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A review by reveal
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
2.0
i love zoya. what a good, well-written character. LB is amazing at these hardboiled women, and i adored alex from ninth house for the same reasons i like zoya. she's not easy, she wants power, and the reasons for which she wants power have to do with the patriarchy (an extremely common theme throughout lb's bibliography). i think zoyalai is good because of this. they see each other and what holds them back is status. and yet. and yettttt!!! just... *so* good.
lb also learned nobody gives a shit about that much narration and headspace. when it's time for action. i'm very grateful for that; it keeps the second half more to the point (as "more to the point" you can get with 500 fucking pages), but it was a far better reading experience than crooked kingdom. i get the whole vibe of a fairy tale, i appreciate it because i tend to read at night in bed, but there's a point where the story no longer needs it honestly speaking. glad she knows that now.
that's about all the praise i have for this book, because the rest was either mindnumbing, by-the-numbers harry potter-esque, or it was the entire last section of this book, where every single plot twist/reveal was the worst possible choice you could've made here. (nina's climax reminded me so much of ninth house's climax which made kos even worse). it was so bad. like actually horrible. if you can't deliver your narrative promise that you set around 200 pages in (200!!! other books are DONE by 200!!!!) then get the fuck out of my face.
and of course there's the end. like. i read harry potter. i fucking reread it like early last year? please. by the fucking numbers. i'm so not in the mood.
lb also learned nobody gives a shit about that much narration and headspace. when it's time for action. i'm very grateful for that; it keeps the second half more to the point (as "more to the point" you can get with 500 fucking pages), but it was a far better reading experience than crooked kingdom. i get the whole vibe of a fairy tale, i appreciate it because i tend to read at night in bed, but there's a point where the story no longer needs it honestly speaking. glad she knows that now.
that's about all the praise i have for this book, because the rest was either mindnumbing, by-the-numbers harry potter-esque, or it was the entire last section of this book, where every single plot twist/reveal was the worst possible choice you could've made here. (nina's climax reminded me so much of ninth house's climax which made kos even worse). it was so bad. like actually horrible. if you can't deliver your narrative promise that you set around 200 pages in (200!!! other books are DONE by 200!!!!) then get the fuck out of my face.
and of course there's the end. like. i read harry potter. i fucking reread it like early last year? please. by the fucking numbers. i'm so not in the mood.