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zidaaan'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: War
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Death, Gore, and Transphobia
ali_debookness'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
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction
katvou'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? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Death, Murder, and War
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Deadnaming, Drug use, Grief, and Death of parent
krijemseoddusana'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and War
syd991'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? Yes
4.75
After speeding through the rest of the Grishaverse and finally making my way to this amazing novel, I can genuinely say I was not disappointed.
After the absolute cliffhanger that King Of Scars ended on, starting this book was no trouble at all, and for me it was fast-paced and brimming with an extraordinary plot.
I adored watching Nina and Hanne’s relationship grow throughout this book, something I didn’t expect but also didn’t know I absolutely needed.
Another thing I loved was both Zoya and Nikolai’s character development, both coming to terms with their power.
One thing I loved was the appearance of a few certain characters, and the ending of this novel. I love how the option is open for Bardugo to write another book in the series, but at the same time, is left feeling complete.
The one book I haven’t read in the Grishaverse yet is Lives of Saints, and although I don’t deem it necessary, I still feel like it may have added a little more to the story for me, particularly with how this duology deals with the idea of Saints.
As this is the last novel Bardugo has written thus far for the Grishaverse, I can only hope that we’ll be graced with another one soon, because I cannot bear to leave this universe just yet.
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape
aklovekorn'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War
lady_moon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Racism
imcourtneymarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny and War
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Torture and Dysphoria
gayghostprince'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
5.0
I am truly awestruck by how much I love this
most importantly though: ZOYA!!!!!
she's my fav character now I love her so very dearly
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
there's talk of wide scale use of missiles that can destroy cities.threebluesocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Other positive aspects of this book in no particular order: dragons!!!, Nikolai being both very noble and incredibly baby, nice twin/sibling/family motif, the Fjerdan miracle thing is so funny to me, David is top tier cute in this one, the Darkling continues to make me seethe with rage and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, aaaaand putting Hanne here once more because I am in love :)
The only major issue I had with this book (and King of Scars since I'm probably not going to put a separate review on it) was the mechanics of jurda parem. Maybe it's because this book has a different strain than what we saw in SoC/CK and it just wasn't well explained, but I feel like it works completely differently in this duology than what we saw with Nina in SoC. Obviously it's not ideal to be dosed with it as a Grisha since withdrawal is likely to kill you and you'll do pretty much anything for another dose, but it shouldn't introduce any immediate suggestibility in a person until the high begins to wear off, right?
Anyway, smaller list of bits I wasn't thrilled with: lots of characters from the Shadow and Bone trilogy that I really needed more information about up-front since I haven't read that trilogy in about 3 years, I don't think having whole chapters from the Darkling's perspective was great for his perceived threat level (when I can see inside his head he's just... a guy), I continue to wish Novyi Zem had any sort of major appearance in these books considering how massive it is especially since Shu Han finally got some attention, and I would really like to see Zoya figure out other Grisha powers a bit more (and maybe share this knowledge??? Girl, there are other people who could benefit from expanding their horizons, please share).
Graphic: Addiction and War
Moderate: Death and Suicide
Minor: Dysphoria