Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

El Rey Marcado by Leigh Bardugo

31 reviews

kredeprnz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

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

catmac15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

one of my favs in the grishaverse! amazing plot twists, worldbuilding and character backstory/development. it was nice seeing what Nina did after the events of Crooked Kingdom and what she plans to do next. Nikolai and Zoya were very interesting and lovable in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy but it’s nice to see their own perspectives rather than their character from Alina’s point of view

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Miscarriage and Pedophilia

sammymilfort's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

aklovekorn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

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

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

crybabybea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

The Darkling is gone and the Fold is destroyed, but this is Ravka, so nothing is ever easy. Fjerda and Shu Han are at Ravka’s borders, ready to exploit any weakness left by the civil war. The Kerch are already asking Ravka to pay its debts, but the nation will only need more money if they are to survive the coming battles. Miracles have been appearing all across Ravka, and while most of the devout take heart from the old saints, some believe that a new saint should be added to their ranks: the Starless One. Amidst this chaos, King Nikolai is still playing host to the shadow demon forced on him by the Darkling’s nichevo’ya, and it is becoming increasingly hard to hide. Zoya serves by his side, trying to keep her king safe—and others safe from him. Nina is dealing with her grief as best she can, but throwing herself into her work as a spy in Fjerda.

Okay I know that everyone loves the <i>Six of Crows</i> duology best in the Grishaverse but...I think I might actually prefer <i>King of Scars</i> and <i>Rule of Wolves</i> (review to come)! This book started out a little slow but picked right up and then I could NOT put it down. The tension between Nikolai and Zoya is immaculate, and literally any scene with Nikolai bantering with one of his friends makes my heart explode. Even more than that (if that’s possible), I loved Nina’s storyline as she deals with her grief and throws herself headlong into every dangerous situation she can find.

I am also obsessed with her relationship with Hanne...it might actually be my very favorite wlw relationship that I’ve read!

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

Cliffhanger, of course, because this is Leigh Bardugo and there’s a sequel on the way. Thank god I picked it up almost immediately!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

I went into this book fully expecting it to be completely centred around Nikolai and for him to be the star of the show, but this was definitely not the case in a surprisingly good way. Instead, the female characters absolutely SHONE in this book and completely stole the show. They were just incredible. It was a joy to read from Nina's perspective again, but it was actually Zoya who I fell in love with. She's had such an incredible character arc over the course of the Grishaverse and that was really revealed and expanded upon in this book. She's such a bad ass and doing a much better job of being the main character than Nikolai is. 

Being back in the Grishaverse was a delight, but so was reading Bardugo's writing again. It is wonderfully descriptive, and her plot development here is truly on another level in comparison to Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. I really enjoyed seeing her expand her world-building, and she REALLY knows how to write incredible endings.

I docked a half-star for two reasons. The first is that I felt extremely disconnected from Nikolai, to the point where (shockingly, given he was one of my favourite characters in Shadow and Bone), I was dreading his POV chapters. The second is that for the first half of this book the plot felt a little directionless in that I didn't really know what the book was going to be about until like 250 pages in.

Also, the return of the Darkling kind of feels like a cheap enemy and I'm worried about how it's going to impact my enjoyment of Rule of Wolves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol