Reviews tagging 'War'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

119 reviews

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

mdal26's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and War

kenzie_simone456's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ladygetslit's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Series Overall: fell a bit flat for me. I never felt connected to the characters, despite being shoved in Alina’s head the whole time. I never felt myself rooting for her relationship with Mal. To be honest, I think if I had read this series years ago and before reading Bardugo’s other books, I might not be so disappointed, but this was clearly her first major go at it. The storyline itself and the world is amazing, but the execution just wasn’t it for me. I’m still glad I read it though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

livvya's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

petradannibale's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Gore

jaydeecepticon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and War

cnannery19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

kate_arts's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

3.75

I think I liked the first half of this book more than the other books in this trilogy. I think there were a lot of nuances to the heavy themes of the book and emotions of the characters. I particularly felt like this book was good at describing the brutality of war which hit differently in the current world we live in (genocide in Gaza). I think Alina’s sense of loss and hatred towards the people that put her in the position she is in was very tangible in this way.

I didn’t particularly like that Mal was the firebird. It felt slightly like a cop out in this situation. I also didn’t like that Alina lost her powers because she used all of moritzova’s amplifiers. I wish she had agency in this decision.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War