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A review by abookishbalance
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
3.5/5 stars
If you're wondering whether or not one needs to read the Grisha Trilogy or Six of Crows in order to read King of Scars, I think the answer is yes. I strongly believe one should read both series in order to properly enjoy King of Scars. There are huge spoilers for both the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows, and you’ll be missing out on a lot of world building and character backstory. I think I would have enjoyed the novel a lot less had I been unfamiliar with the characters and setting.
The remainder of this review contains major spoilers for both the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows. Read at your own risk.
King of Scars takes place two or three months after the events of Six of Crows and approximately three years after the Grisha Trilogy. We follow two separate storylines, the turmoil in Ravka through the perspectives of King Nikolai Lantsov and commander of the second army Genya Nazyalensky, and an undercover mission in Fjerda through the soldier/spy Nina Zenik’s perspective. The monsterous infliction given to Nikolai by The Darkling has returned and Nikolai and his Grisha Triumvirate are in search of a cure while having to deal with the political issues of Ravka. There is fear of war from both borders, Fjerda and Shu Han, Ravka is very indebted to Kerch, and very in need of support from Novyi Zem. Jurda parem is still an issue and there is still no heir to the Ravkan throne. Meanwhile in Fjerda, Nina is smuggling grisha out of the country alongside two other soldiers/spies, Adrik Zhabin and Leoni Hilli. Her missionand the voices in her head lead her to the town Gäfvalle where women and girls are disappearing and there is something questionable in the water.
King of Scars is not a fast paced novel; I found Nina’s storyline a slow build, the mystery behind Gäfvalle taking it’s time unfolding, while Nikolai’s story has a decent amount of traveling/touring and at times can feel meandering. Nina is one of my all-time favourite characters ever, but unfortunately I wasn’t nearly as invested in her storyline as I was in the storyline taking place in Ravka. I was significantly more invested in the characters of the Ravka storyline, and at times had trouble connecting with Nina. With the Ravka storyline, I quite enjoyed the political intrigue and seeing what beloved characters from the Grisha Trilogy were up to. Without getting into spoilers, the second half of the Ravka story is particularly fun and I really enjoyed the additional perspective we get later on.
I appreciated that the story direction allowed for a lot of world building. I have always loved Leigh Bardugo’s world building and never have trouble visualizing the world she creates. I enjoyed seeing more of Fjerda, and I loved how while Nina was aware of the issues going on in Fjerda she could still see the beauty of the country. Ravka is also always fun to explore, and the addition of Lazlayon was especially enjoyable. In terms of the magic, Leigh Bardugo explored and expanded on the consequences of using merzost in ways we haven’t encountered before. I’m still not sure if I liked this part of the story as I don’t feel it quite fits in with the rest of the world as a whole, but it was interesting nonetheless.
I have trouble critiquing the main characters in King of Scars as most of them are already established characters with backstories I am already familiar with. Suffice to say, they are all different and distinct and always a pleasure to read about. We do encounter some backstory from both Genya and Nikolai, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Genya’s backstory in particular gives more context to her fierce attitude and her perspective was consistently something I looked forward to. I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to Nina’s perspective. I recently lost someone very important to me, and since then have become much more critical of how death and loss are portrayed in fiction. Upon reading King of Scars I feel that writing grief/loss is not one of Leigh Bardugo’s strong points and I found this aspect of the novel a bit lacking. Still, the story isn’t over and while Nina’s moving on process was explored to some extent, her story is still ongoing and I will need to reserve my feelings towards the matter for the next instalment. Nina and Matthais’ relationship was one of my favourite parts of Six of Crows and I’ve been in denial for over two years over the death of Matthais Helvar, so I knew I’d be feeling a lot of complicated emotions when it came to any potential love interests for Nina. At the moment I’m neutral towards Nina’s love interest and still waiting to be won over.I also can't deny I was hopping for someone dramatically different from Matthais.
I am a sucker for romance, especially of the Leigh Bardugo variety, but when I heard Genya was a potential love interest for Nikolai I was sceptical and did not think their personalities would be well suited together. It turns out I was sorely mistaken, the back and forth bickering between Nikolai and Genya was my favourite aspect of the novel. I am very, very excited to see where their story goes.
