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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Normally the last book of a series are bittersweet and this is the last book of several series. Nikolai and Zoya being my favorite characters, I also had high expectations. So I can honestly say this book delivers 5 stars.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
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
This book leads a little bit after the last one as Nina now leaves with Hanne and her parents Jarl (yest that Jarl) and Yvla. Nikolai and Zoya are investigating the ever increasing darkness that is not the fold but something much worse (does not matter, does not really play a part in the plot). The story then continues from there. Let's get into the good, the bad, and of course a rant.
The Good:
- Nikolai and Zoya's relationship is the one many fans have been shipping for years
- The war conflict is the main plot and there is not many extra plots to worry about.
- The Mayu perspective that appears halfway through the book is a nice change.
- Alina and Mal appear for a small section of the book and it is nice to see that they have accepted living a peaceful life.
- Kaz, Jesper, and Wylan (also Inej at the end) appear in a small section of the book where a heist takes place and it is nice to see the Jesper and Wylan relationship since it feels much more fluid and less forced than it did in Crooked Kingdom.
Zoya becomes Queen which is a surprise I did not see coming but I really liked. - Seeing the Fjerdan court and some of its culture was an intersting piece of worldbuilding
- Same goes for the Shu although that was mostly just on the court side of things.
- Getting the small detail that Genya was r*ped by the former king and that's how Nikolai exiled him and became king, was a very dark but cool detail.
- DO NOT READ THIS SPOILER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK YET!
David's death is so sad and shows the horrors of war. His death and how it affects Nikolai, Zoya, and Genya really hits hard.
The Bad:
- The Darkling is around but does not do much at all in the story.
- Joran was an interesting character but of course
he ended up being the druskelle who killed Matthias. - Outside of the worldbuilding of the Fjerdans, the Nina plot was dumb. I wish she linked up with Trasel and went back to Ravka of King of Scars (KoS) rather than what happened.
- Hanne was a cool character in KoS but I feel she regressed in this book.
- The former king and queen show up at the end to challenge Nikolai's lineage but ends up being almost pointless.
- The apparent is just a really dumb side villain. He does not really play a part in the book outside to say "oh Demidov has a lot of influence now that the apparent is behind him".
- Nikolai's demon never backfires on him or makes him look bad to the rest of Ravka or anybody for that matter.
The Rant:
This book is better than the rating I gave it but I have one really big problem with this book and its the Hanne and Nina romance. Hanne is a fine character and I have nothing wrong with her except for how the plot of Nina's story ends but I will get to that later. Nina falling in love with not just another person outside of Matthias but a Brum is absolutely stupid. Not just that, she basically instantly falls in love with Hanne right after burying Matthias's body. This just takes the Nina and Matthias romance and spits in its face as the relationship makes no sense. Nina also never came off as bi in the SoC duology and her love of Hanne just comes out of nowhere. Then the book ends with
This duology is great and better than the SaB trilogy but does not hit the heights of the SoC duology. It also seems like Leigh does want to make another book in the SoC trilogy and I would be so down for that. If she does do that, I believe Hanne will take the spot of Matthias, although I hope Nikolai poses as Strumhond and takes his spot. That would be a perfect cast (as long as Nina also is Nina and not Mila).
Good not great, better than KoS but barely. Nikolai can do no wrong and Zoya solidified herself as a fav for being a ruthless harpy but omfg as likable and relatable as Zoya became Nina was the exact opposite and being stuck in her emotion driven brain was painful. The plot was messy. Aleksander felt like an entirely different character and not in a good way esp bc I was counting on him to give the plot the depth KoS lacked. Aside from Nikolai -existing- and Zoya's redemption the best bit was their lil trip to Ketterdam to consult a certain master thief and it just doesn't seem fair that he should be a highlight when he was barely a footnote?? Again, if you're dedicated to the Grishaverse it's worth the read seeing as the ending more than implied that we would get to revisit our fav members of The Dregs and no doubt will pick up around where RoW left off
Satisfying to reach the end of the Grishaverse stories for now.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
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:
No
I absolutely did not want to say goodbye to these characters!! This duology was an unexpected surprise after Crooked Kingdom I didn’t think it could get any better but I loved these books just as much.
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy this book, but it was way too damn long. There was so much that could have been cut and it felt like it was long for the sake of being long. I also think there needs to be fewer POVs in future books.
Spoiler wise,I’m glad Nina got the ending she did. Her and Hanne’s story was the most interesting part of this book and honestly the only one that I care to know more about. Everything about Nikolai and Zoya was pretty annoying, ESPECIALLY the end. Making Zoya queen felt like it defeated Nikolai’s entire character struggle and it really felt like he just gave up and wanted to put all of the burden on Zoya because he thought she was more capable than him and that he wanted to go play pirate again. It would have been much more satisfying to see Nikolai be accepted as the king for who he is and not who he pretends to be AND THEN propose to Zoya because he didn’t need to marry for political gain. Having Zoya become Queen just felt so cheap. You know what was also cheap?Bringing the Darkling back JUST to be used as a random plot device to vouch for Zoya’s reign. Idiotic. I’ll read the next books in the series, but this book was incredibly disappointing.
Spoiler wise,
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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