King of Scars

I really loved it! So many plot twists and beautiful scenes!! I loved Nina’s plot and her helping the girls, if you know me you know such themes as were written here are SUPER important to me so I even got a lil emotional!! BUT I felt like the ending was just a tiny bit rushed and I wish we got more from Nikolai and Zoya😩😭

ugh, this book was a slight disappointment since I really enjoyed reading SoC. nothing was really happening like 3/4 of the book, it didn't really make any sense and the characters were pretty dull. I wanted to read about funny, sarcastic nikolai but he didn't really make jokes similar to ones I loved in grisha. I really loved nina's pov but it wasn't the main story bardugo focused on even though it had big potential. the positive thing is that i managed to read it quite quickly. I've already read the rule of wolves so I have to add that the second book is just so much better that it is just worth reading the first one even though it's boring most of the time. I'd do anything for rule of wolves. seriously.

holy shit that ending...

4.5 ⭐️

UPDATE: I thought more about this and it really didn’t meet any of my expectations. It had a few good moments, as discussed below, but overall felt rushed and kind of all over the place. I feel like whenever it comes to writing about Ravka, Bardugo’s writing just gets kind of messy. Maybe a 2.5 overall. _______________________________________________________ Did I enjoy this? Yes, I think it served its purpose of making me forget about real life for a while, and transported me back into the Grishaverse. Was this as good as I’d anticipated? Not really. It’s a solid okay book for me. My expectations were a bit too high, but they weren't completely crushed. I think my main issue with this was the pacing. The first 200 pages or so were a drag to get through. I almost dnf’d it at some point. Barely anything was happening, and it reminded me a lot of The Grisha Trilogy (which in my opinion had the worst pacing ever), so that put me off quite a bit. But after that 200 page mark things started growing on me. I find that Bardugo’s writing when it comes to life at court is very constrained. It was the same with tgt — nothing was happening when the characters were in Os Alta. But once they were out of the capital, things started becoming more interesting. Another thing that didn’t work out in my opinion were the way the POV’s were handled. I think this book could have easily just focused on a dual POV between Nikolai and Zoya, or maybe with Genya instead of Nina (and Isaak). I love Nina’s character, she was one of my favourites to read about in Six of Crows, but her chapters here felt out of place to me. There was no natural flow of the story. Her story doesn’t tie in to what I consider to be the main plot (Nikolai and his demon issue) at all, so whenever one of her chapters was popping up I was feeling disappointed, because I didn’t care that much. I enjoy where her storyline is heading, but I think it would have worked better as a separate novella. Overall her addition to KoS feels like it was just done to please the fans who are here just for SoC. And while I understand why Isaak was added, I didn’t much care about his chapters. I think Genya would have made a much better POV so we can continue to know what happens in Os Alta, but maybe I am biased. Now, onto the characters. This is marketed as Nikolai’s duology, so I was expecting him to stand out, but especially for the first part of the book he doesn’t really. We don’t get that much introspection into his character, which is a shame because I want to know more about him and how he came to be. There are some shining moments, but I wish they’d been dealt with in much more detail. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if this had been a prequel of his time as Sturmhond instead. I feel like so far I don’t know much more about him than I after finishing the Grisha trilogy. There’s a lot of talk about how much he’s changed since being possessed by that demon creature, but it’s hardly ever shown to me. He seems very much like how he was in the original series. I wanted to see how the existence of the demon affects him, and this was done to an extent but it felt very surface level to me. That being said, Zoya was the shining piece of this book. I loved her. I’d been intrigued by her character from previous books, and it was wonderful seeing her in all her glory in this one. “What’s a mortal king to a queen who can summon storms?” This could have easily just been her book and I wouldn’t have minded. Her relationship with Nikolai was also very engaging, I love their dynamic, and I hope we’ll get a more nuanced exploration of their relationship in the next book. Their banter is fun and feels natural. I was kind of worried that the relationship would feel forced, but it doesn’t. There’s a very nice balance between them. The second part of this book was very good in my opinion. I love the magical aspect of the Grishaverse, and I loved the exploration of Grisha powers, especially Zoya’s. And while I’m not 100% happy with some of the developments towards the end, I think some people will enjoy it quite a lot. But I am curious to see where this is all heading. Overall this was a nice read for me. It wasn’t what I expected, especially plot-wise, but it had its shining moments, and it was engaging enough. I’m mixed on the actual rating, but overall it’s a solid 3/5 stars for me. I am somewhat disappointed that this is supposed to be Nikolai’s story and yet it feels more like a continuation of the Grisha trilogy at times. I think KoS does play a lot into the nostalgia of tgt, and I wish it would have broken away from that and tried to stand on its own as a complete separate series. There are many things that could be done with Nikolai's character; this book plays it very safe, which is a bit of a shame. And I feel like overall this book served too much as a prologue for whats to come, but then again, I hope that the second book will fill in the blanks.

*chants* RULE OF WOLVES RULE OF WOLVES RULE OF WOLVES if i get an alina cameo in rule of wolves i will be so incredibly happy ZOYA X NIKOLAI IS A P O W E R C O U P L E so much better than darklina being a power couple like come on

??????????

It took me a while to read this because the first half is very slow (Leigh Bardugo loves writing long chapters and I really don't like it). The second part had the pacing I want, and it was SO GOOD. Not my favorite from Leigh's works, but it's very entertaining to read and it draws you into the world she created. THE ENDING THOUGH. banging my head on a wall as we speak. Overall, It was a good book.

April 2023 I read this book two years ago when season one of the show came out and for some reason I never got around to reading Rule of Wolves. Because I got really into the Grishaverse again now that season two came out, I decided to reread the Six of Crows duology, this book and finally Rule of Wolves. In my head, I liked the Six of Crows books the best by far, but looking at my previous review, I see that that wasn't the case. To be honest, I don't really know why I liked this book so much. I mean, it's definitely really good and I like it a lot, but I 100% wouldn't say it's better than the Six of Crows duology. If you'd have asked me what happened in the book a week ago I couldn't have told you a thing, but that made it really interesting to reread because all the plot twists were surprising again. The storyline is really interesting and I loved the Zoya parts especially, but I did find the Nina chapters a bit boring at times this time around. All in all, I love the book still and I really enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite one of the Grishaverse. Nothing can compare to Kaz, Inej, Wylan and Jesper. June 2021 omfg 😳😳 First of all, this was by far the best Grisha Verse book I’ve read so far: Nina is the best and I def didn’t find her chapters boring, Nikolai is obviously amazing and I love how much more personality he’s gotten in this book and Zoya is such a beautiful badass, I love her! Can't wait to read Rule of Wolves!!

*sighs* Man, I love Nikolai. This book was pretty spectacular. It was such a blast revisiting some of my favorite characters of all time. I loved seeing Genya and David again, as well as Tamar and Tolya. It felt like going to a big family reunion; being wrapped in a familiar hug. They made me laugh and they added something so special to the story. That being said, I felt like there were some pacing issues at the beginning of this story. The first half of the book I just kept wondering "Wait, so what's the main plot?" It felt like it took a long time to really get to the meat of the book. The last half of this book was INSANE. The first half, well, I was interested but I just kept waiting for something to happen. I understand that there was a lot to set up for the second half but I just felt it went on a little too long. We get quite a bit of new characters in this story and I honestly loved them ALL. I loved Hanne, Leoni and Adrik (who was technically in the Shadow and Bone series), and Isaak. It was refreshing to have all of their lives and story lines mix together with everyone else's so nicely. I care about everyone in this series SO MUCH. I loved getting to know Zoya better in this book. When I saw she was going to be a main part in this story, I was a little hesitant. She really isn't easy to like in the Shadow and Bone series but, in this book you get a glimpse into WHY she is the way she is. You start to understand her and how she operates. I LOVED getting a peak into her mind. Her history is so fascinating. Her demeanor is icy and wonderful and I can't wait to see what her character will further add to the next adventure. I also loved getting to see Nina again but I'm not sure her perspective was needed. I found myself enjoying her chapters but wanting to get back to the other, main action. It ended up not really adding anything to this story. I'm sure her plot with play a much bigger role in the next book but I just didn't understand why we followed so much of her when it didn't tie into the main story, at least not yet. Another problem I had with this story was there just wasn't enough Nikolai? I mean, I get all the shifting story lines and perspectives but it's supposed to be HIS story. I felt like I got more of Zoya than I did of Nikolai. The story felt as if it was more focused on stuff that was happening around him and TO him, and less like it was just his story. I don't know if that makes any sense but I wanted so much more of him! The ending was just...CRAZY. Sometimes I felt like I saw something coming but then it'd COMPLETELY go a different way and I'd just keep going "WHAT WAIT OH MY GOD." I already know the next book in this duology is going to completely destroy me and I'M SO EXCITED. Overall, this book was just incredible! It's not my favorite story she's ever written in this universe but I had so much funny jumping back into this world.

This was actually a reread for me and I absolutely loved it, even more, the second time around!

I had just finished binge-watching the second season of Shadow & Bone and I was missing the crows and Nikolai content so I decided to bury the hatchet and my heart by doing a lil reread. I also might not have started Rule of Wolves after the first time I read it, despite owning it… LISTEN, I didn’t want to leave the world, okay? And I was scared :(

I can’t wait to sob uncontrollably 👍🏼

King of Scars: 4.75/5 Wow, this book was everything I expected AND MORE. Starting this wonderful book felt like reuniting with old friends. It was nostalgic, fun, and kinda sad to see how everybody changed. This is definitely a book that will be living RENT FREE in my head until Rule of Wolves is out next month. King of Scars is a new Grishaverse duology that follows three main characters: Nikolai Lantsov, the King of Ravka, Zoya Nazyalensky, his general, and Nina Zenik, a soldier in his army. Of course, if you have read Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows these names should be familiar to you. I do want to point out you cannot read King of Scars without reading these two series prior. King of Scars heavily weighs on the reader having the knowledge of the past two series under their belt. Throughout King of Scars, we follow two to three different plots throughout with the three perspectives being Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina. I do have to say the first part of this book is slow as we are being reintroduced to the world, and how these new characters are functioning together. Since this takes place a few years after Shadow and Bone, we have not seen Nikolai and Zoya for a little bit. This pacing is the reason for my 4.75/5 instead of 5/5. This book SERIOUSLY takes off like the wind in part two, and will never stop. The reader is hit with plot twist after plot twist to the point where my jaw was HANGING OPEN. Of course, we all know Bardugo is a fabulous writer and storyteller but I seriously believe every book she writes gets better. How she continuously comes up with fantastical new characters while still following the rules of the old world we have come to love? It is nothing short of magic. I am consistently in awe of her and the way she makes her worlds come to life right before the readers' eyes. It is escapism at its finest. Furthermore, the way Bardugo is able to hold onto the personality of her old characters but simply breathe more life into them in a way that is genuine and true to themselves takes my breath away. Her writing is so unique to her which is why she is one of my top auto-buy authors. She will never disappoint! Ultimately, I cannot believe I have to wait a whole month for Rule of Wolves. How will I survive? The ending is simply cruel. All the way until the LAST SENTENCE. Please March 30th come faster!

** spoiler alert ** i think this should be 3.5 stars? let's start with the things i loved about this book: zoya, nikolai, the zoya-nikolai dynamic, zoya and juris wow, isaak pretending to be a king, nikolai being a glorious king, and more of nikolai. and zoya. alright ngl it wasn't that great. the whole "the darkling still lives on in the beast" was not surprising and tbh i wasn't surprised with the ending either? i wanted the book to be nikolai being a badass king, not nikolai vs the darkling. this felt more like a book for the darkling. again. also nina's story? i expected her's to somehow fall into line with the main plot, but it never did? it felt so disconnected and i don't love nina, so i wasn't invested in her arc oops. i really enjoyed the beginning when nikolai and zoya were doing their thing, but the whole saints thing? not a fan yikes. i really wanted to love this book :(

Leigh sure knows how to deliver an amazing cliffhanger... I really enjoyed this book even tho at some points I had to force myself to read it because it was kind of slow, I feel like it could have had 100 pages less and be better. Anyways it was pretty good, at some points it had me DYINGGGG!! Oh and I LOOOOVE Zoya, she's such a power girl.

leigh bardugo is wicked. i love it. in other news, i liked this book so much i couldnt wait a year for the paperback. yes, this means i got a HARDBACK

I liked it, I thought it was a little slow but once it got going it got crazy also I love nikolai and that he and this book said gay rights

Had this book followed more or less than three people, it would have been scores better. Adding Isaak for a while totally reshaped the story speed, whereas I thought having POVs for both Nikolai and Zoya — despite them constantly being together — just made the story so snail paced. I rejoiced when Nina appeared just so we could have a different scenario.

Slow starter, but it was a delight to finally have the various members of the Grishaverse together. The second half was back to the action-packed, multiple- perspective drama I expect from this series. There was a healthy dash of horror mixed in the last several chapters. Realizing the wider possibilities of Grisha powers, I'm ready for an explosive finale in the next book.

SO GOOD BUT I NEED MORE LEONI AND ADRIKKK

this was actually a really good book. i loved being back in the grishaverse. i connected so much to the main characters of this book. i loved how leigh bardugo continued their stories and i especially loved the six of crows references in nina's pov. this wasn't as good as six of crows, but considering soc is one of my favorite books ever that's totally alright.

March 2021: Honestly, this ending still gets me and I cannot wait to get my hands on Rule of Wolves in (hopefully) a week! 4,5* HOLY F*CK

I thought that this book was good when I read it

Great Story! YOU MUST READ THE SHADOW AND BONE TRILOGY AND SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY FIRST TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON! I didn't know that prior to borrowing this, but if you're willing to read some some spoilers to understand what's going on then you'll be fine. However, I'd recommend following my advice above and read the Shadow and Bone trilogy first, then the Six of Crows duology after before reading this. I'd also recommend reading The Demon in the Woods too; it's a prequel to Six of Crows that explains The Darkling's history, who is the real villian of the Grishaverse. The writing is excellent; not too detailed and the suspense written in just the right places. Nikolai's sarcasm fits perfectly into every dialogue he's in, and the plot twists are epic! I also love the emotional moments Bardugo let's us witness Nina's anger, confusion, and despair over her husband's death. Those emotional moments - whether it's Nina mourning, her feeling doubtful, or Zoya's anger and humiliation over loving The Darkling - it makes them feel more human than just heroes who have "moved on" with little to no inner turmoil. Bardugo also writes in the third person, alternating between Nina's, Zoya's, and Nikolai's story. The politics make this even more fascinating, I haven't been more excited for a political thriller series since The Hunger Games Trilogy! I can't really name any cons since I haven't read the novels based off of this universe, but there's a character who shows interest towards another woman, though it's not clear (and sounds shoehorned, since this same character's husband just died.)