Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

92 reviews

madalina0_0's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.5

I had an awful reading slump whilst reading this book and I feel like that may have affected my rating for this book (Even though I am giving it 5 stars, it is more of a just about 4.5 stars because of the reading slump and the reading slump only type of situation) but even with that I still majorly enjoyed this and my reading experience cemented the Grishaverse series and particularly the Six of Crows duology as some of my favourite series of books. If I had been more consistent with reading I would have liked Crooked Kingdom even more than I already do. 

I absolutely love the Crows and their dynamics with one another. It expanded on them even more from Six of Crows, particularly with the relationships of Kaz and Inej, Jesper and Wylan, Jesper and Kaz, Nina and Inej etc. It was so fun seeing all of the characters continue to flourish and to expand upon their already established relationships as well as build new ones and it was one of the main things that kept me coming back even with my reading slump in full force. I liked the endings we got for our Crows as they felt both satisfying and open-ended enough to allow for a sequel or for them to show up in other stories like Nina in the King of Scars duology. 

The plot, while I don't think I loved it as much as the Ice Court heist, was still very interesting and was not what I expected going off of the ending of Six of Crows and where this book started off as the plot twists felt cleverly planned out and implemented without feeling like they were done to simply progress the story lazily. The last part of the book - Part 6: Action & Echo - was extremely interesting and one of my favourite parts of the boom because the chaos flowed very nicely to make it an unpredictable, fun, and memorable reading experience. Matthias' death was unexpected and while it wasn't extremely emotional for me as Matthias is one of my lesser favourite Crows (though I do still really like him as a character), it was still effectively done and I'm interested in seeing how this will affect Nina's story going into King of Scars. 

Overall, I really liked this book and while I do feel like reading this through a reading slump affected my opinion on the book, though to no fault of the book, I think it was very successful and met my expectations on how to end this duology yet left it in an interesting place to open up into another book to make it a trilogy, which I would not be totally against. I'm most likely going to continue on with my Grishaverse binge and read Nikolai's duology with Zoya and Nina, King of Scars, next as well as hopefully soon rewatch season 1 of Shadow and Bone as well as finally watch season 2 for the first time as I've been waiting until I finished this book as I have been unsure whether or not they included elements of this and Six of Crows into season 2 or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

cnannery19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

scarletreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I am at loss for words

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

bubblegum_or_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, and Grief

Minor: Slavery and Pregnancy

axel_p's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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

I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

There are so many emotions after finishing up this duology...
But suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these characters. I'm mad at myself that it took so long getting into this universe, but I'm glad I know now. 

No mourners
No funerals

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alexiconic'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

I wasn’t really sure about the hype surrounding these characters after finishing Six of Crows. But this book sealed the deal for me. I love them, too, and the way their stories meet and diverge, the way they have their own goals and their own drive, the way they support one another (or not), and the ways in which their dynamics can change based on who they interact with. Was the plot great? It was fun. Did Kaz save the day just a time too many with a barely believable plan? Maybe. But I don’t mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

mothmans_secretary'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail