Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Asedio y tormenta by Leigh Bardugo

18 reviews

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence and Alcohol

Minor: Child death and Vomit

lovejasmine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

like most YA trilogies the middle book is often necessary, but also ... not a lot happens between the beginning and the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

tays_books's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is much better than the first one in my opinion yet I feel unable to give it a 4-star rating. I feel like it's closer to a 3.5 or 3.75 rounded down but I may bump it up after I let my thoughts ruminate on it. 

I found that this book was much more gripping that the previous one which very much felt like the first book in a trilogy (Not a bad thing but it definitely had that feeling) whereas while the long chapters remain in this one (And I'm assuming in all of Leigh Bardugo's work) I found it much easier and enjoyable to get through as well as it taking me less time. I liked a lot of the new characters the obvious being Nikolai who I feel brought a lot of charm to the novel and his back and forth with Alina was probably one of my favourite parts of the novel. Speaking of Alina, this time around while she still doubts herself and has her insecurities she felt a lot more involved in the action and getting to see her utilise the Cut and her power was nice to see throughout the novel. 

I also really liked that we got to see more of the military-type operation and world of the Grishaverse/Ravka and Alina coming into control of the Second Army was really cool to see as it was a nice change of pace to have her decide to fight back against the Darkling (As briefly mentioned above). Tolya and Tamar were also a pretty good addition to the ensemble of characters even if they don't get a lot of backstory or much to do besides protecting Alina. 

I can definitely see how some may not like this book as like how I feel with the first book feeling like the first book in a trilogy the same could be said for this one which can definitely feel like the second book and middle-point in a trilogy with its main goal being to set up the 3rd book/conclusion and filling out the rest of time with character dramas and a larger focus on dialogue and development that action (E.g the main real conflicts only come at the beginning and the end and The Darkling remains out of the picture for nearly all of the book aside from the final confrontation and appearing physically to Alina throughout after her nichevo'ya bite)

Overall, I might have the unpopular opinion that I preferred this book to the first and found it to be much more engaging (Perhaps due to the first book having set up everything that the second book could easily and comfortably ease back into the world). I'm planning on trying to finish this series as soon as possible rather than taking a couple of months break in between like I did with this book and the first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

anielabooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall great book, but I still preferred the first one. It was very slow at first, but it really picked up towards the end. Honestly, I was not expecting that many character deaths. Some of those were a but out of pocket. However, I was really excited to meet many characters and grow some old ones. I particularly loved Tamar and Nikolai. Although I wasn’t particularly fond of Zoya, I still appreciated how Bardugo developed her character in this book. I’m excited for what is to come in the next book as I am still very much in love with the world and NIKOLAI LANTSOV. Additionally, I really appreciated the bonus Genya chapter because she was always one of my favorite characters from book 1.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

archivofrances's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

babsi_222's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

-I don't like this book it's really boring and slow
-I was so pissed and mad at Mal and Alina the whole fcking time ahh, it's not okay
-Nikolai Lantsov <3 
-A few things were predictable tbh
-Definitely liked the first book better!!!! 
-Only one S&B book to go for me in order to read SoC

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

seren's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Torture, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

Big Gale energy from Mal in this one. Not a fan…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War