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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
scarletreads_'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: Torture, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Slavery, Physical abuse, Cursing, Violence, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Abandonment, Trafficking, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Murder, Grief, and Classism
bubblegum_or_books'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Trafficking
Minor: Pregnancy and Slavery
little_white'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
Graphic: Chronic illness and Addiction
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Slavery, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Torture, and Genocide
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, War, Rape, and Pandemic/Epidemic
beetroots'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 loved this sequel and felt that it really tied up the story for me, though I would love to have another one just to see what everyone does next!
- Fast paced, picked up pace faster than the first book (possibly because I already knew the characters and already loved them)
- The character development over the 2 books was so enjoyable - no character ever becomes perfect which I really enjoyed as it felt realistic that they didn't just suddenly become good, they were nuanced and considered
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Drug use, Torture, Death, Grief, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Trafficking
jp1920's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Torture, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Death of parent
chloewilson_13'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, Violence, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Trafficking, Rape, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse
c_l_ara'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: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Addiction, Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Trafficking, and Rape
Minor: Ableism and Genocide
zuth6462'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: Blood, Gore, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Death, War, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Murder, and Kidnapping
mothmans_secretary'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: Blood, Death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Grief, Torture, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse