dkaps's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Ableism, and Addiction
Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, War, Drug use, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Slavery, and Torture
nelena1'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, and Slavery
aliyachaudhry'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
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Cursing, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism
lugooo0_0'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
5.0
Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, Rape, and Child abuse
deerlybeloved'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? It's complicated
5.0
Crooked Kingdom is a phenomenal sequel to Six of Crows, leaving the reader antsy and waiting, on the edge of their seat with every new twist and turn. Every revealed detail, paid off foreshadowing, character interaction, and planned event leaves you in a new bout of stunned silence as you listen, tense and wanting to know more.
Each character is unique, and fleshed out, meaning every chapter (each written from a different perspective) leaves you excited to learn more about that individual, and has its own personal bit of characterized flair that makes you excited to turn the page and learn who the next point-of-view is fore-- Matthias, Inej, Wylan? You just have to find out, sleep be damned.
So much weaves together to form a plot where just as one issue is resolved, you remember that ah, that's right, three chapters earlier that other plot point was introduced, and all of a sudden it's coming back-- You can't believe you forgot, but how could you not when the fate of the world was being handled first?!
The end will break your heart, as much as it heals it, giving you as many tears as it does grins as you flip through the ending chapters and realize just how much has been lost...and how much is being rebuilt.
Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Gun violence, Confinement, Chronic illness, Torture, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Grief, Blood, Addiction, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Murder, Hate crime, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Injury/injury detail, Rape, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization
Inej, one of the main characters, has a backstory HEAVILY rooted in discussion of pedophilia, child trafficking, sex trafficking, slavery, sexual slavery, rape, sexual abuse, kidnapping, and so much more. While handled with beautiful tact and insight, the depictions of flashbacks and Inej's feelings of these things can comfort survivors of similar things as much as it destroys us. Go with caution. As well, religious bigotry, ableism, trauma, emotional neglect, horrid things happening to children, war, racial fetishization, and so much more is dealt with in tactful ways, but ever presently used as reminders that the world is as imperfect and dark as it is beautiful.lvjysunday'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
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Torture, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Trafficking
Minor: Sexual assault
fierymoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death
watenelysh'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
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Murder, Drug abuse, Ableism, Child abuse, and Kidnapping
jonsnowsmanbun's review
- 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
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Ableism and War
tsar'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
5.0
“We meet fear. We greet the unexpected visitor and listen to what he has to tell us. When fear arrives, something is about to happen.”
Picking up where it's left off, Crooked Kingdom laid the foundation that guarantees a difficult victory for Kaz and his group as they attempt to fix the mistakes caused by their missed calculations in their previous heist. His overflowing confidence has cost them extreme recklessness that eventually has taken their teammate away to a secluded area by their supposed benefactor. As a result, with stakes skyrocketing to an impossible feat, the Crows gang is forced to play beyond their safe, familiar lane that they could easily predict any counterattack.
While the possibility of Jarl Brum and Pekka Rollins as tough cookies turns to be a disappointing landslide, Van Eck emerges to be a formidable foe that could almost match the energy of the Crows seamlessly. His attentiveness to playing dirty by manipulating the Crows' greatest fears proves to be a fruitful occurrence; Bardugo sets out those moments for the Crows to struggle with their near-impenetrable belief, forcing them to unlock a certain chain of events that they have buried for quite a while. And for that, despite his ultimate loss at the end, it never feels like he is an underused cheap villain for the protagonists to step stone, but a solid appreciation that we could say as a good game.
Furthermore, the grand climax rewards the readers with another sequence hoped in the sequel: a string of action-packed scenes. Bardugo does not disappoint in this element as she decides for riskier and crazier battles to be included: a mass brawl between Kaz and the Dregs, the acrobatic bomb planting by Inej and her subsequent deadly match with Dunyasha, and Nina's overwhelmingly terrifying turn from a Heartrender into a Corpsewitch.
As their personalities have been established in the first book, the sequel opts to focus on the character development and interpersonal relationships between the protagonists without dampening their already well-written characterization. Mentioned above is the fact that Bardugo uses Van Eck's emotional manipulation for the Crows to face the greatest fears, and that is exactly what they do to redeem the humanity that they have cast aside. For example, Kaz is allowed the chance to finally have proper mourning of his brother's death, Inej encounters her own grief that renders her to blame herself less, Wylan gets the advantage to learn about his family better than he's told about despite the heartbreaking truth that follows his learning, Matthias and Nina holding an eye-to-eye conversation that ultimately motivates Matthias to respect differences and uniqueness beyond his Fjerdan upbringing.
Most of all, Jesper has the fairest development out of the Crows with his wall of insecurities are slowly doubled down with the appearance of his father, concisely elaborating Jesper's troubling view as a suppressed Grisha and gambling addiction is a result of his traumatic experience that sees his mother dying from using her power and fear to become a fully trained Grisha under the Darkling's former rule.
Being a successful sequel as well as a closure to the spin-off duology, there is no doubt that Bardugo has tremendously improved her writing style that goes from a simplistic fantasy template to an elaborate, complex narration that would bring her status as a prominent writer in the genre. I was honestly quite disappointed that she plans a third novel as a follow-up in the series, yet after rereading the finale of Crooked Kingdom as well as the second book in her current Grisha spin-off series, I am more than curious about how she could bring the Crows gang and Grisha Triumvirate side-by-side in a cunning motion.
Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Ableism, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Torture, and Death