Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

16 reviews

escapismforlife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Beyond perfect catharsis  read to continue  and finish reading the last books in the Grishaverse. I loved and wanted to hug every character. All of them had essential roles and dealt with a lot in this duology. But I loved every second of it. The good and bad moments  of this Ravka's leaders. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Dysphoria, and Emotional abuse

luluslittlelibrary's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Murder, Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Drug use, Torture, Gun violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Chronic illness, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

lagiven's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

2.0

I think at least half a star if not more is dedicated to the Crows that cameo because they're the reason I hoped Rule of Wolves would be better than King of Scars. Rule was somehow worse, and the plot made even less sense. The "plot twists" were more shock value than actually exciting, and there were some unnecessary subplots that cheapened the serious trauma some characters deal with. This was just a complete mess, way too fast paced due to too many subplots, and multiple characters drastically diverged from how they acted previously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery

sunsetcity's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, and Violence

aviery's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexism, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse

aseel_reads's review against another edition

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 

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, and Torture