Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

El Rey Marcado by Leigh Bardugo

23 reviews

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Really torn between a 3.5 and 3.75 on this one. A good addition to the Grishaverse. Solid themes and a compelling story overall. The world remains expansive and sucks you in as we’ve come to expect from the Grishaverse, with interesting domestic and foreign politics. While they have similar themes and are obviously working towards the same big thing in the next book, I’m just not sure Nina’s story belonged with what was billed as Nikolai’s story. In this book the two were nearly completely separate and it was a bit jarring switching back and forth. The ending is obviously full of cliffhangers for the second book and some of this throughout felt so obviously like set up for the next book or future entries in the Grishaverse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

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

zachtrotz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Rape, and Pregnancy

spaghettii's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

athenaminerva13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Blood, and War

Minor: Addiction and Miscarriage

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

lavenderbluestories's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

I was so, so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint… for the most part. Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina, whose perspectives the story is told from, are all fascinating and enjoyable characters to read about. Nikolai has got to be one of my all time favourite characters. I adored exploring more of his backstory and the struggles he faces throughout his journey. Zoya was someone who I never felt too strongly about in the S&B trilogy, but in this book I absolutely loved her. Discovering more of her story made her so much more powerful in my eyes, and she was a pleasure to read about. And then there’s Nina. As much as I love Nina as a character, her part in this book felt a bit… misplaced. I wasn’t really sure how her storyline fit into the rest of it until, well, I started the next book. However, I can’t deny that she did contribute a few brilliant scenes to King Of Scars.

The scene where she finally buried Matthias was more heartbreaking than anything the Grishaverse has produced so far, and I actually got choked up. That’s saying something since I never even liked Matthias…

Anyways, this book is definitely worth the read if you love the Grishaverse as much as I do!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

minavs'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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Genocide and Pregnancy

luluslittlelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.5

I really liked this book more than I expected. The beginning is painfully slow, so it was hard to get into, but once things started moving at a faster pace, I was hooked. I loved getting to read Zoya and Nikolai's POVs for the first time. They both have very clear "voices" so it was super engaging to read from their perspectives. I would have also been interested in getting a POV from Genya or David as well in this book. 

I LOVE Nina's storyline. For me, I was a lot more interested in what was going on with her in Fjerda than I was with the others in Ravka. I'm not going to give any spoilers but I would recommend this to anyone interested in reading more about Nina and what she's doing as a Ravkan spy in Fjerda.

And then there's the sequel. I definitely liked Rule of Wolves more than King of Scars so I would recommend reading it even if you didn't love King of Scars (I think it is much better). Once again I love everything that happens with Nina (and Hanne!). And I think the connection between Zoya and Juris is very interesting. I'm not big on the storyline surrounding the darkling, I think it was interesting but maybe didn't belong in this book (?). Also, the ending is SO GOOD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

shetland_pone's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Slavery, Grief, and Pregnancy