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A review by maida
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, Leigh Bardugo
2.0
”Zoya of the lost city. Zoya of the garden. Zoya bleeding in the snow. You are strong enough to survive the fall.”
I’m so sad right now oh my god.
I don’t think I made it very clear how much I was anticipating this book, but I really was. I was so excited to get to see my baby Nina again, I forced myself to read the whole Grisha trilogy so I could read this book. It was so not worth it.
I feel baited. This whole duology feels like a ploy to make fans of Six of Crows that didn’t read the Grisha trilogy read it (and viceversa) so they could get to this one. What was the point of having two different storylines if they are never going to connect? King of Scars felt so disjointed, the perspectives have literally nothing to do with each other. This “book” has two separate books in it. What.
King of Scars was so poorly paced I was astounded. Nina’s storyline was fine at a surface level and I really enjoyed the exploration of grief through her perspective, but the pacing was so slow. So painfully slow. Half of her very repetitive chapters could‘ve been cut out and it would’ve been fine. Seriously. It was so boring.
Nikolai’s perspective, even though he’s supposedly the titular character of this book, felt lackluster. There wasn’t much of an arc for him. At all. Nikolai was the only character I liked from the Grisha trilogy and now it doesn’t feel like I know him as a character anymore. The one thing I enjoyed from his perspective was his relationship with Zoya… because I fucking love Zoya.
I’m so glad we got to see her outside of Alina’s perspective. She’s pretty much the only reason I didn’t give this book 1 star. I really liked that she finally got some character development. Her perspective was the only one I cared for. I really enjoyed everything about her, to be honest.
Most of the characters, besides the mother fucking Queen of Storms ™ Zoya, felt like shells of their original characters. And the ones that were added weren’t much better either. Is this really the same author that wrote Six of Crows?
With that said, here are some small things that kept me going:
• The fact that Leoni is the girl that Jesper’s mother saved? Oh my god?
• Mal and Alina not being in this book. Seriously. The whole time I was scared they were going to pop up all of the sudden.
• Zoya and Nikolai’s relationship. I know I already mentioned it but oh my god. They are perfect for each other.
• Matthias’ eulogy.
• Whenever the dregs were mentioned my heart jumped out of my throat. I love them. I wish they were here.
As for things that made me want to die:
• I hated the ending. So much.
• How boring this whole book was. Yup. I’m sad.
• Nina working by herself all of the sudden? What was the point of her arc in soc then?
• The constant unnecessary switch of perspectives for the sake of keeping the reader interested. It didn’t, by the way.
• The quote-on-quote insta-lovey relationship between Nina and Hanne. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in… but c’mon give me at least some development.
To be honest, the only reason I didn’t DNF this book is because of how much time I lost reading the Grisha trilogy. I was already way too committed to turn around and not finishing it. Anyway, I hope the next one’s better?
3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019
I’m so sad right now oh my god.
I don’t think I made it very clear how much I was anticipating this book, but I really was. I was so excited to get to see my baby Nina again, I forced myself to read the whole Grisha trilogy so I could read this book. It was so not worth it.
I feel baited. This whole duology feels like a ploy to make fans of Six of Crows that didn’t read the Grisha trilogy read it (and viceversa) so they could get to this one. What was the point of having two different storylines if they are never going to connect? King of Scars felt so disjointed, the perspectives have literally nothing to do with each other. This “book” has two separate books in it. What.
King of Scars was so poorly paced I was astounded. Nina’s storyline was fine at a surface level and I really enjoyed the exploration of grief through her perspective, but the pacing was so slow. So painfully slow. Half of her very repetitive chapters could‘ve been cut out and it would’ve been fine. Seriously. It was so boring.
Nikolai’s perspective, even though he’s supposedly the titular character of this book, felt lackluster. There wasn’t much of an arc for him. At all. Nikolai was the only character I liked from the Grisha trilogy and now it doesn’t feel like I know him as a character anymore. The one thing I enjoyed from his perspective was his relationship with Zoya… because I fucking love Zoya.
I’m so glad we got to see her outside of Alina’s perspective. She’s pretty much the only reason I didn’t give this book 1 star. I really liked that she finally got some character development. Her perspective was the only one I cared for. I really enjoyed everything about her, to be honest.
Most of the characters, besides the mother fucking Queen of Storms ™ Zoya, felt like shells of their original characters. And the ones that were added weren’t much better either. Is this really the same author that wrote Six of Crows?
With that said, here are some small things that kept me going:
• The fact that Leoni is the girl that Jesper’s mother saved? Oh my god?
• Mal and Alina not being in this book. Seriously. The whole time I was scared they were going to pop up all of the sudden.
• Zoya and Nikolai’s relationship. I know I already mentioned it but oh my god. They are perfect for each other.
• Matthias’ eulogy.
• Whenever the dregs were mentioned my heart jumped out of my throat. I love them. I wish they were here.
As for things that made me want to die:
•
Spoiler
The Darkling. Why.• How boring this whole book was. Yup. I’m sad.
• Nina working by herself all of the sudden? What was the point of her arc in soc then?
• The constant unnecessary switch of perspectives for the sake of keeping the reader interested. It didn’t, by the way.
• The quote-on-quote insta-lovey relationship between Nina and Hanne. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in… but c’mon give me at least some development.
To be honest, the only reason I didn’t DNF this book is because of how much time I lost reading the Grisha trilogy. I was already way too committed to turn around and not finishing it. Anyway, I hope the next one’s better?
3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019