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ghostofthegallows's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Grief
tomi_delano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Xenophobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming and Bullying
citymouse's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Infertility, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
its_madi'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
So I decided to give this a reread because,
A.) Rule of Wolves came out recently.
B.) I couldn’t remember if this book was actually good or if I was just blinded by Nikolai.
So after my reread I can confirm that it was actually good and it wasn’t my imagination.
This book’s strength is its ability to continue character arcs. Zoya and Nina specifically. Zoya’s character arc is really needed since we didn't get her POV in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. We get some crucial backstory on her and why she is the way she is. In as least spoilery wording as possible, her character arc is her dealing with grief and her own mistakes, some of which struck a chord with me. Nina’s arc is about her grappling with her Matthias's wishes for Nina to try and teach his people that Grisha are good, instead of outright giving up hope.
Isaak was a new character for this duology, and his scenes showed what was going on back in Ravka, while also providing some comedy.
I, like most people, wanted more Nikolai in this book saying that this is his series but his parts are pretty well written. Saying that Nikolai is one of my favorite book characters of all time, it's nice that he was very relatable in this book. Nikolai spends half the book fighting his demon, and the other half fighting his demons (get it, I'm hilarious).
“But he knew this much: He would not rest until his country could too.
I’ve never forgotten that since I read it 2 years ago. It's just so good. And such a good example of Nikolai’s character
The plot is a little all over the place. It mainly follows three different storylines with four different POVs
- Nikolai and Zoya trying to find a cure
- Isaak at the palace
- Nina in Fjerda
I don’t think that Nina’s storyline and Nikolai’s storyline go that well together but I think that will be solved in the next book.
Now for the elephant in the room,
All in all, a nice spin off with a couple pacing issues here and there, but other than that pretty good. 5/5
This next part is just a list of things I’d love to see in RoW.
- Nikolai alive
- Zoya alive
- Nina alive
- NinaXHanne
- For Zoya and Genya to fight The Darkling. Not using powers, just fists and rage.
-------------------------------------------------------
Update on my list of things I wanted to happen in RoW
-Nikolai is Alive
-Zoya is Alive
-Nina is Alive and is with Hanne
- Zoya and Genya did not fight the Darkling but they were present when he stabbed himself on a tree so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unfortunately I forgot to add David Alive to that list because I thought he would be safe. I was a fool.
Graphic: Drug abuse and Medical trauma
blakethebookeater'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
https://youtu.be/_dH-mSya8uY
okay. let me calm down for a sec, but holy shit this book is amazing.
So this books interweaves the end of the Grisha trilogy and the end of the Six of Crows duology while also still being a standalone duology (I would highly recommend reading both prior series first however). It follows King Nikolai as he grapples with his country at war on multiple fronts while dealing with the darkness inside him, his general Zoya as she assists him in running the country, and also Nina as she processes recent events and also goes undercover in order to smuggle Grisha out of Fjerda.
Nikolai and Zoya are together most of the book, so it ultimately feels like there are two main stories: Nikolai & Zoya and then Nina. And that's perfectly fine. The bouncing between the two plots felt perfectly natural and I LOVED everyone's POV in this book, but especially Zoya and Nina. This book really felt like Leigh being like "oh you don't like angry, complex female characters? BOOM here's two of them and they're not Mary Sues and they get to be messy and complex and powerful and you will LOVE IT" to all the stans who bitched about Alina from the first trilogy.
This plot also went in some WILD CRAZY directions that I did NOT see coming AT ALL. And when an author does that to me, I really have to tip any hat to them because it is very hard to surprise me anymore.
Overall I loved this book with all my heart, and the characters were just so wonderful and I really hope Netflix lets the show get to these plot lines because they are honestly TOP TIER.
5/5 stars
Graphic: Medical trauma and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Child death
readwithria'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: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Self harm, Slavery, and Murder