A review by beckyyreadss
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed King of Scars and wanted to know how the duology ended. I wanted to throw this book at a wall so many times.  

This book has several POVs, the first is The Demon King, Nikolai Lantsov and as Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, he will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm and even the monster within to win this fight. But as a dark threat loom that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible. The second point of view is the Stormwitch, Zora Nazyalensky and she has lost too much. To war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embraces her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost. The last point of view is The Queen of Morning, Nina Zenik and she is deep undercover and risk discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside the capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart. The King, The General and The Spy must find a way to forge a future in the darkness or watch a nation fall. 

I think I ended up enjoying this book more because the characters were already built and were traumatized with the war that it felt like the fourth and final book in the Crooked Kingdom series rather than a brand-new series. The world has already been fully developed, and the characters have been developed. I love the multiple points of view and how they are all got their own storyline, but you can tell it’s building up to something so much bigger and I was waiting for the bigger thing to happen and it kind of got lost. I loved Zoya still and I love the character development she had in this book, and I was rooting for her all the way.  

Killing off one of my favourite characters and destroying the healthiest relationship within this series stopped this book from being five stars. Especially because you thought he was going to be okay and that he was just going to be injured and then it jumped to his funeral. I was raging, am still raging. Plus, I felt like the Darkling’s end was a little anti-climactic after everything he has put them through, and he just gives up. I was expecting more from The Darkling. The middle bit was a bit slow, and I was kind of skim reading it to get to the final battle because it was just everyone reuniting or planning. 

Overall, this series was better than Shadow and Bone, but I don’t think anything will top Six of Crows.  
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