Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

36 reviews

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

9/10. I loved this book. I don't think I liked it more than the Six of Crows books, but that's because I'm a sucker for found family. I love Nikolai, Zoya, Nina, and Hanne. The only part that I didn't like was that it felt like I was reading two separate books - one about Nikolai and Zoya and another about Nina and Hanne. It didn't feel like the two connected or overlapped very much, so when I would read a chapter from one of their POVs, then I wanted to keep reading that story rather than switching to a completely different story (that I also liked and then the cycle would continue). I'm guessing the two stories will converge in the next book, but I think this book felt off because of the unrelated stories. Love the Grishaverse, though. This series continues to surprise me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and War

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

infjkiki's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit

maddiebo97's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

UGH i loved it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and War

marine2907's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

chloenrogers's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

The first book in the Grishaverse that I haven’t been totally in love with. The plot felt somehow crowded and slow and the same time and could have benefitted from having Nina’s story in a separate novel. I’m not totally sure what it is about this instalment but it just never clicked with me, even though it features some of my favourite characters. I’m so used to feeling high stakes from the Grishaverse but this, unfortunately, fell flat. I feel like so much happened, yet the characters remained essentially the same as at the start as we got very little time with any of them beyond surface level observations. There was also next to no romance (or there is but there’s little chemistry compared to the other books)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Gun violence, Infertility, Pedophilia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

siennakt30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lethukhanyile's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

meg_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.25

Overall I enjoyed this book and just really love anything within the Grishaverse. I will say, I was not expecting the plot to take the turn it did because I honestly was expecting the main focus of the book to be Nikolai navigating the political dynamics within his invitation to his neighboring countries to Ravka while keeping his infliction a secret, but when he and Zoya disappeared into the fold, it became less interesting to me. The whole plot point with the saints was just not something I enjoyed personally, but it ended in such a way that kept me interested and intrigued. Also I am super invested in Nina's plot line and the twist that occurred closer to the end of the book regarding who she encounters. 

The thing I loved most about this book was the characters and their development, which is honestly what I love about Leigh Bardugo's writing and the Grishaverse as a whole. After reading this story I am absolutely obsessed with Zoya as a character. She is such a powerful female character who does not apologize for taking up space or occupying her positions of power and simultaneously does not shy away from her femininity which I love. She is also full of female rage which is relatable and endears her to me even more. Beyond that, I found her storyline and her process of managing her grief throughout this story was so well done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt