Reviews with content warning for Trafficking - Crooked Kingdom

Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo

230 reviews

britwalsh16's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

I loved this book! Kaz & Inej’s complicated feelings for eachother are just so relatable! And Jan Van Eck is just a perfect villain! You have to hate him, and how he can treat his son that way makes me want revenge on him too. This book just keeps you invested in the characters stories, and their want for revenge and payback, and you just spend the whole book waiting to see how they get it!

Spoiler

but I can’t believe they killed Matthias!!! Matthias & Nina we’re my favorite! Enemies to lovers, and their hopes to make the world a better place like Nina did with Matthias! I can’t believe they didn’t get their happy ending!!! No one was supposed to die! 😭

No Mourners, No Funerals. 🖤🖤🖤

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just_a_bibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

After having this book sitting on my shelf for the past few months, I finally decided to pick it up before the next Shadow and Bone series comes out on Netflix, and in all honesty, I don't know why I was putting off reading this for so long. I found Six of Crows so incredibly slow and hard to get in to, but there was something about Crooked Kingdom that was just a billion times better. Following on from Six of Crows, the next book in this duology continues Kaz and his crew's story, with the six back on the streets of Ketterdam.

The world-building was BEAUTIFUL. I think especially as this is the fifth Grishaverse book I've read now, I really appreciated how the whole world is just so intricately detailed and well thought out. There's something so magical about it all.

The characters were where things really got interesting. I adored all six of them. I felt like the characters had been developed on such a new level in Crooked Kingdom - we really got to understand them and their motives, and they all had such distinctive traits and quirks. They all had such compelling friendships and relationships with each other, and again, it was just truly magical to read about. The sheer complexity of some of these relationships was explored in such a clever way, and I really loved how all of the characters had their own unique ways of expressing themselves and their love for each other. The six of them together had such a powerful dyanmic.

While I did think some parts of it dragged a little too much, it did feel like such an incredible amount happened in this. It was absolutely full of twists and turns and everything unexpected and spontaneous, definitely keeping me on my toes. On the flip side, I did think that other parts were skimmed over way too quickly

Spoiler

, such as the death of a certain someone

, so for me, the pacing was slightly off generally: some parts too slow, some too fast. My only other complaint was that there was just something lacking in this. I'm honestly struggling put my finger on it, but I felt the same way about Six of Crows, there was just something missing from this that made me not entirely love it as much as I could have. I think maybe it's the lack of connection I feel I have with the characters? As much as I love reading about them, I just didn't feel I could truly empathise with them in the way that I usually can with other characters. As irritating as this is, I do absolutely adore these characters' stories and individual developments throughout the whole duology.

Absolutely worth a read for any fantasy fan, and I'm actually quite interested in reading some of the next Grishaverse books after this.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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poodily's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

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riverlasol's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

OH MY GOD. I have no way to actually say this other than I am wrecked. I’ve never sobbed over a book…until today. I’ve cried but never SOBBED like I did for this ending. I took my time with this duology despite how addictive it is (mostly cuz school ugh) but that also meant I really got the sit with these characters and at this point, they just mean so much to me. I loved how sharp this book was, how witty and clever, the moments of levity were perfectly placed and the moments of sadness, of human desperation, of human love, they were all so powerful. I know this is a popular book and that it isn’t perfect (i.e. some of the ways disability was repped, but it’s hard to get that perfect and from what I know of disability theory it does a pretty good job) but it really is one of my favorite things I have read and it was a little life changing. So yeah I’d recommend…

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michaelat21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

I really liked this book it had so much action and adventure while also balancing having in depth characters with deep character development. This book balanced so well and I found I was often on the edge of my seat and wanting to keep reading. This book also intertwined the shadow and bone series more than the last which I liked a lot. You truly never know what is going to happen next, even if you think you do. Well crafted and beautifully written. If you thought the characters had gumption and you loved them in the last book; just wait!

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captainnat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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onefineelephant's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

10/10. I loved this book so much. Definitely my favorite Leigh Bardugo book that I've read so far. I laughed, I cried (especially at the end), and I gasped. I love found family books, especially fantasy ones so this was definitely up my alley. Since I'm such an avid reader, I don't usually get surprised by plot points but I loved that with this book, I never knew where it was going next. Wylan, Jesper, Nina, Matthias, Kaz, and Inej will have my heart forever.

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