Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

17 reviews

lennie_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing 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

5.0

So after the ending of KoS, we have 2 extra POVs in this book. I won't tell you who because spoilers but I definitely appreciated one more than the other! 

In this book Ravka and Fjerda are at war. Nina is deep undercover in Fjerda, Nikolai & the monster are still joined but they've come to more an amicable arrangement and Zoya is trying to master her new powers. 

This book is heavy, and definitely slow at some points but it's worth sticking with. 

I also think that by the time you get to RoW (after reading all the other GrishaVerse books), you know not to immediately believe everything you read. Especially when it comes to Kaz and Nikolai; Leigh uses a Lot of similar plot devices and, well at least for me, I could always assume there was an alternative / back up plan. 

We do have romance in this book, as well as tragedy (if you know, you know 😭) and there are a lot of different threads weaving together at the same time. 

There is also discussions about race & heritage, as well as confirmation of a trans character and an aro/ace character. 

And we get to see the Crows and Mal & Alina in this book 😍 

I also really enjoyed seeing more of Shu Han; the characters, the governing, the Khergud etc. 

A lot of issues are resolved in this book but not all of them and Leigh has left a few storylines open for the new third Crows book. 

It's hard to review this book without giving away spoilers but if you enjoy the GrishaVerse and were annoyed by the ending of KoS, you should hopefully enjoy this!

There is Trans rep, pan / bi rep, lesbian rep, POC rep, aro/ace rep, mixed race rep and more

CW: reanimated corpses, addiction, death, grief, murder, body horror, torture, medical trauma, confinement, chronic illness, dead children

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault, Miscarriage, and Racism

aviery's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexism, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse

valyn_grebe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Murder, Death, and Violence

Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

kaylamoran's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad 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

5.0

As with the Six of Crows duology, I preferred this book to book one.
The biggest thing I disliked about this one was the ending.  I don't know why, exactly, but I don't like the direction it took some of the characters, as well as Grisha magic.
Nina's story was much more interesting this time than in book one.  As she was one of my favourite Crows behind only Jesper, I was extremely disappointed with how little I cared about her part in book one.
I can't wait to see what Leigh does next with the Grishaverse!  I just adore it, the characters and worldbuilding are amazing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry

jennalwiegand's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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? No

4.5

Really loved this book! I have to say it was wayyyy better than the king of scars in my opinion. I loved the character development and general badassery of the female characters, the diverse cast and the cameos from the Dregs. My only “issue” was that a new point of view was added that I didn’t love, but I understand why it was there. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

carolinewithane's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Sexism

luckykosmos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

Bardugo took everything she learned over the past six books (seven if you count Ninth House) and brought it all back to what made Shadow and Bone so spectacular, a story about legacies and the people that make them. Sankta Leigh knocked this one out of the park. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Death

Minor: Chronic illness and Cancer