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A review by sgbrux
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, Leigh Bardugo
4.0
"I am the monster, and the monster is me.”
And so begins the sixth installment in the Grishaverse: King of Scars. This book sat on my shelf for a long time before I cracked it open. Knowing it would focus on Nikolai, I didn’t want to be left hanging for the sequel. But now that Rule of Wolves just dropped, well, here we are.
Edit: I waffled on whether to rate this book 4 or 5 stars, but I’m now giving it a solid 4. The book kept me hooked (despite its flaws) and I did feel ALL the feels for each of our heroes. I'll get into my nitpicks.
KoS is told from 3 main perspectives: Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina, and supplemented by 2 others. The very first chapter is seen through a little boy named Dima, which was actually a little scary as I began reading the book late in the night, but I think it did a good job at opening the story with a darker tone.
The other minor character POV was a Ravkan soldier named Isaak. If you enjoy the doppelgänger trope (as seen later in the Throne of Glass series with Lysandra), I think you’ll enjoy it here.
From having read the rest of the GV books, I absolutely love Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina. And in theory, they ought to make really compelling heroes. I loved Nikolai’s storyline in KoS, but I wanted to feel a darker tone to the book overall. I have to remind myself this is a YA/MG kind of series. Nikolai being Nikolai, there were plenty of light jabs and comedic moments that kept the story from getting too depressing, but it could be a little much at times. I don’t need parroting brands of humor coming from Zoya and Nina, too. In that sense, it was more like Bardugo’s author or narrative voice coming through, which made the characters feel the same at times. That’s fine, but I thought it detracted from an overall darker tone, which I wanted.
Zoya is a badass. Throw dragons into the mix and I’m here for it. ‘nough said.
Nina. Nina, Nina, Nina. Her POV had me completely hooked until around the halfway point of the book. She is mourning Matthias. She is on a literal journey to put him to rest, my heart bled for her.
After that halfway-ish point, however, Nina’s POV starts getting a little disjointed from the rest of the book for me. She is still dealing with the repercussions of jurda parem, and she is busy at work unraveling some sinister experimentation still in play, but her storyline felt totally apart from the main events (despite her being out on a mission for Nikolai). Though I love Nina, her POV was probably my least favorite to read in the book after Isaak was introduced. But I'm sure her plotline will have major implications in Rule of Wolves, so I can live with it. Spoilers ahead:
In a nutshell, we end with our demon king, a queen of dragons, a queen of the dead, and...
The Darkling.
511 pages for a confirmation that he is indeed back!
Thank the saints RoW is out so I can see how this ends. Will we see Alina again?? Mal?? The rest of our SoC crew? I have to admit, I smiled a little when Nina gave us a “No mourners.”
Will we finally have a Grisha Queen of Ravka? Or will the monarchy dissolve into more of a democratic republic like so many other YA rebellion trope stories end? We shall see!
I think my favorite part of the book, though, was the lore woven throughout. I found myself constantly referring to The Lives of Saints to jog my memory on the sainthoods of some of the key players in KoS: Lizabeta, Grigori, Juris, The Starless Saint... I’ve always appreciated that aspect of the Grishaverse.
”Most women suffer thorns for the sake of the flowers. But we who would wield power adorn ourselves in flowers to hide the sting of our thorns.
She was all thorns.”
And so begins the sixth installment in the Grishaverse: King of Scars. This book sat on my shelf for a long time before I cracked it open. Knowing it would focus on Nikolai, I didn’t want to be left hanging for the sequel. But now that Rule of Wolves just dropped, well, here we are.
Edit: I waffled on whether to rate this book 4 or 5 stars, but I’m now giving it a solid 4. The book kept me hooked (despite its flaws) and I did feel ALL the feels for each of our heroes. I'll get into my nitpicks.
KoS is told from 3 main perspectives: Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina, and supplemented by 2 others. The very first chapter is seen through a little boy named Dima, which was actually a little scary as I began reading the book late in the night, but I think it did a good job at opening the story with a darker tone.
The other minor character POV was a Ravkan soldier named Isaak. If you enjoy the doppelgänger trope (as seen later in the Throne of Glass series with Lysandra), I think you’ll enjoy it here.
From having read the rest of the GV books, I absolutely love Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina. And in theory, they ought to make really compelling heroes. I loved Nikolai’s storyline in KoS, but I wanted to feel a darker tone to the book overall. I have to remind myself this is a YA/MG kind of series. Nikolai being Nikolai, there were plenty of light jabs and comedic moments that kept the story from getting too depressing, but it could be a little much at times. I don’t need parroting brands of humor coming from Zoya and Nina, too. In that sense, it was more like Bardugo’s author or narrative voice coming through, which made the characters feel the same at times. That’s fine, but I thought it detracted from an overall darker tone, which I wanted.
Zoya is a badass. Throw dragons into the mix and I’m here for it. ‘nough said.
Nina. Nina, Nina, Nina. Her POV had me completely hooked until around the halfway point of the book. She is mourning Matthias. She is on a literal journey to put him to rest, my heart bled for her.
After that halfway-ish point, however, Nina’s POV starts getting a little disjointed from the rest of the book for me. She is still dealing with the repercussions of jurda parem, and she is busy at work unraveling some sinister experimentation still in play, but her storyline felt totally apart from the main events (despite her being out on a mission for Nikolai). Though I love Nina, her POV was probably my least favorite to read in the book after Isaak was introduced. But I'm sure her plotline will have major implications in Rule of Wolves, so I can live with it. Spoilers ahead:
In a nutshell, we end with our demon king, a queen of dragons, a queen of the dead, and...
The Darkling.
511 pages for a confirmation that he is indeed back!
Thank the saints RoW is out so I can see how this ends. Will we see Alina again?? Mal?? The rest of our SoC crew? I have to admit, I smiled a little when Nina gave us a “No mourners.”
Will we finally have a Grisha Queen of Ravka? Or will the monarchy dissolve into more of a democratic republic like so many other YA rebellion trope stories end? We shall see!
I think my favorite part of the book, though, was the lore woven throughout. I found myself constantly referring to The Lives of Saints to jog my memory on the sainthoods of some of the key players in KoS: Lizabeta, Grigori, Juris, The Starless Saint... I’ve always appreciated that aspect of the Grishaverse.
”Most women suffer thorns for the sake of the flowers. But we who would wield power adorn ourselves in flowers to hide the sting of our thorns.
She was all thorns.”