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madalina0_0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Rape, Addiction, Torture, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Trafficking, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Stalking
david_slack110507's review against another edition
- 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
I absolutely love the Crows and their dynamics with one another. It expanded on them even more from Six of Crows, particularly with the relationships of Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, Jesper and Kaz, Nina and Inej etc. It was so fun seeing all of the characters continue to flourish and to expand upon their already established relationships as well as build new ones and it was one of the main things that kept me coming back even with my reading slump in full force. I liked the endings we got for our Crows as they felt both satisfying and open-ended enough to allow for a sequel or for them to show up in other stories like Nina in the King of Scars duology.
The plot, while I don't think I loved it as much as the Ice Court heist, was still very interesting and was not what I expected going off of the ending of Six of Crows and where this book started off as the plot twists felt cleverly planned out and implemented without feeling like they were done to simply progress the story lazily. The last part of the book - Part 6: Action & Echo - was extremely interesting and one of my favourite parts of the boom because the chaos flowed very nicely to make it an unpredictable, fun, and memorable reading experience. Matthias' death was unexpected and while it wasn't extremely emotional for me as Matthias is one of my lesser favourite Crows (though I do still really like him as a character), it was still effectively done and I'm interested in seeing how this will affect Nina's story going into King of Scars.
Overall, I really liked this book and while I do feel like reading this through a reading slump affected my opinion on the book, though to no fault of the book, I think it was very successful and met my expectations on how to end this duology yet left it in an interesting place to open up into another book to make it a trilogy, which I would not be totally against. I'm most likely going to continue on with my Grishaverse binge and read Nikolai's duology with Zoya and Nina, King of Scars, next as well as hopefully soon rewatch season 1 of Shadow and Bone as well as finally watch season 2 for the first time as I've been waiting until I finished this book as I have been unsure whether or not they included elements of this and Six of Crows into season 2 or not.
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Misogyny, Terminal illness, War, Sexual violence, Child death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Mental illness, Racism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Gun violence
Minor: Vomit, Ableism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, and Drug abuse
josiee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Rape, Blood, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Abandonment, Classism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness
2_bec_loves_books_1's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Child death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Violence, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Torture, War, and Sexism
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Alcohol
cecinamo's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, and Slavery
leahfoko's review against another edition
- 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
I am really, really glad that I decided to read the sequel after reading the Shadow and Bone series. The Six of Crows was the first book that I ever read in the series, it was recommended to me by a friend and I really liked the first book. When I watched Season 1 of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, it made me want to read the original series as well, which I hadn’t been sure of at first because I had heard it wasn’t as good (Leigh Bardugo herself says there are things she wishes she had changed and such). While this duology can definitely stand on it’s own and by no means do you have to read the original series in order to enjoy this one, if you are at all considering reading the original trilogy then I suggest doing so before reading this duology but especially before reading this book. Some of the characters from the original series show up in this book and again, you don’t need to read the originals to enjoy the book, but I enjoyed it so much more knowing who those characters were beforehand. I was so much more invested when they appeared, so if you’re wanting to read the original series then definitely do so first. It’ll be worth it.
I really liked this book, I thought it was super creative and thought out. I was so impressed with how the heists were planned out. If Kaz is a genius for scheming them, then Leigh Bardugo is a genius for creating Kaz and therefore also the schemes. Like damn girl you smart. The characters are flawed but extremely lovable and I thought they all got a really nice ending. Someday I want to read both the books in this duology again because the heists are so elaborate I think they would still be enjoyable to read a second time.
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Rape, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Violence
There is so much violence, torture, abuse (described usually in past tense, these characters grew up in some really traumatic experiences). They are in a gang in a corrupt, medieval-ish city. So do with that what you will and be prepared. I put in all the content warnings as explicit just to be safe.aliyachaudhry's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Cursing, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism
deerlybeloved's review against another edition
- 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
Crooked Kingdom is a phenomenal sequel to Six of Crows, leaving the reader antsy and waiting, on the edge of their seat with every new twist and turn. Every revealed detail, paid off foreshadowing, character interaction, and planned event leaves you in a new bout of stunned silence as you listen, tense and wanting to know more.
Each character is unique, and fleshed out, meaning every chapter (each written from a different perspective) leaves you excited to learn more about that individual, and has its own personal bit of characterized flair that makes you excited to turn the page and learn who the next point-of-view is fore-- Matthias, Inej, Wylan? You just have to find out, sleep be damned.
So much weaves together to form a plot where just as one issue is resolved, you remember that ah, that's right, three chapters earlier that other plot point was introduced, and all of a sudden it's coming back-- You can't believe you forgot, but how could you not when the fate of the world was being handled first?!
The end will break your heart, as much as it heals it, giving you as many tears as it does grins as you flip through the ending chapters and realize just how much has been lost...and how much is being rebuilt.
Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Confinement, Chronic illness, Torture, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Grief, Blood, Addiction, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Murder, Hate crime, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization
Inej, one of the main characters, has a backstory HEAVILY rooted in discussion of pedophilia, child trafficking, sex trafficking, slavery, sexual slavery, rape, sexual abuse, kidnapping, and so much more. While handled with beautiful tact and insight, the depictions of flashbacks and Inej's feelings of these things can comfort survivors of similar things as much as it destroys us. Go with caution. As well, religious bigotry, ableism, trauma, emotional neglect, horrid things happening to children, war, racial fetishization, and so much more is dealt with in tactful ways, but ever presently used as reminders that the world is as imperfect and dark as it is beautiful.littletiramisu's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Slavery, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, and Drug use
wellreadjill_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Trafficking, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence