Crooked Kingdom: Six of Crows, Book 2

Just like in Book 1, there's a lot about overcoming loss and suffering and fighting for survival. Greed, power, and revenge drive much of what happens on the surface, but a longing for connection and loyalty are the underlying motivators that keep the six main characters together. Crooked Kingdom also focuses heavily on managing fear and shame and how not repeating the same mistakes and not continuing to do harm is better than simply apologizing.

Some gory moments, the worst being a gunshot in an eye socket: "[T]he blast didn't just take her eye but most of the top of her skull." An important character is shot and killed. A torture scene includes a mallet that almost shatters a leg. Main characters take some truly bloody beatings (killing some in the process, including a man with broken nails in his windpipe). They are also shot at repeatedly and pelted with knives and throwing stars (one time on a high wire with no net). Explosions injure people, and a pandemic causes panic. Corpses turn zombie-like or are taken out of morgues. A woman falls to her death with talk of another dangled over a ledge, then killed for information. Plenty of stories of the misfortunes of the main characters in their past include nearly being strangled to death, watching family members die, being beaten working in a brothel and losing connection to your own body while working there, being psychologically tortured as a young soldier, being sold as a slave.

One "f--king" and a few uses of "ass," "damn," "hell," "son of a bitch," "bitch," and "bastard."