Book Review: The King of Scars Duology by Leigh Bardugo

Let’s go back to Nikolai. I loved his character arc. The conflict with the man and the beast within and how that intersects with him not actually being a Lantsov. So good. I loved how he and the monster grew to work together more in book 2. I just love it when a character has literal demons.

Zoya, the dragon, so cool. Like most fantasy fans, I love dragons, so I was thrilled when this happened. I love how Zoya discovers new things about Grisha power, and (if there are more books) I’m excited to see how this continues to expand.

I’ll admit though, I was expecting more from her backstory. She has walls the size of the fold, so I thought her backstory would be something closer to the level of Kaz Brekker’s. Being sold into marriage at a young age would be traumatic, but the marriage didn’t actually happen. Maybe it doesn’t matter that it didn’t happen, maybe knowing that your mother was willing to do that to you is enough to make you distrustful, but it felt a little underwhelming.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I felt Nina’s relationship with Hanne came too quickly after Matthias’ death. Perhaps this is just because I’m not over his death. But Nina spends all of King of Scars and a good amount of Rule of Wolves still grieving him, and yet somehow it feels like she doesn’t grieve him enough. I think it’s because Hanne came into the picture right after Nina buried him, so Nina’s focus shifted to Hanne pretty much from that point forward.

It would have been cool if her power had come into play with this more. She can communicate with the dead, so it would make sense if she actually communicated with Matthias. I would have liked to see this be her character arc, learning to let him go, even when she technically could still hold on to him.

I forgot this is where David dies. My heart. Poor Genya.

Here’s the big spoiler, the Darkling. When I first read this series, I was disappointed that it recycled an old villain. But on this second read, I enjoyed this plotline more. I loved getting his perspective—I’m a big fan of reading from the antagonist’s POV.

I also realized more on the second read that, while he’s causing some problems for Nikolai and the others, he’s not really an antagonist. He’s kind of just one of the characters, complete with his own arc. I still have some trouble believing he would be willing to essentially sacrifice himself at the end. Yes, he believes he’s Ravka’s savior, but he also wants everyone to know it, and he doesn’t get to enjoy that while he’s trapped in a tree.

Going into that weird alternate version of the fold was really interesting. I liked meeting some of the saints and learning that the saints are just people (albeit powerful people) with their own desires and motivations.

I loved the trick they pulled on the queen of Shu Han with the wedding. It felt like something Kaz would come up with. I’d remembered that Nikolai didn’t marry Ehri, but I’d forgotten how they pulled it off, so it was fun to rediscover that.

While the plots did all come together in the end, Nina’s plot didn’t feel very connected to Nikolai’s and Zoya’s in King of Scars. But her plot improved a lot in Rule of Wolves. I liked the political side of it with her manipulating the queen, hiding out in Jarl Brum’s own household, and Hanne trying to manipulate the prince.

And Kaz! I’m so glad he, Jesper, and Wylan made it into this series, if only briefly. And Inej too! I’d forgotten about that! I love the Crows, and their mini heist was great. The end of this series teases the next book with the Crows, and I’m really hoping we get the third Six of Crows book sooner rather than later.