book that's more plot-driven and action-y, I don't think that this is necessarily a detraction from the overall story, just something that I wasn't a fan of.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Confinement, Slavery, and Violence