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A review by _autumnng
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
(4.5 stars)
"None of this had been fated; none of it foretold. There had been no prophecies of a demon king or a dragon queen, a one-eyed Tailor, Heartrender twins. They were just the people who had shown up and managed to survive. But maybe that was the trick of it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out.
For the survivors then, Zoya whispered to herself as the people before her knelt and chanted her name. And for the lost."
HOLY FUCK. WHAT A JOURNEY.
The sheer level of ANGST in this book was astronomical, but I can't say I didn't enjoy every minute of it.
ALL HAIL QUEEN ZOYA.
In all seriousness though, Zoya becoming queen like this was not something I saw coming. Even so, it makes perfect sense. She's going to do SO many great things. I thoroughly enjoyed all of her chapters and really appreciated her perspective. Additionally, her relationship with Nikolai had a lot of really excellent buildup, and I thought that the way they finally came together felt very natural. And of course Nikolai was charming as ever. I adored him in this book.
Killing off David was RUDE. I did NOT appreciate that. I feel so bad for Genya. She deserves the world and yet she's given THIS. Ridiculous.
I was about to throw hands at Leigh Bardugo for killing off YET ANOTHER one of Nina's love interests. Was very happy and relieved to find out that everything was okay and that Nina and her prince were going to work together to fix Fjerda. It just feels right. I seriously loved Nina's chapters in this book. She's EASILY one of my favorite Grishaverse characters of all time.
I loved seeing all of our main characters' storylines finally come together in the battle towards the end, but I will admit that I was EXTREMELY stressed during that entire sequence.
SEEING THE CROWS AGAIN WAS TRULY A GIFT. I was a mess of squeals in literally every single scene they appeared in. Kaz pretending not to know Inej but then proceeding to immediately agree to help Zoya and Nikolai after they said they would help Inej was literally the funniest thing. SIR YOU ARE A SIMP FOR THAT GODDESS AND YOU KNOW IT. I also LOVED seeing Jesper and Wylan still thriving as a happy couple. This right here is some of the funniest shit I've ever seen:
"'I'm not supposed to let you in,' Jesper said.
Brekker seemed unperturbed. 'Why not?'
'Because every time I do, you ask me to break the law.'
A voice from behind Jesper said, 'The problem isn't that he asks, it's that you always say yes.'"
JRHFHSJSKSK
Anywho, I legitimately SCREAMED when Inej showed up at the end. I love her. So much. And I'm SO excited to hopefully one day see Kaz (and HOPEFULLY the rest of the crows) steal the heart of Sankt Feliks. I don't think the Darkling deserves to be set free from his suffering, but I'll let that whole matter slide for the sake of more crows content.
To conclude this review, I'll simply say that I really enjoyed this duology. It definitely took some strange turns here and there, but I loved it. The characters are phenomenal. Leigh Bardugo has done it again. I can't wait to see what comes next.
"None of this had been fated; none of it foretold. There had been no prophecies of a demon king or a dragon queen, a one-eyed Tailor, Heartrender twins. They were just the people who had shown up and managed to survive. But maybe that was the trick of it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out.
For the survivors then, Zoya whispered to herself as the people before her knelt and chanted her name. And for the lost."
HOLY FUCK. WHAT A JOURNEY.
The sheer level of ANGST in this book was astronomical, but I can't say I didn't enjoy every minute of it.
ALL HAIL QUEEN ZOYA.
In all seriousness though, Zoya becoming queen like this was not something I saw coming. Even so, it makes perfect sense. She's going to do SO many great things. I thoroughly enjoyed all of her chapters and really appreciated her perspective. Additionally, her relationship with Nikolai had a lot of really excellent buildup, and I thought that the way they finally came together felt very natural. And of course Nikolai was charming as ever. I adored him in this book.
Killing off David was RUDE. I did NOT appreciate that. I feel so bad for Genya. She deserves the world and yet she's given THIS. Ridiculous.
I was about to throw hands at Leigh Bardugo for killing off YET ANOTHER one of Nina's love interests. Was very happy and relieved to find out that everything was okay and that Nina and her prince were going to work together to fix Fjerda. It just feels right. I seriously loved Nina's chapters in this book. She's EASILY one of my favorite Grishaverse characters of all time.
I loved seeing all of our main characters' storylines finally come together in the battle towards the end, but I will admit that I was EXTREMELY stressed during that entire sequence.
SEEING THE CROWS AGAIN WAS TRULY A GIFT. I was a mess of squeals in literally every single scene they appeared in. Kaz pretending not to know Inej but then proceeding to immediately agree to help Zoya and Nikolai after they said they would help Inej was literally the funniest thing. SIR YOU ARE A SIMP FOR THAT GODDESS AND YOU KNOW IT. I also LOVED seeing Jesper and Wylan still thriving as a happy couple. This right here is some of the funniest shit I've ever seen:
"'I'm not supposed to let you in,' Jesper said.
Brekker seemed unperturbed. 'Why not?'
'Because every time I do, you ask me to break the law.'
A voice from behind Jesper said, 'The problem isn't that he asks, it's that you always say yes.'"
JRHFHSJSKSK
Anywho, I legitimately SCREAMED when Inej showed up at the end. I love her. So much. And I'm SO excited to hopefully one day see Kaz (and HOPEFULLY the rest of the crows) steal the heart of Sankt Feliks. I don't think the Darkling deserves to be set free from his suffering, but I'll let that whole matter slide for the sake of more crows content.
To conclude this review, I'll simply say that I really enjoyed this duology. It definitely took some strange turns here and there, but I loved it. The characters are phenomenal. Leigh Bardugo has done it again. I can't wait to see what comes next.