Reviews

De Verminkte Koning by Leigh Bardugo

francescadececchi's review against another edition

4.0

Ho veramente iniziato questo libro con aspettative molto basse perché avevo sentito ogni genere di insulto. Invece, stranamente, mi è piaciuto.
Di sicuro non è all'altezza della dilogia di Sei di Corvi, e neanche del solo libro di Sei di Corvi, ma credo che difficilmente riusciremo a superarlo (perché in tutta onestà lo considero uno dei più bei libri mai letti, insieme al suo sequel, fantasy o non fantasy), ma ha confermato che il vero problema di Tenebre e Ossa, per me almeno, erano proprio Alina (e Mal, ovviamente, non serve che lo dica).
I personaggi secondari di Tenebre e Ossa sono quello che mi ha portato a finire – con somma, immensa, fatica – la trilogia, e ritrovarli qui non ha fatto altro che rinnovare il mio amore per loro (Nikolai in primis, ma anche Zoya e Genya). Sono riuscita a farmi piacere anche i personaggi nuovi, a piangere sui capitoli di Nina (damn Bardugo, that was so unnecessary), a pensare “Oh, ehi! Deve essere questo il plot twist. Ci sono arrivata a metà libro circa, I'm a genius” e a ricredermi nelle ultime, maledette pagine (damn, Bardugo, what in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was that?), a parlare di questo libro con una persona che ha idea di cosa sia il Grishaverse se non che c'è una serie Netflix che probabilmente non vedrà mai.
Quindi sì, mi è piaciuto, un bel cliffhanger finale, non vedo l'ora di scoprire come al Bardugo possa rovinare tutto nel prossimo libro (sempre ammesso che lo faccia davvero).

thefantasticalworldofsara's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

WELL THEN! Came for Nikolai, stayed for all the converging narratives (also I will say I think the multiple POV was done really well). I knew in my soul it would be a cliffhanger and yet I was still shocked when it was. Going to have to pick up Rule of Wolves next because I don’t know how everything will be “resolved” in one book 🙈

#IndigoEmployee 

bookfreak_325's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? N/A

4.25

chroniclesofabookmum's review against another edition

3.0

"The monster is me and I am the monster"

Nikolai Lantsov is back, fighting his demons which have multiplied since the Civil War in his world. Nikolai's struggled are a secret, a secret that he intends to keep. His borders have weakened and his enemies are taking over, the King must stop the threat before it gets out of hand. With the help of some of the best Grisha's in Ravka Nikolai will risk everything to save his country and himself.

I am so disappointed by this book. I did not enjoy the Shadow and Bone trilogy, however I absolutely adored the Six of Crows duology. King of Scars just did not excite me. I feel like 500 plus pages for this plot was far too much and I found myself becoming quite bored throughout, I didn't feel my usual drive to pick the book up as I do with other fantasy series.

Zoya is definitely my spirit animal. I hated her in the Shadow and Bone trilogy however in this book I fell in love with her. She has so much sass, but you definitely saw her character grow and saw a completely different side to her. "I'm at my most murderous on an empty stomach" YES ZOYA. I am definitely not the only person to relate to her on this.

Also, there is a dragon. A dragon that talks. Now that is my ideal character. We need more talking dragons in fantasy books please.

I love how Leigh Bardugo develops her characters, you definitely feel connected to them and they are easy to love. However I feel like she really missed a trick with the development of Nina and Nikolai. I don't feel like I saw enough of them and what I did see of them didn't interest me and didn't keep me hooked. I think this is what disappointed me most because I was so excited to read more about Nikolai but just didn't feel content with what the book gave me.

Whilst, I think I more or less guessed the ending I do feel like it was a good ending and it has made me want to pick up the next book. I'm not necessarily excited by it but I am definitely intrigued.

I would recommend you read this book because I do feel like I am in the minority. I do not recommend that you read this book before you read the Shadow and Bone trilogy as there are many references that you will not understand.

clace_19's review against another edition

4.0

4.3
The first half was Soo slowww that I was sure that this book would be a 3 stars but then came the second part and THEN CAME THE CLIFFHANGER AND THEN CAME THE DARKLING WHICH MADE THIS BOOK AWESOME.


The story and how the world evolved and Ninas journey, Nikolai and zoya GENYA,, CHARACTERS LIKE them made it even .ire better the plot progressed and proved to be fruitful a lovely book, this was

bookishmamaworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

4.0

erynn01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-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

megareads42's review against another edition

5.0

Love her stuff, so grabbed this as soon as I saw it was out. Warning: It claims to be a stand alone duology in the Grishaverse, but your understanding would be helped enormously if you were familiar with the Blood and Bone trilogy. I wish that I had gone back and reread those books before diving into this one. That said, even though I had forgotten a lot of the detail of those earlier books, I was still able to follow the gist of the story. And it was a great story. Bardugo's books are never predictable, and I definitely found myself gasping at some of the plot twists in this one. Even though the challenges to my expectation and reveals were exciting, they were utterly believable within the universe. The only thing I was a wee bit skeptical of was Nina's odd devotion to Hanne. I just didn't quite buy that deep friendship, but maybe I'm just not that complex of a person. A tiny quibble in an otherwise amazing book. Can't wait for the next one.

alexx_22's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

eeshasoliloquy's review against another edition

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5