Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

59 reviews

oldemort's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

This is my second time reading this book. 🙃 I only first read it a few months ago, but I’ve been missing the characters. 🥹

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! 😍 All of the characters are so amazing and perfect and I wish they were real and that I could be friends with them. 🥰 KAZ AND INEJ ARE SO AHHHHHHHHHH! 🤩 (That was a scream) 😘 I also love the found family in this book. 🥹

The

whole ice court

plot got a bit confusing for me near the end, so I was just there for the vibes. 🙃 Which were amazing of course! 😌 I loved learning about the character’s back stories, especially Kaz’s. 🥺 There are so many plot twist and even when I think I know what’s going to happen… BAM! 💥 Plot twist. 😱

Anyway, if you couldn’t already tell, I absolutely love this book and the universe. 🥰 My rating is 4.5 ⭐️!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

mainereading's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ashmeanything's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

Wow, this book. I haven't taken so long to read something in quite a long time, but it was worth it. Immediately, the prose and command of the world hooked me, and the qualities I initially loved were fleshed out and present throughout the entire story. Bardugo clearly has an amazing ability to weave discrete and complex storylines together, disrupt and reset the status quo, and keep secrets from both the characters and the reader. Finishing this book was like unraveling more and more depth, making the painful and wonderful parts all stronger. The only things keeping it from a perfect rating are the sheer number of details that I had to remember and the very graphic descriptions of injury and bodily harm. Overall, though, this was excellent. I can't wait to read the next one.

Content warnings for xenophobia/racism, trafficking, child abuse, injury and medical content, violence, war, betrayal, genocide, addiction, slavery, and murder (all frequent) as well as bullying, guns, addiction, confinement, illness and child death, sexual harassment, and brief ableism and drug use.

Used for 2024 r/Fantasy Bingo (criminals, hard mode); also fits for first in a series, entitled animals, multi-POV (hard mode), character with a disability (hard mode), survival (hard mode), judge a book by its cover, and book club.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, and Classism

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

TLDR: I really have enjoyed some YA Lit, this wasn’t one of those though. 

 

Context: I am aware that there is controversy regarding this author. I am not on X nor have I watched the Netflix series so there are others who can talk about that with more knowledge than I have. My rating of the book does not reflect these controversies. 

 

Written in 3rd person with the pov changing from chapter to chapter. Chapters are titled with the pov so it is easy to keep track of whose head you’re in. We come to know the characters by their actions and the flashbacks we are privy to. Unfortunately there are no chapters for Wylan. (We find out why in the next to last chapter.) The action is clear and exciting. Ketterdam and the Ice Court are well described including sounds, colours and odours. So what’s my problem? 

 

Ketterdam is basically Amsterdam sometime is a hazy past. The words are Dutch or bastardised Dutch, the port, the rich merchants all of that was basically no work at all to imagine. The Ice Palace is a little better, but is still mainly a rip off from the many fantasy novels before it. At best this is lazy world building. 

 

The crew is diverse as far as their ethnic backgrounds, but what is ethnicity in the context of a fantasy novel? Is Inej coded Roma because she is a talented acrobat as well as a cat burglar, assassin, and a former forced sex worker? Or is she simply given a certain colouring so that the novel ticks the diverse box? And talking of former sex workers, given the criminality of the Barrel, why is it only female characters who were involved in sex work? The lqbtqaa+ diversity is only hinted at. 

 

And then this whole Grisha thing. A deus ex machina supremo. In a jam?, get the character who isn’t doing much to be a hidden Grisha. Need healing?, presto your Heartrender can mend too. No wonder everybody and their maiden aunts are enslaving them. Question is why are they so bad at defending themselves when they can stop a heart before you even see them? 

 

It was the ending that really burnt my toast though. A novel needs a beginning, middle and end. I expect the first book in a duology to leave open endings but I need some sense of completion too. Six of Crows ended with all cliffhanger and no satisfaction. And the truth is I really don’t care enough about this band of teenage thugs to read another 500+ pages to see how they finally get themselves out of the jams they keep putting themselves into.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

While there is no sexual content there are frequent references to sex work and sex workers. Graphic gambling and gambling addition.

fightmeimsmall's review

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Classism

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

AHHHHHHHH!

Ends on a cliffhanger

Anyway, AHHHHHHHH! 100% lives up to the hype. Found family is amazing! Everyone has a devastating backstory! It’s just perfect! 

Do check trigger warnings. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Misogyny and Sexual content

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

fiolud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

joeyl22's review

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? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

datgirllani'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? No

4.0

A good read. Slow at the start but you can tell it is to set up the plot. Kaz is so badass. Definitely reading book 2 as the cliffhanger is unbearable. “Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are.”

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Death of parent