Reviews with content warning for Sexism - El Rey Marcado

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

El Rey Marcado by Leigh Bardugo

41 reviews

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

9/10. I loved this book. I don't think I liked it more than the Six of Crows books, but that's because I'm a sucker for found family. I love Nikolai, Zoya, Nina, and Hanne. The only part that I didn't like was that it felt like I was reading two separate books - one about Nikolai and Zoya and another about Nina and Hanne. It didn't feel like the two connected or overlapped very much, so when I would read a chapter from one of their POVs, then I wanted to keep reading that story rather than switching to a completely different story (that I also liked and then the cycle would continue). I'm guessing the two stories will converge in the next book, but I think this book felt off because of the unrelated stories. Love the Grishaverse, though. This series continues to surprise me.

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maddiebo97's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

UGH i loved it

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jessicaludden's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

“He was not the crying child or even the drowning man. He was the forever soldier, eternally at war, unable to ever lay down his arms and heal.”

I loved being back in the Grishaverse and seeing what these characters are up to now. I loved the politics in this and there were definitely some plot twists I didn’t see coming. I really liked learning more about Nikolai and Zoya especially because we really didn’t get a lot from them in the books before. Of course I loved seeing Nina again, even if it meant hurting my heart every time she mentioned Matthias.

But I did feel like there was some pacing issues which caused a disconnect with the characters and the plot. I just couldn’t get into it and never really cared a huge amount about the characters. It was very slow in some parts and very repetitive which often left me feeling like I was reading parts that were unnecessary to the character and plot development. But overall, I’m excited to read the next one!

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mariebrunelm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful 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

It's been almost three years since the event of Ruin & Rising (which I haven't read, more on that later) and most of Ravka and beyond is still reeling from the consequences. In the middle of it, King Nikolai battles enemies within and without, Nina is on a quest for solace that leads her to discover nefarious plans from Fjerda, and Zoya lets her armour crack.

I am in awe of Bardugo's writing. She manages to put so much heart and character quirks in an engaging narrative that kept me turning the pages. I have to admit that it took me a long, long time to really get into the book because even with careful information-dropping to fill me in on what had happened before, I could feel that I hadn't read the books in which some essential characters are introduced (mostly Nikolai and Zoya, in the Shadow & Bone trilogy).

Once I'd gathered enough info on them, however, I could completely relax into the story and let myself be carried away. I love Leigh Bardugo's writing style and character studies, it's perhaps not the most subtle but it's banter and sass at their best and it's a joy to read.

Rep: fat, bisexual MC. Disabled author.

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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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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trintrin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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'm so confused? It got me hooked right from the beginning which definitely says something because not even Six of Crows managed to do that ~~and it's one of my all time favs~~. I'm aware it's because I already know and love these characters but-

THE CHARACTERS!!!
Man I was already in love with Nikolai and Zoya and this is not helping!! Nikolai was the sole reason I picked up this book, and I enjoyed every bit of him. I did not expect to love Zoya's POVs but girl snatched my wig fr. I would die for these two at any given time istg. Isaak, you sweetheart, you stole my heart, and so did Hanne. And Nina, of course, I was beginning to worry she didn't contribute as much as she did in SoC, but she pulled through towards the very end. One more thing, I wanted to see Nikolai doing more king-y stuff. I wanted to see him in court. I wanted to see him rule. I wanted to see more of Sturmhond, more of the too-clever-fox, more of him charming people and just doing the Nikolai thing. By the looks of it, it will get more political in Rule of Wolves and I can't wait for that!

I have a love/hate relationship with the multiple callbacks to the previous books. Like yes I was nearly squirming with joy ~~and even in tears at one point~~ every time a throwaway reference to Kaz or Jesper or Alina were made but also they felt a little too much- a little overdone at times. They almost got me wanting to go back to those old characters instead of going forwards with the story, but the character dynamics were god tier so I'll ignore this one.

The plot
I was very surprised when I realised the first 2/3rd - aka the sloooow part where pretty much nothing happens - was actually my favourite. Felt like that's where the characters shined the most. And then after that it was just uhhhh???

I wasn't really vibing with the whole Saints in the Fold thing but yay go Zoya the dragon ig? And I'm absolutely 1000% not a fan of reviving the Darkling ~~or the monster inside Nikolai for that matter~~ at all. Reviving characters in general tends to feel very cheap. Reviving villains who were firmly put to an end is on a whole other level of cheapness and I absolutely cannot handle that. Nina's plot line, which was my least favourite in the first half, was my most favourite in the end. I wanna see more of whatever drugs the Fjerdans cooked up and more of Hanne as well.

It did get super interesting in the last like 5 pages and I'm excited to see how that plot will be continued in RoW. Fingers-crossed it's better than this one.

So yeah an exciting-but-confusing-but-still-got-you-wanting-the-sequel read

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