Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

127 reviews

sandonat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

The characters were the best part of the story. I really liked how each one felt different and had specific motivations, flaws, and strengths. I loved the banter and teasing between them. I also really appreciated the competence and cleverness of the characters. There were parts of the story that were pretty dark. The reason I didn’t rate it higher is that not everything felt clear to me. It was hard for me to picture some of the places or action because the writing was kinda hard to follow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Racism, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

kaitykriss's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Cool world and story. Loved the magic and heist. I found one of the relationships to be gross and abusive which brought it down a whole star. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, and War

aree's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Slavery, and Violence

hazeydaze24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ashmeanything's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.0

Wow, this book. I haven't taken so long to read something in quite a long time, but it was worth it. Immediately, the prose and command of the world hooked me, and the qualities I initially loved were fleshed out and present throughout the entire story. Bardugo clearly has an amazing ability to weave discrete and complex storylines together, disrupt and reset the status quo, and keep secrets from both the characters and the reader. Finishing this book was like unraveling more and more depth, making the painful and wonderful parts all stronger. The only things keeping it from a perfect rating are the sheer number of details that I had to remember and the very graphic descriptions of injury and bodily harm. Overall, though, this was excellent. I can't wait to read the next one.

Content warnings for xenophobia/racism, trafficking, child abuse, injury and medical content, violence, war, betrayal, genocide, addiction, slavery, and murder (all frequent) as well as bullying, guns, addiction, confinement, illness and child death, sexual harassment, and brief ableism and drug use.

Used for 2024 r/Fantasy Bingo (criminals, hard mode); also fits for first in a series, entitled animals, multi-POV (hard mode), character with a disability (hard mode), survival (hard mode), judge a book by its cover, and book club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, and Classism

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

TLDR: I really have enjoyed some YA Lit, this wasn’t one of those though. 

 

Context: I am aware that there is controversy regarding this author. I am not on X nor have I watched the Netflix series so there are others who can talk about that with more knowledge than I have. My rating of the book does not reflect these controversies. 

 

Written in 3rd person with the pov changing from chapter to chapter. Chapters are titled with the pov so it is easy to keep track of whose head you’re in. We come to know the characters by their actions and the flashbacks we are privy to. Unfortunately there are no chapters for Wylan. (We find out why in the next to last chapter.) The action is clear and exciting. Ketterdam and the Ice Court are well described including sounds, colours and odours. So what’s my problem? 

 

Ketterdam is basically Amsterdam sometime is a hazy past. The words are Dutch or bastardised Dutch, the port, the rich merchants all of that was basically no work at all to imagine. The Ice Palace is a little better, but is still mainly a rip off from the many fantasy novels before it. At best this is lazy world building. 

 

The crew is diverse as far as their ethnic backgrounds, but what is ethnicity in the context of a fantasy novel? Is Inej coded Roma because she is a talented acrobat as well as a cat burglar, assassin, and a former forced sex worker? Or is she simply given a certain colouring so that the novel ticks the diverse box? And talking of former sex workers, given the criminality of the Barrel, why is it only female characters who were involved in sex work? The lqbtqaa+ diversity is only hinted at. 

 

And then this whole Grisha thing. A deus ex machina supremo. In a jam?, get the character who isn’t doing much to be a hidden Grisha. Need healing?, presto your Heartrender can mend too. No wonder everybody and their maiden aunts are enslaving them. Question is why are they so bad at defending themselves when they can stop a heart before you even see them? 

 

It was the ending that really burnt my toast though. A novel needs a beginning, middle and end. I expect the first book in a duology to leave open endings but I need some sense of completion too. Six of Crows ended with all cliffhanger and no satisfaction. And the truth is I really don’t care enough about this band of teenage thugs to read another 500+ pages to see how they finally get themselves out of the jams they keep putting themselves into.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

While there is no sexual content there are frequent references to sex work and sex workers. Graphic gambling and gambling addition.

evelynnreading'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? No

4.75

A classic, I'm just in love! Love all the relationships between all the characters and the plot's and the whole story was just beautiful! In those dark moments were somehow a funny moments too and I loved that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Trafficking, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, and Alcohol

richardw2024's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I enjoyed this book and it pulled me out of a reading slump due to it's fast pace and easy reading style. I like a heist story and this book in many ways reminded me of The Final Empire. I would say that it is a good book if you don't usually read fantasy and want to dip your toes into the genre.

This was so nearly a 5* read for me but there were a couple of things that I didn't like. I think most of these were victims of the book being a YA. The two main things I disliked were:
- the romance - I'd be perfectly happy with no romance but well written romance I don't mind. The romance bits in this were just annoying. Maybe book 2 will change my mind on that point
- whilst there were many points where events went south for the characters, there never really felt like there was any great peril. Again, maybe that is because it is written as YA? But I personally would have liked a bit more tension.

EDIT - I have updated my rating to five stars. Thinking back in this book after a while, all I can remember is that I really enjoyed it and would recommend it (maybe that came after reading book 2) so I felt it fitting to update to five stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and War