I enjoyed the ending of King of Scars, there were many reveals that left many questions, but I wouldn’t say things ended on a cliffhanger either. Still that very last reveal left a sour taste in my mouth and I’m very curious to see where the next novel takes us.
If you're wondering whether or not one needs to read the Grisha Trilogy or Six of Crows in order to read King of Scars, I think the answer is yes. I strongly believe one should read both series in order to properly enjoy King of Scars. There are huge spoilers for both the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows, and you’ll be missing out on a lot of world building and character backstory. I think I would have enjoyed the novel a lot less had I been unfamiliar with the characters and setting.
The remainder of this review contains major spoilers for both the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows. Read at your own risk.
King of Scars takes place two or three months after the events of Six of Crows and approximately three years after the Grisha Trilogy. We follow two separate storylines, the turmoil in Ravka through the perspectives of King Nikolai Lantsov and commander of the second army Genya Nazyalensky, and an undercover mission in Fjerda through the soldier/spy Nina Zenik’s perspective. The monsterous infliction given to Nikolai by The Darkling has returned and Nikolai and his Grisha Triumvirate are in search of a cure while having to deal with the political issues of Ravka. There is fear of war from both borders, Fjerda and Shu Han, Ravka is very indebted to Kerch, and very in need of support from Novyi Zem. Jurda parem is still an issue and there is still no heir to the Ravkan throne. Meanwhile in Fjerda, Nina is smuggling grisha out of the country alongside two other soldiers/spies, Adrik Zhabin and Leoni Hilli. Her mission
King of Scars is not a fast paced novel; I found Nina’s storyline a slow build, the mystery behind Gäfvalle taking it’s time unfolding, while Nikolai’s story has a decent amount of traveling/touring and at times can feel meandering. Nina is one of my all-time favourite characters ever, but unfortunately I wasn’t nearly as invested in her storyline as I was in the storyline taking place in Ravka. I was significantly more invested in the characters of the Ravka storyline, and at times had trouble connecting with Nina. With the Ravka storyline, I quite enjoyed the political intrigue and seeing what beloved characters from the Grisha Trilogy were up to. Without getting into spoilers, the second half of the Ravka story is particularly fun and I really enjoyed the additional perspective we get later on.
I appreciated that the story direction allowed for a lot of world building. I have always loved Leigh Bardugo’s world building and never have trouble visualizing the world she creates. I enjoyed seeing more of Fjerda, and I loved how while Nina was aware of the issues going on in Fjerda she could still see the beauty of the country. Ravka is also always fun to explore, and the addition of Lazlayon was especially enjoyable. In terms of the magic, Leigh Bardugo explored and expanded on the consequences of using merzost in ways we haven’t encountered before. I’m still not sure if I liked this part of the story as I don’t feel it quite fits in with the rest of the world as a whole, but it was interesting nonetheless.
I have trouble critiquing the main characters in King of Scars as most of them are already established characters with backstories I am already familiar with. Suffice to say, they are all different and distinct and always a pleasure to read about. We do encounter some backstory from both Genya and Nikolai, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Genya’s backstory in particular gives more context to her fierce attitude and her perspective was consistently something I looked forward to. I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to Nina’s perspective. I recently lost someone very important to me, and since then have become much more critical of how death and loss are portrayed in fiction. Upon reading King of Scars I feel that writing grief/loss is not one of Leigh Bardugo’s strong points and I found this aspect of the novel a bit lacking. Still, the story isn’t over and while Nina’s moving on process was explored to some extent, her story is still ongoing and I will need to reserve my feelings towards the matter for the next instalment. Nina and Matthais’ relationship was one of my favourite parts of Six of Crows and I’ve been in denial for over two years over the death of Matthais Helvar, so I knew I’d be feeling a lot of complicated emotions when it came to any potential love interests for Nina. At the moment I’m neutral towards Nina’s love interest and still waiting to be won over.
I am a sucker for romance, especially of the Leigh Bardugo variety, but when I heard Genya was a potential love interest for Nikolai I was sceptical and did not think their personalities would be well suited together. It turns out I was sorely mistaken, the back and forth bickering between Nikolai and Genya was my favourite aspect of the novel. I am very, very excited to see where their story goes.
I enjoyed the ending of King of Scars, there were many reveals that left many questions, but I wouldn’t say things ended on a cliffhanger either. Still that very last reveal left a sour taste in my mouth and I’m very curious to see where the next novel takes us.