Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

560 reviews

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

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.

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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.

gabriella_lambrecht's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Genocide

amaranthines's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Addiction, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

iz___34's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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

Love, love, love. Perfection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

megliz's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

I can't believe it took me so long to read this. I've really been missing out. Nothing about this book falls flat. Everything is so well developed. And it was also as fun as hell read.

The world building is completely genius. I didn't personally read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but I know it builds on that. The magic system was really unique and interesting. I liked the different histories of all the countries in this world and how they are based on our cities and countries.

At its core, Six of Crows is a found family heist. The heist part of the plot was fun, fast-paced, and kept you on your toes. It was ingenious and brilliant. However, meeting each character and watching them get to know each other and trust in each other was one of the best parts of the book. There was great character development. I really didn't like Nina or Matthias in the beginning. However, they both grew on me, and their story was really touching. I can't wait to see more of Jasper and Waylan's relationship develop in the next book. Kaz, of course, was my favorite. He is the perfect morally (dark) grey character. Inej was such a strong character as well. 

I liked the way the book told backstories in flashbacks. Everyone had really heartbreaking and harsh tales, which shows you why they live the way they live and do what they do. Kaz's backstory was pretty rough to read, but it really helps make you understand his character and his choices. There was amazing representation. All the characters are different nationalities and races. There are hints of queer romance. This has disability representation, Kaz with his limp, another character is dyslexic, and there's touches of ADHD as well.

If you are one of the very few people who haven't already read this, I highly recommend you pick this up. I will definitely be recommending this to people who aren't big readers. Because I think this could get you into reading. It's good for all ages. I think it's a really easy read, and it hits all the great points of fantasy should. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, and Trafficking

lovett's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

This is absolutely one of my favorite books of all time!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Addiction

maelee's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, and Religious bigotry

evelynnreading's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

A classic, I'm just in love! Love all the relationships between all the characters and the plot's and the whole story was just beautiful! In those dark moments were somehow a funny moments too and I loved that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment