Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Regele Cicatricilor by Leigh Bardugo

17 reviews

david_slack110507's review against another edition

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

3.75

I don't know what it has been about this year so far but I have been really struggling with reading slumps and I feel like that has majorly affected my reading, particularly for certain aspects of this book as I feel mainly positive about this but I also do have my criticisms with it. For starters, this really does feel like a set-up book at times which makes sense given that it starts a new duology but it also means that at times it feels like there is a lot of new exposition being dumped at us and it can feel like a bit too much to handle. Another issue I have is that due to my reading slump whilst reading, the pacing felt really off and at times it felt quite slow and like not much was happening which didn't always help with making me come back to it. 

However, I didn't absolutely hate this book and I actually quite enjoyed it as the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, especially in terms of the characters. This book follows Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina, the first two from the original Shadow and Bone series and Nina being from the Six of Crows duology meaning that those two series within the overall Grishaverse all collide and I love all 3 of them and each of them get to flourish in many different ways in this book. Nikolai was one of my favourite characters from the original Shadow and Bone books and here we get to see him 3 years removed from the ending of Ruin and Rising as well as dealing with the monster inside of him which is a remnant of the Darkling's power that he got in the aforementioned book. He's still effortlessly charming and he continues to have such character and screen presence that he is easily identifiable and his interactions/relationship with Zoya was enjoyable to read which speaking of:  Zoya. I think Zoya is the character that gets the most growth in this book because we finally get to see more of her as well as also getting to see her perspective of the events of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and how that links to her past which was really interesting yet sad to learn about. I did quite like Zoya near the end of the original trilogy but this book managed to make her a standout character as well as properly establish her as one of the many victims of The Darkling whilst also allowing her to not be squeaky clean either as she admits her faults and the role she played in his evil. 

Then, there is also Nina who I'm splitting up from the other two because she is the exact same in the actual book, split up from Nikolai and Zoya as well as most of the supporting cast in Ravka as Nina is in Fjerda following the events of Crooked Kingdom as I found her perspective to be the most mixed for me. On one hand, I loved getting more Nina content and I love how she continues her story from Crooked Kingdom in dealing with Matthias' death as well as her bout with Parem and how that makes her so resolute on helping the young women and girls kept in Fjerda that are secretly Grisha and being dosed on Parem. I loved these elements of her story and I found them to be really interesting, especially with the implicit commentary on the treatment of women and victims but I also found the middle part of her story to be quite uninteresting with Hanne as she just didn't really seem to jump out at me, especially when she's sharing the page with Nina, and so I feel like Nina's plot is the most obvious example of this feeling more like a set up than anything else. 

There is also a new character that we follow for half of the book called Isaak who is called in to replace and pretend to be Nikolai after Nikolai and Zoya's disappearance and I found him to be a fine character but I did feel like he was more there for plot reasons than anything else and so I didn't find his story to be all that interesting though I feel like, with Nina's, the ending of his is going to hopefully be something much more interesting if it is carried into the second book and this was merely the setup. I also wasn't the biggest fan of where the plot turns in this book as while I'm not too upset with the 'resurrection' of The Darkling as he's not really resurrected but brought back to life in an interesting way, I'm not the biggest fan of how the book treats the rules of Grisha power as there are some choices made that did have me feeling like the previously established rules were being bent because they needed to be for the plot moreso than anything else. 

I feel like my review is mostly negative but I did have a really fun time when reading the book and I really enjoyed it when I was reading it despite the slump I had that made my sit downs for it dispersed for far longer than I would have wanted them to be. I really do hope that not only will this be the last book to be affected by whatever reading slump it is that I'm in right know but that I also appreciate it more once I see what it is building towards when I read Rule of Wolves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I adored this book. While I like the idea of the multiple POV’s, I didn’t like Isaak’s perspective because I knew something bad would happen (call it foreshadowing). I also didn’t feel like Nina’s perspective was as needed in the entire plot. I still enjoyed all of the perspectives and seeing where the story went- lots of twists and turns so I didn’t know where the story was going, which was fun. And man, that cliffhanger!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

goldensnitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

A heartbreaking and exciting story of how a young woman grapples with the loss of her love, a king's discovery of the demon within, and a Grisha who leads as a General. Love and loss cultivate in this book and allow you to understand how much loss can get to a person and what lengths a person will go to to retrieve or restore that love. Adventure that gives way to capture, a wayward king who wishes for something he cannot have. Betrayal and pain are frequent throughout this amazing story. Backgrounds of beloved characters are finally revealed and an alliance between a king and a princess could be in the works. If you've read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, you'll love this novel, a continuation with the same characters and some new ones as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and War

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

shalladin's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Torture

nenya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I read this book after having read the Six of Crows duology, being excited to continue the Grishaverse. I would not say that I was disappointed but it wasn't entirely what I had expected. The only crow it focusses on is Nina Zenik (who is an icon, I love her with all my heart, don't get me wrong) which is amazing, because she is so developed, driven by her grief and ready to seek revenge -

it is beyond fulfilling to see her get it not only for her but also for the dead women and children by having them speak their truth and avenge themselves through her power

, but I did wish for some insight of how the other crows have been going on. Apart from that, the plot was great and the writing very true to Bardugo but I do feel like it can not entirely match the atmosphere and brilliance of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Nevertheless, the ending took some turns I did not expect and left me pretty shocked. I'm most definitely excited to read the sequel!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infertility, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

ali_debookness's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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: Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Abandonment

Minor: Miscarriage, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War

gayghostprince's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Infertility, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

there's a paragraph describing insects burrowing into skin. it's not pleasant, but not very graphic. the content warning for drug use is for a fantasy drug

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.25

This was a nice addition to the Grishaverse. I did find myself gravitating toward one storyline over the other, but by and large, I enjoyed them all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Pregnancy

megangilbert's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism