Reviews tagging 'War'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

113 reviews

shadow_cat94's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I fell in love with this book by chapter 3. As soon as I got to the last chapter I went out and bought the duology because I couldn't wait for the next one. The author's writing is captivating, the cast of characters are wonderful and I find everyone deep and their arcs throughout the story wonderful (except Wylan - I hope he gets more in book 2). The pace in the story is always moving with the slow moments centered around character depth or plot point build-up. Truly a beautiful book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, and Kidnapping

If you struggle with drug use/abuse this may not be the book for you.

The plot centers around a heist that's caused by the creation of a drug that boosts the powers of magic users, but it's HIGHLY addictive. Almost one use and they're gone. And we see the effects multiple times in graphic details on occassion. . Proceed with caution if that is a trigger for you.

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and War

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I understand the hype for this series. Night and day for me from Shadow and Bone where I felt the characters were lackluster and the action felt really contrived. In comparison, Six of Crows is full of complicated and morally ambiguous protagonists and compelling, "what will happen next" sort of action. The twists and turns were endless, and the characters all had rich and well-developed backstories that gave you an interesting perspective on why they act they way they do. This book felt like a fantasy version of Oceans Eleven with traumatized teenagers, and I loved every minute of it. It all worked for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and War

franklloydweft's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

Copied from fable:
Absolutely loved! Only wasn’t a 5 star because of the few tiny teensy gripes I have that just took me out of it sometimes, but other than that this was so wonderful. Can’t wait to read the second book! Loved all the deliciously layered and complex characters. Loved the setting I already enjoyed having seen the Netflix show (and luckily that show didn’t spoil the fun of this book). I had such a great time. My teeny gripes like the ages of the characters feeling a bit of a reach and the normal anachronism issues that happen with fantasy worlds were by no means a barrier to a really great ride. Highly recommend to anyone who likes a heist with a bit of magic and a fun world to explore!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Violence and Trafficking

Minor: Racism

joslynmyers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Slavery, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Sexism, Vomit, and Death of parent

thestarsaresad's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Wow. It took me a while to get into this book due to college taking up a lot of my time and being in a reading slump, but once I got sucked in, I couldn't put the book down. I loved being able to see each character's point of view and learning about their backstories. Normally, I don't really enjoy separate POV's, finding myself naturally gravitating to and waiting for a specific characters chapter. But this book? I enjoyed each character's point of view equally, and I sped through these chapters like crazy.  The overall story and backstories of each character are all so fleshed-out; I loved being able to piece together bits of the story over time. I especially enjoyed the plot twists -- nothing is ever as it seems. And I absolutely adored seeing the growth that the characters went through. I truly truly hope that Crooked Kingdom lives up to my expectations because my expectations are to the moon from Six of Crows.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

ofinkandscales's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Spoiler-free TL;DR Review:
This book is phenomenal, each character is well written, the pacing is great, and it will absolutely tug at your heartstrings at times.

Spoiler Review:

I originally got into this book because of my love for the Netflix series (#SaveShadowandBone) and boy do I regret not reading this sooner. Kaz Brekker will always be my favorite, the deadliest boy in all of Ketterdam. Of all the scenes in the entire book, the scene with the Crows riding the stolen tank through the Fjerdan streets, the sense of "this is it, we did it" had me in tears because for the entire book, everyone doubted this ragtag group of criminals kids, and despite all the doubters, /they did it/. And just as soon as they did it, it all went kettle up and now I can't wait to get into Crooked Kingdom. Even if I hadn't seen the show first, I believe I still would've fallen in love with this world of criminals and heists, each character is so well written, no one is flat and each one pops off the page as if they were a real, flesh and blood person. The way Leigh Bardugo describes her scenes makes the entire thing similar to a movie; the electric feeling of Nina taking the jurda parem and her power being felt by all, even the reader, the feeling of Jordie's bloated and slippery flesh under Kaz's hands, the turmoil Matthias feels between loyalty to his country or the girl he loves, and the feeling of walking through miles of snow and ice with only the promise of riches keeping you going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

The entire book revolves around a heist between a crew in Ketterdam and the country of Fjerda. Those who reside in Fjerda have a rank of people known as Druskelle who use religion as a justification for eradicating the Grisha simply for being different. The Fjerdans regularly claim Grisha are less than dogs, are monsters, etc. One of the main characters is kidnapped and trafficked into a brothel and forced to "work down" her debt. One of the main characters has deep trauma and suicidal thoughts at times. One character deals with addiction, and another deals with an abusive family. Gore is described in detail.

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

The first few chapters were boring but things really picked up from there. All the POVs were interesting and I enjoyed how the characters worked together. I’m eager to see where the gang goes from here

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: War

eemi42's review

adventurous 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

4.75

Reading Six of Crows is a somewhat similar experience to reading Dune in that there is a lot of vocab and world building to get used to, but it's worth it to stick with it.

The characters are loveable

and I like rooting for the couples that formed—Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, and especially Nina and Jesper.

Also, I found the Grisha vs. Fjerdan conflict very compelling and relevant.

It took me quite some time to get used to the world,

but things really pick up in the final 25%. Things would appear to go wrong and I'd get very stressed, only for it to be revealed that it was part of the plan all along. (Inej getting detained at the gate). There are many loose ends that make me want to acquire and read the second book immediately

I thought the constant switching of perspective would get annoying, but it was masterfully done and didn't detract from the story—only added to it.

Can't wait to read Crooked Kingdom!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Genocide, Racism, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, and War