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anniereads221's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, War, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
sammymilfort's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, and War
jupitermond's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Body horror
stellenelcielo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
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? No
5.0
Honestly, excellent ending to a series.
Well, I think it’s an ending? Maybe? Haven’t checked if Leigh Bardugo plans to write more for it, would definitely read them if she did, but if she didn’t? This would be a good finish.
Where to start? There were chapters that I felt were slow, and others that were fast.
Nina was a character that consistently took effort to enjoy. Truthfully, I just didn’t think Fjerda was a salvageable country, and had no interest of seeing any redemption or storyline surrounding it, more so than any complaints about Nina as a character (I digress, I did find her insufferable when Matthias was alive) only that her obsession with Fjerda was annoying.
The rest? Loved them. Zoya has my whole heart, and I’ll leave it there cause I’d rather not go into spoiler territory.
But yeah. 5 stars because I was genuinely happy with the ending, the writing, the characterization. Left me feeling hopeful for any of Bardugo’s future works.
Well, I think it’s an ending? Maybe? Haven’t checked if Leigh Bardugo plans to write more for it, would definitely read them if she did, but if she didn’t? This would be a good finish.
Where to start? There were chapters that I felt were slow, and others that were fast.
Nina was a character that consistently took effort to enjoy. Truthfully, I just didn’t think Fjerda was a salvageable country, and had no interest of seeing any redemption or storyline surrounding it, more so than any complaints about Nina as a character (I digress, I did find her insufferable when Matthias was alive) only that her obsession with Fjerda was annoying.
The rest? Loved them. Zoya has my whole heart, and I’ll leave it there cause I’d rather not go into spoiler territory.
But yeah. 5 stars because I was genuinely happy with the ending, the writing, the characterization. Left me feeling hopeful for any of Bardugo’s future works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Body horror, War, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child abuse and Rape
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Confinement
Minor: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
If my ratings were purely based off how a book makes me feel, this would be getting a one star. However they are not, so I had to cede it one more star because there were some good, even great, parts. But mostly it just pissed me off.
I can credit Bardugo with creating a complex and layered plot. However, the only POV I truly enjoyed was Nina's, as her ambitions and methods were fascinating, and I like the romance with Hanne. Even there, however, I felt like she didn't get a strong enough character arc. I also enjoyed Mayu's POV as it was fresh and full of intrigue, but we barely got any of it. Finally, I adored where Zoya ended up. Her character development has been phenomenal across the Grishaverse. This series belongs to her.
And that's where my compliments end. The thing about this book is that it just feels like fan service. That may not even be the case, but it comes off that way. This is so disappointing, as I feel like for the most part King of Scars was setting up for Rule of Wolves to be an incredible and worthy addition to the Grishaverse - it was not. This is mostly going to be spoilers.
The first warning bell was the return of the Darkling. This completely undermines the impact of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Alina and Mal's sacrifice. And then his presence wasn't even USED properly?? He wasn't in character, did nothing important throughout the WHOLE of the book and decided to sacrifice himself as penance, while declaring he was repenting nothing? Make it make sense. I know Bardugo said that the Darkling did not deserve redemption, but she kind of gave it to him anyway?? And then Zoya has her idea to replace the Darking with the heart of Sankt Feliks anyway, so what was the point of this whole storyline?? You can't say to make Nikolai's demon make sense, as it stayed when the blight vanished. And you can't say the blight created a source of tension, as it really didn't - it was barely referenced throughout the whole of the book. You literally could have had the obisbaya performed at the end of King of Scars, it being successful, and one problem from Nikolai's life being removed, without reducing the impact of Rule of Wolves. Plus it required the involvement of Mal and Alina, whom I did not think had realistic reactions to the Darkling returning. It also meant their neatly tied up ending at the end of Ruin and Rising was frazzled. Their appearance felt like fan service, and was the second warning bell for me. Overall for this part, it would have been more interesting had Yuri (whom we don't see a proper end for, either), leading the Starless Saint's cult, having become a force to be reckoned with, perhaps involved with the Apparat in some way.
The second main part which felt like fan service was the involvement of the Crows. While this was much more logical to me, given Nikolai's need to steal something, the whole episode was so brief that the Crows felt like shadows of themselves. We literally barely see Jesper and Wylan, despite their involvement in the heist Nikolai is a part of. It kind of felt like it could have happened behind the scenes without Nikolai's involvement, so that they were still referenced in the story without being rushed.
The third part was David's death. I could see no conceivable reason why this occurred. It literally doesn't make sense and felt like Bardugo did it for shock factor, not for the sake of dismantling plot armour. If the latter was the case, it would have been more logical for someone like Tolya, Tamar, Nadia, Adrik or Leoni to die, who are exposed to much more dangerous things than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Furthermore, doesn't it contradict the ending of Ruin and Rising, which describes how the Triumvirate visit Mal and Alina for years to come? It's only been three years?? Make it make SENSE.
Aside from these concerns, there were other aspects I didn't like. For example, my disconnect from Zoya and Nikolai's POVs. I was somewhat expecting this from Nikolai's, as I had felt it during King of Scars, but was upset it happened with Zoya, too, considering I adored her POVs from the previous book. I think it's because Nikolai and Zoya conceal their plans from the reader a LOT during this book, which is good for the element of surprise, but as it was overused it ended up with me not being able to tell what they were thinking or feeling, hence the disconnect. I also wished that Zoya's POVs explored her newfound power more and learning about how to be open from a much earlier point. With Nikolai, I was frustrated that we were told how much he wanted to heal Ravka, but not why. Finally, I struggled with getting on board with Nikolai and Zoya's romance. Logically it makes a lot of sense, but I didn't feel the emotion behind it. I could tell they cared deeply about one another, but for the most part it was hard to believe this was in a romantic way.
The final thing that made me frustrated and angry was the disability rep in this book.Prince Rasmus is chronically ill, and this makes him sour, evil and violent which he indulges as he gains strength. As a chronically ill person, it was simultaneously upsetting and infuriating that this was the path Bardugo chose for her only chronically ill character, and as such I couldn't fully get behind on the ending, dependent as it was on Prince Rasmus being evil and then being killed. This is especially so seeing as it seemed Bardugo handled disability rep well in her other books, such as in the character of Kaz.
I am honestly so disappointed that what is allegedly the finale of the Grishaverse disappointed me so greatly. I wish I had had a different experience but such is life.
I can credit Bardugo with creating a complex and layered plot. However, the only POV I truly enjoyed was Nina's, as her ambitions and methods were fascinating, and I like the romance with Hanne. Even there, however, I felt like she didn't get a strong enough character arc. I also enjoyed Mayu's POV as it was fresh and full of intrigue, but we barely got any of it. Finally, I adored where Zoya ended up. Her character development has been phenomenal across the Grishaverse. This series belongs to her.
And that's where my compliments end. The thing about this book is that it just feels like fan service. That may not even be the case, but it comes off that way. This is so disappointing, as I feel like for the most part King of Scars was setting up for Rule of Wolves to be an incredible and worthy addition to the Grishaverse - it was not. This is mostly going to be spoilers.
The second main part which felt like fan service was the involvement of the Crows. While this was much more logical to me, given Nikolai's need to steal something, the whole episode was so brief that the Crows felt like shadows of themselves. We literally barely see Jesper and Wylan, despite their involvement in the heist Nikolai is a part of. It kind of felt like it could have happened behind the scenes without Nikolai's involvement, so that they were still referenced in the story without being rushed.
The third part was David's death. I could see no conceivable reason why this occurred. It literally doesn't make sense and felt like Bardugo did it for shock factor, not for the sake of dismantling plot armour. If the latter was the case, it would have been more logical for someone like Tolya, Tamar, Nadia, Adrik or Leoni to die, who are exposed to much more dangerous things than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Furthermore, doesn't it contradict the ending of Ruin and Rising, which describes how the Triumvirate visit Mal and Alina for years to come? It's only been three years?? Make it make SENSE.
Aside from these concerns, there were other aspects I didn't like. For example, my disconnect from Zoya and Nikolai's POVs. I was somewhat expecting this from Nikolai's, as I had felt it during King of Scars, but was upset it happened with Zoya, too, considering I adored her POVs from the previous book. I think it's because Nikolai and Zoya conceal their plans from the reader a LOT during this book, which is good for the element of surprise, but as it was overused it ended up with me not being able to tell what they were thinking or feeling, hence the disconnect. I also wished that Zoya's POVs explored her newfound power more and learning about how to be open from a much earlier point. With Nikolai, I was frustrated that we were told how much he wanted to heal Ravka, but not why. Finally, I struggled with getting on board with Nikolai and Zoya's romance. Logically it makes a lot of sense, but I didn't feel the emotion behind it. I could tell they cared deeply about one another, but for the most part it was hard to believe this was in a romantic way.
The final thing that made me frustrated and angry was the disability rep in this book.
I am honestly so disappointed that what is allegedly the finale of the Grishaverse disappointed me so greatly. I wish I had had a different experience but such is life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Ableism
Moderate: Medical content, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Racism, Torture, Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Rape, Vomit, Miscarriage, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Cannibalism, Body shaming, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry
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
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
danielleor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Deadnaming
syllareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Ooh this one is a difficult one to review and judge... I did my best here but it did not make the job easy!
Rule of Wolves is the latest and so far last installment in the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo and it was...everywhere at once. And not always in an entirely good way.
The stakes have slowly been raised throughout every single book we've read so far and while this last book is thus a bit of a chonker, it was imo still not enough to adequately portray the plot's complexity - either that, or Bardugo's books just do not work for me if the stakes aren't really that personal anymore.
Let me explain.
Six of Crows was, essentially, a book with high personal stakes and not much else. The world isn't going to end if the Crows don't manage to break into the Ice Court (possibly), but they will get persecuted for it. It's a fun adventure that nonetheless sets your heart racing, you get gripped by every character's backstory and their motivation to trudge on despite everyone dead-set to stop them in their tracks.
And it worked. Bardugo works exceptionally well with multiple POVs and their unique voices and troubles, and the fast-paced and action-packed adventure of 6 people crazy enough to steal the moon if only it weren't so far away was a raving success.
Rule of Wolves, on the other hand, is essentially a High Fantasy Politdrama... and apparently, those do not work for me when it comes to Leigh Bardugo.
Instead of personal stakes we have entire countries at stake here. Instead of just juggling different personal perspectives, we essentially have POVs representing their countries or at least a fraction of it. We get introduced to new characters we didn't really get time to care about (I surely didn't. Mayu who?). The ensuing battles are a chore to read about, and when Bardugo dropped the Crows into it somehow, it managed to feel WORSE - like she was trying to remind everyone what we loved so much about SoC. Which, sadly, worked about as well as you'd expect (not at all for me).
Unlike some reviewers I've seen on here I can say that I AM a fan of the end - it works really well for me! You want to know why? Because it again focuses far more on characters and their individual choices when put before some hard choices in their life. Which is precisely what drew me in again.
I am not sure if I disliked parts of the book so much because it's so different from SoC or because it's truly not working for me like this OR because I'm used to Politdrama in High Fantasy taking up far more space (I'm sorry but less than 600 pages is not going to do it for me when a lot of these conflicts have never been properly set up and introduced to the audience; read: me). The personal connections I had to the characters saved a LOT, especially in the end and in those quiet moments Bardugo excells at - but overall, sadly, this was not what I wanted it to be T.T
Rule of Wolves is the latest and so far last installment in the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo and it was...everywhere at once. And not always in an entirely good way.
The stakes have slowly been raised throughout every single book we've read so far and while this last book is thus a bit of a chonker, it was imo still not enough to adequately portray the plot's complexity - either that, or Bardugo's books just do not work for me if the stakes aren't really that personal anymore.
Let me explain.
Six of Crows was, essentially, a book with high personal stakes and not much else. The world isn't going to end if the Crows don't manage to break into the Ice Court (possibly), but they will get persecuted for it. It's a fun adventure that nonetheless sets your heart racing, you get gripped by every character's backstory and their motivation to trudge on despite everyone dead-set to stop them in their tracks.
And it worked. Bardugo works exceptionally well with multiple POVs and their unique voices and troubles, and the fast-paced and action-packed adventure of 6 people crazy enough to steal the moon if only it weren't so far away was a raving success.
Rule of Wolves, on the other hand, is essentially a High Fantasy Politdrama... and apparently, those do not work for me when it comes to Leigh Bardugo.
Instead of personal stakes we have entire countries at stake here. Instead of just juggling different personal perspectives, we essentially have POVs representing their countries or at least a fraction of it. We get introduced to new characters we didn't really get time to care about (I surely didn't. Mayu who?). The ensuing battles are a chore to read about, and when Bardugo dropped the Crows into it somehow, it managed to feel WORSE - like she was trying to remind everyone what we loved so much about SoC. Which, sadly, worked about as well as you'd expect (not at all for me).
Unlike some reviewers I've seen on here I can say that I AM a fan of the end - it works really well for me! You want to know why? Because it again focuses far more on characters and their individual choices when put before some hard choices in their life. Which is precisely what drew me in again.
I am not sure if I disliked parts of the book so much because it's so different from SoC or because it's truly not working for me like this OR because I'm used to Politdrama in High Fantasy taking up far more space (I'm sorry but less than 600 pages is not going to do it for me when a lot of these conflicts have never been properly set up and introduced to the audience; read: me). The personal connections I had to the characters saved a LOT, especially in the end and in those quiet moments Bardugo excells at - but overall, sadly, this was not what I wanted it to be T.T
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Death, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Body horror
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
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
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