bubbly_lara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Spoiler
and the group of survivors in the White Cathedral"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."
For a moment there, I thought my little heart could not take how the story was unfolding. In what the Darkling decided on as a punishment for
Spoiler
NikolaiSpoiler
Alina and Nikolai in his monster formSpoiler
For a moment there, I thought they would not get to live the life they both want and deserve. What with Mal being the Third Amplifier and both of them knowing he must die in order for Alina to absorb the power within Mal. No words, just heartbreak. I did love the epilogue and how they rebuilt Keramzin to be a better home for others than it was for them. Zoya handing Alina blue Grisha robes with the note "You will always be one of us" makes me tear up even writing this review.Please do yourself a favour and go read this series. It deserves all the hype it's getting. I cannot wait to go dive back into the Grishaverse with "Six of Crows" next.
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit
what_karla_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gun violence, Death, and Grief
Minor: Child death
toastyghosty13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
One thing that bothered me was that
Spoiler
Mal was the third amplifier. This just seemed strange to me, especially when the idea of Morozova and his normal daughter surviving being drowned in chains is a huge reach, on top of the fact that Mal is some supposed descendant of the daughter. I found this to be a weird plot point, but I guess it can work.Something that really bothered me that stems from this is that when Alina killed Mal to try to use him as the last amplifier as a last resort, she lost all of her power and it was reflected in all of the other normal citizens instead. I found this very cheesy and a weird way to take it. I doubt I am the only one that wanted to see Alina go super saiyan on the darkling in some massive showdown, so this was a huge letdown to me.
I did not realize how many people would die off, nor did I realize that they had even died until spoken about in past tense.
Spoiler
Harshaw is one of these, plus Ruby and some others that were from the final battle and the battle at spinning wheel. I think all of these characters got done dirty, plus Genya got done dirty for no reason, in my opinion. Same goes for Botkin and anyone that was defending the orphanage; I feel that that was totally unnecessary for them to die and did not really add anything to the plot.The end bothered me unbelievably.
Spoiler
Leigh pulled a Game of Thrones, where we are all expecting some epic showdown just for the big ending move to be getting stabbed in the heart by some forgotten dagger. This was boring and a disappointing cop out, since she is the main character and I expected a lot more for the final scene.The afterward I actually quite liked. It was quaint, and pretty wholesome. I enjoy that
Spoiler
they still have contact with everyone that stayed on to be advisors to Nikolai in the palace and that Alina and Mal are not just cut off from the world completely. They opened an orphanage that they really care about and are able to reminisce whenever old friends from the palace come by to visit. Overall a great afterward.I have heard that the other duologies are a lot better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the turn this series took after how much I enjoyed the first book. I have the boxset so I will at least be reading The Six of Crows Duology since I already own it. I would not purchase King of Scars unless Six of Crows makes a huge turnaround of what Shadow and Bone left me feeling.
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Torture, War, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
k_winchester'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
4.25
And I did feel like the final battle somehow was too... I hesitate to say "simple", because it wasn't exactly, but maybe it just wasn't quite long enough to have that really earned punch-in-the-gut?? It kind of was more like, "Oh... oh man, it's over." That's it. And given how intertwined Alina and The Darkling have been up to this story, it was a bit surprising how separated they ended up feeling in the end, despite all the parallels, connections, and Alina learning more about who he once was.
That being said, the parts that were engaging were awesome and threw me for some loops. I did not see a few of the twists coming, I certainly did not see ANY part of Nikolai's story coming, and I really wasn't sure how Alina was going to end up in the end...!! I pretty much couldn't stop reading the last quarter because I needed to know how on earth it would end!
Leigh always has gorgeous writing regardless, and I *did* enjoy this. I honestly was expecting a much more tragic ending the way things were trending through this book, so I was really relieved to see it end more bittersweet.
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
hayleythegoose's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape
Minor: Suicide attempt and Cannibalism
casthefanby's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, War, and Confinement
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
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
4.25
Normally, I don't often finish book series that I start, or I take a while to do so (Like with these books) usually due to being interested in other books or just not wanting to continue the series right away but I'm very happy that I persevered after the first book because for me at least this trilogy kept on getting better and better with each instalment and each one managed to hold together my interest a whole lot better whether that was because what was happening was more interesting in each book or that when reading the 2nd and 3rd books I mainly read those and no other ones at the same time I don't know but I feel like this is one of the rare times that I read a series/trilogy that increased in quality with each instalment.
The characters are at their strongest in this book with formally side characters such as Zoya and David getting their own developments that make them just as endearing as our main characters. I feel like the plot twists and turns were interesting and unexpected and I actually quite liked the ending even if it did have a happy ending that felt kind of YA. I do wish that Alina had somehow ended up with Nikolai who for me was the much more interesting and endearing love interest but it was obvious that with their shared history, Mal and Alina would be the ending place in terms of relationship wise but I do feel like each relationship while they did not have an air about them with it being unpredictable about who Alina would end up with, they did have their own dynamics unique to them.
The action was actually pretty good even if the ending battle was a little short and I do like that the book for me was actually pretty fast-paced and engaging throughout. I am very much looking forward to reading the other books in the Grishaverse, particularly the Six of Crows duology soon-to-be trilogy which I will unashamedly admit was the main reason as to why I read these books so that I would have the background context for those books however I'm glad that I read these because not only did I really enjoy this story overall but it also introduced me to Nikolai and his character who has his own spin-off duology which will most likely end up on my tbr list soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this series as a whole and I'm glad that I stuck through with it when reading the 2nd and 3rd books. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the Grishaverse books and also finally watching season 2 of the Netflix show soon without spoilers for the ending of the trilogy.
Graphic: War, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Cursing, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gun violence, Genocide, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Child death, and Death of parent
lizgriffinwords'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
4.25
I’m honestly glad I waited until after season 2 of the show (yes, reader sacrilege, I know). And it’s fascinating to see what they changed!
Alina and pals have plenty of flaws, but they are literal TEENAGERS trying to save the world from being consumed by capital D Darkness. Nobody could handle that “perfectly.”
CW: death, violence, brief sexual content (non-explicit), some fantasy racism
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Drug use, and Torture
Minor: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Sexism, Infidelity, Alcohol, Incest, Cannibalism, and Sexual content
alexinitalics'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
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Death, Grief, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail