I gave it a try 2 days ago on Linux and it crashed after a couple of minutes doing basic manipulations. Have I just been unlucky or is it really unreliable?
I won't say it never crashed on me, however I am surprised by the negative comments here as inkscape is super snappy, fast and reliable as long as I am occasionally using it which is 10+ years.
Imho probably unlucky. At least on Windows it is way more stable than a few years ago.
Then again it can be hard to tell. E.g. The converse is true for me for LibreOffice which used to be fine but crashes within a minute or two every time.
I use the command-line version a few times per year on Windows and it's always worked fine. Never used the GUI but just starting it, it seems to be just fine and speedy on a passively cooled laptop while throwing a lot of shapes around.