Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Rule of Wolves

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

26 reviews

leahsbooks's review

adventurous emotional 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

After binge watching the first season of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, I finally felt ready to start this book. And I didn’t even realize how much I missed all my babies until I started reading, but it felt like coming home!

There wasn’t a single thing that I didn’t like about this book! I’m complete trash for Leigh Bardugo, and this book literally blew her other books out of the water. So I’m just going to completely let my inner fangirl run free here and gush about everything I love.

The writing. I love how LB writes, and allows me to visualize everything that was going on. There was such an emotional component to this story, and I was able to really get all up in my feelings alongside the characters.

“In Ravka, they would be readying for the Feast of Sankt Nikolai. And for war. That was the knowledge that sat heavy on her chest every night when she lay down to sleep, that crept up to twine around her throat and choke the breath from her every day. Her people were in danger and she didn’t know how to help them.”

The characters. I truly loved seeing my favorite characters in the Grishaverse. And when I say that, I mean all my favorite characters, because some made cameos that I was super happy to see! There were some new POVs that I didn’t see coming, but it gave some perspective into what was happening in other parts of the story. I mean, who doesn’t love Nikolai, but Nina and Zoya are some of my favorite characters in the whole series. Seeing them all go through so much and still not give up, even in what seems like hopeless situations, was absolutely amazing. I love tough female characters, and everyone undergoes some serious emotional growth throughout the story.

“Zoya’s laugh sounded brittle to her ears. ‘A king with a demon inside him. A monk with the Darkling inside him. A general with a dragon inside her. We’re all monsters now, Nikolai.’”

The romance. There’s a slow-burn connection that has been building up between Nikolai and Zoya, despite all of their efforts to shove everything down and ignore it. And let me tell you, I have been waiting for those feelings to just explode out of them! They make such a great couple with their opposing natures and the way they just understand and complement each other.

“‘Tell me it’s more than war and worry that makes you speak those words. Tell me what they would mean if you weren’t a king and I weren’t a soldier.’”

Speaking of romance, the connection between Nina and Hanne was so heart-meltingly sweet! Especially after seeing the hell that Nina has been through in the last 3 books, I just wanted to see her get to be happy, but I wasn’t sure that it was going to happen. It was a bumpy road for everyone, and Nina was torn between her desire for revenge and her feelings for Hanne.

“Whatever she might feel for Hanne, she intended to see Brum dead, and she doubted Hanne would be able to forgive her for that. The divide was too great.”

The action. There’s a lot of action throughout the story, and a LOT of plot twists. There was just one twist that I was able to predict, and I was ABSOLUTELY THRILLED when I was right. But overall, I was on the edge of my seat for nearly the entire time that I was reading. I didn’t want to do anything other than read this book, because there was so much going on. It was never boring, and there were multiple subplots that always kept things intriguing, even with so many POVs.

The ending. While the entire book was absolutely incredible, the ending took this book to a whole new level. I loved how things wrapped up neatly without feeling rushed, but the best part? It left the door WIDE OPEN for a third Six of Crows book, which I will be eagerly anticipating.

Content Warnings

chaotic_abi's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

yavin_iv's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

5.0

Content Warnings

blakethebookeater's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense 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

5.0

https://youtu.be/_dH-mSya8uY

This. Book. Is. A. Masterpiece.

WOWOOWOWOWOW. Now this is how you end a series.

I can't say too much without going into spoilers, but DAMN Leigh really played with ALL of my emotions throughout this entire book. It was action-packed, intense, emotional, and perfect. A wonderful finale to the end of this duology and also the entire Grishaverse. It's definitely worth it to read the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology before this series as it makes this book pack a huge punch, but even just being a sequel to King of Scars it is PERFECT.

Nina, Zoya, and Nikolai are all at the BEST they have EVER been in this entire universe and it's such an amazing thing to see. I need more people to read this book so I can scream about it with them

Content Warnings

libbyhb's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional medium-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

3.5

Okay, I lied before. THIS is fan service at its finest. Name a character from the previous series, they're here in one way or another. I LOVED that this became primarily a Zoya book - I want nothing but the best for her so I was down with everything she was given in this.

Dragon Queen! All powerful! Can be both the ruler as a Grisha and also be with Nikolai I guess! Whatever it's fine!!

Nina's storyline was WAY weirder than the last book and at times I felt like she had really diverged from real Nina. Like, don't get me wrong, I've been rooting for her and Hanne since the last book, but

NINA, married to the future KING of FJERDA??? HUH?? And both of them completely tailored for what, the REST OF THEIR LIVES???? I don't get it.

Loved getting more Tamar and Tolya in this book, they've both been really interesting and slightly under-utilized in the verse but had some really interesting things to do in this. David and Genya got basically nothing real to do in this, and

his death was so pointless to the plot. It affected almost nothing except making Zoya more energized and Genya so sad.

Loved that we got some fun time in Ketterdam with the Crows, no complaints there! Curious to see if this is really the end of the series or if she'll come back for more.

Content Warnings

aseel_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

incoming rant review:

first thing first, i love these characters SO MUCH. i would literally die for zoya, nikolai, genya, david, the gang, everyone (except the darkling, he can leave). bardugo created a bunch of characters that i root HARD for, which is rare for me these days :'(

BUT - this book was something... incoming spoilers

everything from the plot to the characters actions/dialogue/(questionable)development was flat and odd and argh, so DISAPPOINTED.

first thing: what was with zoya's inner monologue for her development? all this stuff about needing to open up and love other people, not be so cold etc etc etc. it just felt so forced and inorganic and honestly, why cant we have a strong female MC who does not apologize for being like that????? also her suli heritage? was so random and not really played a massive role in the plot, when it could have

nina: what was that? i dont like her staying at fjerda with Hanne (who i liked being trans [?] but i dont like how vague it was made and not dealt with properly, like pronouns) and kind of not grieving mathias in this book (it was a sudden shift from the first book)

nikolai: loved him giving up his crown but his relationship with zoya went from 0-100 in this book. we had the slow burn/sass in KoS, which was lovely. but in this one, it was so quick, and not much banner etc. it just felt too rushed and i wish it wasnt because i loved there relationship so much

other points: WHY DID DAVID DIE??? not really a consequence being as he wasnt there much and then didnt come back to impact the plot for long...

generally: i wish we only focused on the politics and not the magic. we had magic in the first series so it would have been cool to see the political problems of Ravaka. and since we had both, neither were done well. a third book would have helped make the ending not rushed at all. and the darkling? juris? that whole subplot was so weak and just an afterthought really. and i can't believe they are literally going to make the crows go on a heist to get the heart so they can kill the darkling, HE IS A SUCKY VILLAIN LET HIM STAY DEAD. also, why the cameo of the crows??? it felt so fan-servicy and unnecessary

in conclusion: super disappointed in this from both a weak plot point and illogical/weird character development/action. still love these characters though

Content Warnings

More...