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literarydumpling'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
A cast of six lead characters, interchanging POVs and a clear goal in mind, this book has it all. Before I started the Six of Crows duology, I didn't have any strong feelings about heist-related books, but it was the perfect introduction and Crooked Kingdom is the perfect follow-up and conclusion.
The story picks up where Six of Crows left off
Unsurprisingly, the character development in this book is excellent, building on what we had in the first book. You can see each of the relationships develop (I love them all, no favourites, how dare you) whether romantically or platonically. With the switching POVs, you can get more insight into how each person has changed post-Ice Court and also how they are tackling their struggles.
My heart was torn out by the ending, and I shed tears after tears after tears, and that is always a sign of a good book.
I also very much enjoyed the allusions to the first trilogy in the Grishaverse, and though it's not necessary to read the books before this duology, it is nice to see how the added flavour of the world has been developed for new and old readers alike.
This was the perfect conclusion to the series, with enough of an ending that the story is closed, but with the hopeful beginnings of what else may happen to our wonderful cast in the future.
No mourners. No funerals.
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Sexual violence and Torture
ailiaris25's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
veggiestrawenjoyer13'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
4.5
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death and Blood
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: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Death of parent
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
wyabook234's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction and Torture
Minor: Sexual assault
nineinchnails'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 love that the romance is a subplot but for one of the relationships specifically it did end up a little vague - that doesn't bother me since i didn't read this for the romance but just a disclaimer for anyone expecting typical romance-style HEAs for everyone! the characters did start to feel a little caricatural after a while but it didn't help that i read both books one after another whilst watching the show adaptation and i found it pretty endearing if anything. it isn't often that a series offers so much representation without giving me the impression they were written to tick off a box and i am genuinely sad it's the end of these characters (outside of nina + some cameos in KoS/RoW) for now :(
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Stalking, and Death of parent
Post traumatic stress disorder, Loss of appetite, Starvation, and Prostitution/sex workdiamond627'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
queensplay'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: Addiction, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment
em_of_swags'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, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Death of parent
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: Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism