Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

10 reviews

themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, War, Alcohol, and Drug use

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Medical trauma, Gore, Dysphoria, Rape, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Miscarriage and Religious bigotry

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Slavery, Child death, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

overbooked207's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

📖 Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo Book Review 📖

7th book of January 2023 and 7th of the year:

I’m proud of myself because I read multiple books that were very long this month, and in a short amount of time if I may add, and I hope that I continue on with this trend throughout the year!

It was so nice to be back in this world as I wait for Shadow and Bone season 2! It had strong and lovable complex characters, great writing and world-building, beautiful relationships and friendships, witty dialogue, and well-written and engaging fight scenes. Six of Crows is still my favorite series in this world, but I still enjoyed this a lot and recommend the Grishaverse as a whole! Also, the sounds I let out when the crows were mentioned were alarming😂(and that’s not a spoiler because one of the point of view narrators is a crow). TW for ableism, abuse, addiction, blood, bullying, child abuse, chronic illness, classism, confinement, death, drug use/forced drug use, dysphoria, genocide, grief, gun violence and weapons use, forced institutionalization, kidnapping, medical content/trauma, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, rape, religious bigotry, sexism, slavery, slurs, suicidal thoughts, torture, trafficking, violence, war, and xenophobia📚🫀👑🐉

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical trauma, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Ableism, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Torture

gayghostprince's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

this is my favourite grishaverse book, even over six of crows or crooked Kingdom. 
I am truly awestruck by how much I love this 
most importantly though: ZOYA!!!!! 
she's my fav character now I love her so very dearly 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Child death, Gun violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Kidnapping, Dysphoria, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child death, Rape, Ableism, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Slavery, Infertility, Suicide, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Genocide

there's talk of wide scale use of missiles that can destroy cities.

a city is bombed and destroyed in the middle of the night

luluslittlelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Murder, Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Drug use, Torture, Gun violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Chronic illness, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

epellicci's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

Rule of Wolves is a book that deals heavily with themes of war, grief, self-discovery, and acceptance. With drama and action in every chapter the book follows five individual perspectives through the quest for peace in Ravka. While it has more heavy than celebratory moments, the book still manages to champion themes of love and healing. Cinematic in it's scale, it is a book that is easy to get lost in, and as with previous Bardugo books, the ending both brings the story to a satisfying conclusion and leaves the door open for further adventures for a varied and diverse cast of characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Medical trauma, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Murder, Slavery, and Trafficking

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

leahsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

After binge watching the first season of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, I finally felt ready to start this book. And I didn’t even realize how much I missed all my babies until I started reading, but it felt like coming home! 

 

There wasn’t a single thing that I didn’t like about this book! I’m complete trash for Leigh Bardugo, and this book literally blew her other books out of the water. So I’m just going to completely let my inner fangirl run free here and gush about everything I love. 

 

The writing. I love how LB writes, and allows me to visualize everything that was going on. There was such an emotional component to this story, and I was able to really get all up in my feelings alongside the characters. 

 

“In Ravka, they would be readying for the Feast of Sankt Nikolai. And for war. That was the knowledge that sat heavy on her chest every night when she lay down to sleep, that crept up to twine around her throat and choke the breath from her every day. Her people were in danger and she didn’t know how to help them.” 

 

The characters. I truly loved seeing my favorite characters in the Grishaverse. And when I say that, I mean all my favorite characters, because some made cameos that I was super happy to see! There were some new POVs that I didn’t see coming, but it gave some perspective into what was happening in other parts of the story. I mean, who doesn’t love Nikolai, but Nina and Zoya are some of my favorite characters in the whole series. Seeing them all go through so much and still not give up, even in what seems like hopeless situations, was absolutely amazing. I love tough female characters, and everyone undergoes some serious emotional growth throughout the story. 

 

“Zoya’s laugh sounded brittle to her ears. ‘A king with a demon inside him. A monk with the Darkling inside him. A general with a dragon inside her. We’re all monsters now, Nikolai.’” 

 

The romance. There’s a slow-burn connection that has been building up between Nikolai and Zoya, despite all of their efforts to shove everything down and ignore it. And let me tell you, I have been waiting for those feelings to just explode out of them! They make such a great couple with their opposing natures and the way they just understand and complement each other. 

 

“‘Tell me it’s more than war and worry that makes you speak those words. Tell me what they would mean if you weren’t a king and I weren’t a soldier.’” 

 

Speaking of romance, the connection between Nina and Hanne was so heart-meltingly sweet! Especially after seeing the hell that Nina has been through in the last 3 books, I just wanted to see her get to be happy, but I wasn’t sure that it was going to happen. It was a bumpy road for everyone, and Nina was torn between her desire for revenge and her feelings for Hanne. 

 

“Whatever she might feel for Hanne, she intended to see Brum dead, and she doubted Hanne would be able to forgive her for that. The divide was too great.” 

 

The action. There’s a lot of action throughout the story, and a LOT of plot twists. There was just one twist that I was able to predict, and I was ABSOLUTELY THRILLED when I was right. But overall, I was on the edge of my seat for nearly the entire time that I was reading. I didn’t want to do anything other than read this book, because there was so much going on. It was never boring, and there were multiple subplots that always kept things intriguing, even with so many POVs. 

 

The ending. While the entire book was absolutely incredible, the ending took this book to a whole new level. I loved how things wrapped up neatly without feeling rushed, but the best part? It left the door WIDE OPEN for a third Six of Crows book, which I will be eagerly anticipating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Death, and Medical trauma

Minor: Rape

blakethebookeater's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

https://youtu.be/_dH-mSya8uY

This. Book. Is. A. Masterpiece.

WOWOOWOWOWOW. Now this is how you end a series.

I can't say too much without going into spoilers, but DAMN Leigh really played with ALL of my emotions throughout this entire book. It was action-packed, intense, emotional, and perfect. A wonderful finale to the end of this duology and also the entire Grishaverse. It's definitely worth it to read the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology before this series as it makes this book pack a huge punch, but even just being a sequel to King of Scars it is PERFECT.

Nina, Zoya, and Nikolai are all at the BEST they have EVER been in this entire universe and it's such an amazing thing to see. I need more people to read this book so I can scream about it with them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Racism, Torture, and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, and Slavery

totallyshelfaware's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Death, Blood, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexism, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Adult/minor relationship