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arobear'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: Ableism, Death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Classism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
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: Gun violence, Confinement, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Addiction, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Stalking, Vomit, Death of parent, Rape, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Racism
Post traumatic stress disorder, Loss of appetite, Starvation, and Prostitution/sex workperegrinwho'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 and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, and Murder
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
xaaamyy'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
4.75
Only reason it's not 5 stars is cause I normally despise long book hahaaa
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gun violence, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ladygetslit'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
4.0
I will say, not every character had my whole heart, but Wylan and Jesper are everything to me. I could honestly do without the other pairings in the duology.
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Drug use
entityj'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: Blood, Murder, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Classism, Death, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Addiction, Drug use, Trafficking, Torture, and Alcohol
Minor: Grief, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Vomit
cnannery19'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
4.0
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Addiction, Gun violence, Ableism, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Blood, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Trafficking, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
maihja's review
- 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, War, Addiction, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence and Death of parent
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