Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

114 reviews

natthebrat's review

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

4.0

Really excellent young-adult book.  I'd compare it, in tone and world building level/type, to the Hunger Games trilogy.  The heist was very well executed and described--despite being quite complex, I was able to follow it the whole way, and the author manages to write an extremely intelligent/canny character as believably intelligent and canny.  That is a difficult thing to pull off!  Finally--I didn't hate any of the characters or get tired of hearing about them or tempted to stop reading the book because of them.  That happens semi-frequently, so, yay! :)

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Dysphoria

Minor: Slavery and Trafficking

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.

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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

junglejelly's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-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

4.5

A solid start to this duology. The brilliant characters and settings are brought to life with amazing writing from Bardugo. My only critique was that it was very easy to forget the main characters are children/late teenagers, I had hoped more subtle reminders had been written into the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, and Death of parent

applesaucecreachur's review

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Readers seeking reinvigoration of their love for YA need look no further: Six of Crows is rich with classic tropes and fresh takes on a heist plotline. Granted: I am a sucker for anything that tosses in the found family trope, and was willing to make begrudging peace with some of the more Eurocentric and heteronormative aspects of the world building... Unfortunately, not enough peace to avoid a quick rant about it here:
We have the Russia-inspired Ravka, Nordic-laced Fjerda, Irish-bred Wandering Isles, and of course, [Amster/Ketter]dam in Kerch. The Grishaverse's map is rich with fantasy takes on real European nations. For the rest of the world, we've got Shu Han to represent China and Mongolia, and the New-World-esque Novyi Zem to play the role of colonized nations like the Americas and Australia (according to a ScreenRant article). Asker of pesky questions that I am, I wonder why Bardugo chose the nations that she did to tell her story, why some were cherry-picked over others, and why some nations (the reader can decide which) feel alive with history and which feel like knock-offs of the aesthetics of old empires. "Write what you know" is sage advice, and I wish Bardugo had followed it better with her non-European-inspired nations; either do your research or figure out a better way to represent different peoples. What we are left with feels cheap and low-effort.
*Ahem*, I digress. Six of Crows is a witty book whose rapid pace made me feel like I was being charmed and swindled by its unforgettable crew members. And while taking a breath between knife-sharp plot points, I got to swoon over the little romantic subplots.

Kaz and Inej's teases at love have me yearning for the next installment.

I was giggling and grinning and kicking my heels in public over this book. It's earned my four stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Death of parent

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

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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

nonotyoshi's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Religious bigotry

shadow_cat94's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

I fell in love with this book by chapter 3. As soon as I got to the last chapter I went out and bought the duology because I couldn't wait for the next one. The author's writing is captivating, the cast of characters are wonderful and I find everyone deep and their arcs throughout the story wonderful (except Wylan - I hope he gets more in book 2). The pace in the story is always moving with the slow moments centered around character depth or plot point build-up. Truly a beautiful book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, and Kidnapping

If you struggle with drug use/abuse this may not be the book for you.

The plot centers around a heist that's caused by the creation of a drug that boosts the powers of magic users, but it's HIGHLY addictive. Almost one use and they're gone. And we see the effects multiple times in graphic details on occassion. . Proceed with caution if that is a trigger for you.

lapon's review

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? Yes

5.0

Heist ! A motley crew of teenagers with a whole lot of backstory for young people ! Romantic tension ! Seedy fictional city ! All and all a really good time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

andlovetoowillruinus's review against another edition

4.0

(after reading Shadow and Bone) wow the Darkling is so evil
(after reading Six of Crows) the Darkling made some good points

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Torture