Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

37 reviews

kathshiroma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

paularize's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.25

some thoughts:

- this started out somewhat promising and I was really excited in the beginning when they went to Novyi Zem because it’s a country we don’t know a lot about but then they immediately left again to go back to Ravka AGAIN
- Nikolai is fun! Would’ve loved to see more of him!
- I thought we would spend more time with his Sturmhond persona on the funky pirate (privateer, sorry) ship tbh. I don’t know if that is because I’ve only known him as Sturmhond for the past 4 years or because I am not immune to sea adventures and secret identities but it didn’t happen anyway so. Hm.
- imagine having the whole little palace at your feet and still choosing the former darkling‘s rooms like?? they made you commander if you don’t want to sleep there just say it girl
- speaking of commander, I am so glad the netflix show aged these people up thank god
- speaking of the show, I was pretty bored for huge chunks of this book (what even happened. Did anything happen) but at the same time it has the potential to work a lot better in the show and I am super intrigued what they will make out of it, especially if they take the time to explore some of the themes more deeply like the cult around the sun summoner or Alina‘s inner conflict with power.
- Tamar <3 
- whenever Kerch or Ketterdam is mentioned I’m like!! Maybe I should reread six of crows again (I won’t. unless) 
- I have nothing to say about Mal, he was just There™
- it’s pretty clear this is mostly a filler book to get to the important plot points in book 3 but I’m just not invested enough in a lot of the side characters to read another little palace training arc 

I have to wait a few weeks for the 3rd book which is a blessing because i need a break after this but I genuinely hope it will be more exciting than this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and War

illgiveyouahint's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Ableism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

honeyglows's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

erovelo's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

limiwh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

wee_ramekin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

beatriks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The book started a bit slow and entertaining, then Mal got really annoying and I didn’t like the first-person-story-telling too much, as the protagonist wasn’t really having the best perspective. (My critique might be harsh, is this is young adult fantasy and the thoughts just don’t to me anymore) 

Towards the end, I liked it better, especially the last 20%. 
Will finish the trilogy right away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

princess_azula's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm sad that I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. It's still a good book but I found the first part too boring and the second too annoying. Which is probably not fair because there were cool scenes in the first part as well but it dragged a little too much for me. And the second part... I finally know why everyone says Mal and Alina are annoying. Because they are! Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I'm rooting for them. But their communication skills are nonexistent and this is SO frustrating. Nikolai rescued huge parts of the book for me. The banter whenever he was in the scene was just great. 
I also really liked the whole Saints mystery and I wish there was more of that. I hope this will be a bigger part in the last book. 
And there is one trope in this book that I realised I like a lot. It's when the protagonist and antagonist have this special... bond (when you know what I mean). And I think it is expertly done here. It makes sense and it is used very sparsely so it's quite effective. It gave me goosebumps everytime it happened.
Now the ending.... is amazing! The showdown and aftermath are perfect. I was glued to the pages the whole time. Loved the setting at the very end. I can't wait to continue (next month or so ^^; ).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence