Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

30 reviews

ashleighamble's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

I love the characters, world, and magic, and I think that's what made this book enjoyable for me. 

My issue is that the plot was not engaging or worthwhile. It was a little unclear why things happened the way they did and while I liked the multiple big sub-plots that were engaging, yet the main one was just weird and felt unnatural. I'm not sure how to explain it properly. I say this with every book I've read recently: I enjoyed reading it, but I will likely forget about it the second I pick up another book. I'm just slightly disappointed and not one bit starstruck.

I also want to note that I like the characters they introduced and the backstory for Zoya and Nikolai (my favorite pair <3).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Violence, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility, War, and Miscarriage

audlittlebookshelf's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this so much! This one is more political drama with a touch of espionage. We also got to see characters dealing with grief and PTSD. Leigh Bardugo is a master at writing stories with multiple perspectives and giving each character a unique voice. There was a portion in the last half of the book that felt a bit hard to follow and didn’t flow as smoothly as the rest. In all fairness, that could have been intentional, given the context, but it made that section less enjoyable to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Slavery, War, Grief, and Trafficking

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

themiscyra_anna's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Torture, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Child abuse, and Animal death

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

I hadn’t done enough research to even realize this one should be read after the Shadow & Bone Trilogy & the Six of Crows Duology, but luckily I did read it after. I found it really fun & insightful to finally have Zoya & Nikolai’s POVs, but also so happy to get Nina’s again too. The duo storylines were interesting, too, but with all Nina’s grief I did find Zoya/Nikolai’s more compelling. 

Found Family, No True Romance Subplots

“Each spine had been an open doorway whispering, Come in, come in. Here is a land you’ve never seen before. Here is a place to hide when you’re frightened, to play when you’re bored, to rest when the world seems unkind.”

“Hope was the wind that came from nowhere to fill your sails and carry you home.”

“It must be easy to ponder the universe, safe in your palace, away from the petty, brutal dealings of man. Maybe you don’t remember what it is to be powerless. I do.”

“You’ve spent your life only choosing the paths at which you knew you could excel. It’s made you lazy.”

“Most of us can hide our greatest hurts and longings. It’s how we survive each day. We pretend the pain isn’t there, that we are made of scars instead of wounds.“

“Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve. You are not protecting yourself by shutting yourself off from the world. You are limiting yourself.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, War, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

danicakvcs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Murder, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, and Child death

Minor: Suicide attempt and Fire/Fire injury

goldensnitch'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A heartbreaking and exciting story of how a young woman grapples with the loss of her love, a king's discovery of the demon within, and a Grisha who leads as a General. Love and loss cultivate in this book and allow you to understand how much loss can get to a person and what lengths a person will go to to retrieve or restore that love. Adventure that gives way to capture, a wayward king who wishes for something he cannot have. Betrayal and pain are frequent throughout this amazing story. Backgrounds of beloved characters are finally revealed and an alliance between a king and a princess could be in the works. If you've read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, you'll love this novel, a continuation with the same characters and some new ones as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and War

goodbyedarling's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death, Miscarriage, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Drug use and Suicidal thoughts

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

OH MY GOODNESS!!! The story continues!!! This book is a little hard to get into in the beginning, but it is amazing to finally see Zoya and Nikolais perspectives! Also how Nina’s life continues after Matthias ;-; It definitely picks up towards the end! It was a little confusing that Ninas and Nikolai+ Zoyas Plots were handled simultaneously in the book, because they had almost nothing to do with each other. Overall a good book! :> 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit

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

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

jessiereads98'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Really torn between a 3.5 and 3.75 on this one. A good addition to the Grishaverse. Solid themes and a compelling story overall. The world remains expansive and sucks you in as we’ve come to expect from the Grishaverse, with interesting domestic and foreign politics. While they have similar themes and are obviously working towards the same big thing in the next book, I’m just not sure Nina’s story belonged with what was billed as Nikolai’s story. In this book the two were nearly completely separate and it was a bit jarring switching back and forth. The ending is obviously full of cliffhangers for the second book and some of this throughout felt so obviously like set up for the next book or future entries in the Grishaverse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Genocide, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Animal death

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Slavery, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and War