Reviews tagging 'Death'

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

287 reviews

babyblueming's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

The only reason I didn't give this book a lower rating was that it redeemed itself in the last quarter as much as it could've. It almost seemed like the ending was written first and the rest of the book was just an afterthought. The book is written similarly to those fanfictions I used to read on AO3 when I was 14 and that's not really a compliment. Most of the writing is telling not showing and a lot of the scenes seem to be written just to get the word count up. I don't need to be told every chapter that the character woke up and got dressed. I expected much more than what I got, as the first 3/4 of the book were just the main character getting dragged around by others, complaining and whining about her situation and acting like she's in highschool. Mean girls, slut shaming, pick me behavior, whining, getting magically prettier even though she always thought she was ugly, complaining that she's "too skinny" etc. I spent most of my reading experience being super annoyed with her pov. Luckily her character seems to develop past that at least a bit towards the end. The romance seems entirely unnecessary as well. I hope the other books get better. 

I wondered why the hell would an ancient magician that looks 20 fall in love with a teenager but LUCKILY he was just manipulating her and was basically a villain the whole time. I'm glad about that and I hope the whole romance between Alina and Darkling doesn't continue in the other books. The romance scenes between them made me uncomfortable and I gagged when they kissed cuz it was so instaromance and there was basically no reason they'd be attracted to each other except their powers and that the Darkling's hot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Sexual harassment

jeggert10's review against another edition

adventurous emotional relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thepaperbackqueen'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Definitely enjoyed my reading experience with this book and I can't wait to read book 2. 

Alina is the main character of this book and her whole life got turned upside town when she entered the Shadow fold as a mediocre cartographer but left the fold and something she refused to come to terms with. 
She was not part of the Grisha and not just any Grisha but a rare Grisha who potentially has the power to change Ravkha and her kingdom.

Alina had to come to terms with her identity and learned a lot about herself and her power alone the way. She learns to trust and was betrayed, she learns to control her power and it was taken from her and through it all even when hope was lost she continued to persevere. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Minor: Emotional abuse

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

I'm not going to give this a star rating because the show loomed too heavily over my reading experience for me to give a fair rating. there are a few things I do prefer about the book (Alina's characterization being the biggest one) but overall the Netflix show is a great improvement.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming and Rape

nonotyoshi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ineedrhythm's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

amandam71's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

corina10755's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

I loved this book for several reasons. It is a romantasy which has epic worldbuilding. The main tropes are friends to lovers, sort of found family and finding oneself. 

The book follows Alina who was only ever an orphan and a map maker, but instead it's found out that she has a power which she must master. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Slavery

greylagoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

stindex's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail