Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

132 reviews

demi_karvouni's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Forced institutionalization

justamy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Death of parent

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

3.75

Unfortunately didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first. Something about it did not resonate the same way. 
I read Six of Crows thinking this duology was a prequel to The Shadow & Bone Trilogy, but in Crooked Kingdom I found myself confused about characters being brought up as if I should know who they are. Upon asking a friend, they informed me those were characters from the trilogy… that’s when I googled it & discovered that it is a sequel duology, not a prequel. 
I also found a lot of the story telling to be heavy handed in this book. There was an attempt to shove a bunch of backstory for characters by having them tell you a story about a memory wherein the character also had a dream in which there is a story. It really took me out of the actual plot of this book. 
The overarching plot was actually interesting. But with all these backstory side quests I found myself loosing interest & not picking the book back up for long periods of time. 
I do overall recommend this series. But I think you’d be just fine reading only the first in the duology. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

the child death is a fake out, but the description is pretty disturbing

amypalmer'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? Yes

4.25

I think this is the best grishaverse book, I feel like it slightly exceeded six of crows as the character development was a lot more rich. There are many sad moments.  

The crows are all lovable in their own way. I particularly looked forward to Nina, Jester, Matthias, and Inej's chapters. Though Kaz and Wylan are great I much preferred the others. Though towards the end all of the crows have some truly jaw dropping moments.

I did have a few minor issues with the book - I did slightly feel that the crows get fumbled too many times and none of their plans seem to ever really go to plan. That was however till the final section (the last 100 pages) where everything starts to come together. 

I wonder if the crows appear in the second duopoly as some of their plot points still feel unfinished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A satisfying conclusion to the Grishaverse and the Six of Crows duology!
A super fun, fast paced, keep you on the edge of your seat type read. I love complicated heroes and morally ambiguous characters, so this series really worked for me. You never knew what hairbrained scheme Kaz was going to come up with next, and the deepening and changing of the relationships between the characters made this book somehow even better than the first. While long, this book was definitely a page turner for me - compelling and very well written. This duology was a real win for me and goes to show that you don't need a super long series to write a detailed and complex story. Kaz and his crew will live rent free in my brain for quite some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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 book is SO GOOD! I can’t believe I didn’t read it before now! I laughed and cried and screamed and that’s all you need to know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism and Sexual content

an_actual_floof's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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

3.5

Such a fun book! I admit it took me longer to get through this one than it did to read the first book, but I still adore the heist-y storytelling and the jumping between perspectives. Even after almost a year of starting it, reading a third of it, and then finally finishing it, I was a bit lost with the plot but was able to jump right back in, enjoying the characters and learning about their backstories even when I was confused about the plot lol. I love the vast amount of world building! I haven’t read any other books from the Grishaverse but this duology certainly has made me want to!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Death of parent

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

renewed_reader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

iseefirede's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Always kept me on the edge of my seat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Slavery, Trafficking, Stalking, and Abandonment

hihicass's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic