Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

50 reviews

mrphy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

lagiven's review against another edition

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, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder

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

epellicci's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

Rule of Wolves is a book that deals heavily with themes of war, grief, self-discovery, and acceptance. With drama and action in every chapter the book follows five individual perspectives through the quest for peace in Ravka. While it has more heavy than celebratory moments, the book still manages to champion themes of love and healing. Cinematic in it's scale, it is a book that is easy to get lost in, and as with previous Bardugo books, the ending both brings the story to a satisfying conclusion and leaves the door open for further adventures for a varied and diverse cast of characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Racism, Torture, and Medical trauma

Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Slavery, Trafficking, and Murder

megloveswords12's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

lennie_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad 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

So after the ending of KoS, we have 2 extra POVs in this book. I won't tell you who because spoilers but I definitely appreciated one more than the other! 

In this book Ravka and Fjerda are at war. Nina is deep undercover in Fjerda, Nikolai & the monster are still joined but they've come to more an amicable arrangement and Zoya is trying to master her new powers. 

This book is heavy, and definitely slow at some points but it's worth sticking with. 

I also think that by the time you get to RoW (after reading all the other GrishaVerse books), you know not to immediately believe everything you read. Especially when it comes to Kaz and Nikolai; Leigh uses a Lot of similar plot devices and, well at least for me, I could always assume there was an alternative / back up plan. 

We do have romance in this book, as well as tragedy (if you know, you know 😭) and there are a lot of different threads weaving together at the same time. 

There is also discussions about race & heritage, as well as confirmation of a trans character and an aro/ace character. 

And we get to see the Crows and Mal & Alina in this book 😍 

I also really enjoyed seeing more of Shu Han; the characters, the governing, the Khergud etc. 

A lot of issues are resolved in this book but not all of them and Leigh has left a few storylines open for the new third Crows book. 

It's hard to review this book without giving away spoilers but if you enjoy the GrishaVerse and were annoyed by the ending of KoS, you should hopefully enjoy this!

There is Trans rep, pan / bi rep, lesbian rep, POC rep, aro/ace rep, mixed race rep and more

CW: reanimated corpses, addiction, death, grief, murder, body horror, torture, medical trauma, confinement, chronic illness, dead children

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault

valyn_grebe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

lauramegan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

yavin_iv's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Homophobia and Rape

beckyyyy'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I enjoyed this book a lot like I do all of Leigh Bardugo's books. The plot was good, the characters were good (although there was one charcters chapter I didnt like but I just don't like that character but the plot line for the  was still good.) The action was great and there was lots of unexpected things to keep me excited to read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Grief, and Murder

blakethebookeater's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, and Slavery