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A review by lyakimov
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
3.5 stars.
It has been a very long time since finishing the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, so this was a trip in remembering all the stuff that happened. It almost kind of feels like a cross-over fanfiction because Nina is in the book and maybe I am wrong about this but her timeline just feels off. I guess I was under the impression that Six of Crows occurred way longer after the Grisha trilogy, but by this timeline, it would mean that this book takes place only a couple months after Six of Crows. I don't know, it feels weird and I could have sworn there was more time in between the first two series, but whatever.
With Nina's story, her background is not really explained unless the reader has previously read Six of Crows. If a new reader, never read a Leigh Bardugo book before, starts reading this book, I would imagine they would be confused as hell because there is little explanation on a lot of stuff in her backstory. Maybe I should chill because it might be explained in the second book, but the whole thing was like "you should already know this from Six of Crows, so I don't have to explain it to you." I have not read Six of Crows since it came out YEARS ago, I need a reminder of what's gone on in her life.
This book was fine, it was entertaining and a lot of stuff happened, but I was not super invested in Nikolai's story (and the annoying witty banter) and I am so done with The Darkling as a villain. I am so sick of him!!! Choose someone else please, can we move on?
I found myself highly enjoying Nina's chapters, even though it was more of the subplot and not the main plot but what she was doing felt so much more interesting and high stakes that I was eagerly anticipating her chapters and had a strong urge to skim Nikolai and Zoya's chapters. Even though technically the whole country of Ravka is at stake in the main plot, I did not really feel the stakes, I don't know, I just didn't feel the danger.
I am interested enough in Nina's story that I am planning on reading the second book in the duology because I just need to know what is going on with her. The Darkling? Not so much, he can choke. How many damn times can he die / his body is burned / he is reincarnated before we just say, that's enough, we are stretching The Darkling's story too far. Get him off the damn page. Elizaveta could have been the villain of the main plot, not the damn Darkling. Missed opportunity right there.
Anyway, this should have just been a Nina spinoff because she is the only one with an entertaining, high stakes plot.
It has been a very long time since finishing the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, so this was a trip in remembering all the stuff that happened. It almost kind of feels like a cross-over fanfiction because Nina is in the book and maybe I am wrong about this but her timeline just feels off. I guess I was under the impression that Six of Crows occurred way longer after the Grisha trilogy, but by this timeline, it would mean that this book takes place only a couple months after Six of Crows. I don't know, it feels weird and I could have sworn there was more time in between the first two series, but whatever.
With Nina's story, her background is not really explained unless the reader has previously read Six of Crows. If a new reader, never read a Leigh Bardugo book before, starts reading this book, I would imagine they would be confused as hell because there is little explanation on a lot of stuff in her backstory. Maybe I should chill because it might be explained in the second book, but the whole thing was like "you should already know this from Six of Crows, so I don't have to explain it to you." I have not read Six of Crows since it came out YEARS ago, I need a reminder of what's gone on in her life.
This book was fine, it was entertaining and a lot of stuff happened, but I was not super invested in Nikolai's story (and the annoying witty banter) and I am so done with The Darkling as a villain. I am so sick of him!!! Choose someone else please, can we move on?
I found myself highly enjoying Nina's chapters, even though it was more of the subplot and not the main plot but what she was doing felt so much more interesting and high stakes that I was eagerly anticipating her chapters and had a strong urge to skim Nikolai and Zoya's chapters. Even though technically the whole country of Ravka is at stake in the main plot, I did not really feel the stakes, I don't know, I just didn't feel the danger.
I am interested enough in Nina's story that I am planning on reading the second book in the duology because I just need to know what is going on with her. The Darkling? Not so much, he can choke. How many damn times can he die / his body is burned / he is reincarnated before we just say, that's enough, we are stretching The Darkling's story too far. Get him off the damn page. Elizaveta could have been the villain of the main plot, not the damn Darkling. Missed opportunity right there.
Anyway, this should have just been a Nina spinoff because she is the only one with an entertaining, high stakes plot.