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A review by blakethebookeater
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-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
5.0
*deep breath* READ THIS BOOK. READ THIS SERIES. GO DO IT RIGHT NOW.
https://youtu.be/_dH-mSya8uY
okay. let me calm down for a sec, but holy shit this book is amazing.
So this books interweaves the end of the Grisha trilogy and the end of the Six of Crows duology while also still being a standalone duology (I would highly recommend reading both prior series first however). It follows King Nikolai as he grapples with his country at war on multiple fronts while dealing with the darkness inside him, his general Zoya as she assists him in running the country, and also Nina as she processes recent events and also goes undercover in order to smuggle Grisha out of Fjerda.
Nikolai and Zoya are together most of the book, so it ultimately feels like there are two main stories: Nikolai & Zoya and then Nina. And that's perfectly fine. The bouncing between the two plots felt perfectly natural and I LOVED everyone's POV in this book, but especially Zoya and Nina. This book really felt like Leigh being like "oh you don't like angry, complex female characters? BOOM here's two of them and they're not Mary Sues and they get to be messy and complex and powerful and you will LOVE IT" to all the stans who bitched about Alina from the first trilogy.
This plot also went in some WILD CRAZY directions that I did NOT see coming AT ALL. And when an author does that to me, I really have to tip any hat to them because it is very hard to surprise me anymore.
Overall I loved this book with all my heart, and the characters were just so wonderful and I really hope Netflix lets the show get to these plot lines because they are honestly TOP TIER.
5/5 stars
https://youtu.be/_dH-mSya8uY
okay. let me calm down for a sec, but holy shit this book is amazing.
So this books interweaves the end of the Grisha trilogy and the end of the Six of Crows duology while also still being a standalone duology (I would highly recommend reading both prior series first however). It follows King Nikolai as he grapples with his country at war on multiple fronts while dealing with the darkness inside him, his general Zoya as she assists him in running the country, and also Nina as she processes recent events and also goes undercover in order to smuggle Grisha out of Fjerda.
Nikolai and Zoya are together most of the book, so it ultimately feels like there are two main stories: Nikolai & Zoya and then Nina. And that's perfectly fine. The bouncing between the two plots felt perfectly natural and I LOVED everyone's POV in this book, but especially Zoya and Nina. This book really felt like Leigh being like "oh you don't like angry, complex female characters? BOOM here's two of them and they're not Mary Sues and they get to be messy and complex and powerful and you will LOVE IT" to all the stans who bitched about Alina from the first trilogy.
This plot also went in some WILD CRAZY directions that I did NOT see coming AT ALL. And when an author does that to me, I really have to tip any hat to them because it is very hard to surprise me anymore.
Overall I loved this book with all my heart, and the characters were just so wonderful and I really hope Netflix lets the show get to these plot lines because they are honestly TOP TIER.
5/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Child death