King of Scars
Ratings267
Average rating4.2
-two stars just because of the ending. spoilers ofc i think eliza wouldve made a much better antagonist. i HATE when authors resurrect old villans it feels cheap and boring. eliza wouldve made an incredible villan with her abilities. like rewrite it so they dont lose their powers if they leave the shadow dimension, have all things go to plan, nik gets cleansed, every1s happy and like oh good we did it and then eliza is like haha You've Met With A Terrible Fate, Haven't You? and then all hell breaks loose.
Pre-Reading Updates
25/4/2018: COVER REVEAL ON MONDAY FJGHDKSL
26/9/2017: I'M SCREAMING OHMYGOD I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
First I'd like to say in Leigh Bardugo we trust and I still adore her and her work, no matter what this review will say.
But this was a MISS.
I was a mix of scared and excited to read this book because I thought S&B and SoC ended the whole grishaverse in a good place. I didn't think it needed any additional content, but I was also very curious about where all the OG characters from the first trilogy ended up.
I did like things about this book, I'm not going to lie. Nina's whole storyline in Fjerda was pretty solid. Seeing her doing good work for the Grisha there while also coming to grips with losing Matthias, mourning him, and her changing powers was all compelling. I...don't really know if I like where it ended, but the storyline itself was good. I would've enjoyed a whole book on that story alone, really.
As for Os Alta, love the banter and relationship between Zoya and Nikolai. The old favs coming back were great as well. Tamar/Nadia and Genya/David being badass married couples healed something in me for sure. The monster sticking around with Nikolai and threatening Ravka's process, the need for an heir, the Apparat hanging around, all of these things were piling up to become a very good politics-based story, which is good because that's what I was expecting going in.
And then...they brought the Saints back to life?? Or rather discovered that a select few never died? I'm gonna be honest this whole storyline seemed very goofy and unnecessary to me. It made the story take a very fantasy-esque turn that I feel like it just didn't need? The original S&B trilogy was where we got the big magic and Saints and cults and all that...this just felt so unnecessary. Like there was enough conflict in the story without shoe-horning in living Saints halfway through the book.
And to have it end by bringing the Darkling back to life? Please be so serious right now. Bringing the Big Bad back to life NEVER ends up working how you want it to plot-wise and it genuinely made me roll my eyes. The plot is THERE you don't need to bring in the Darkling for extra conflict. It just felt so unserious to me. If she excluded the Saints and the Darkling I would've rated this book much higher.
This book got a higher rating because it had good character moments in it, built on characters that I already love, but if it hadn't had that, I would've rated it much lower. I will not be picking up the sequel.
AAAA las ganas que tenia de leer este libro! Sin dudas, Nikolai merecía su propio libro, porque es un personaje increíble.
Me encantó que también se viesen las perspectiva de Zoya y Nina. (Y Isaak <3).
Y QUE E ESE FINAL??? UNA LOCURA
I want to thank Destiny and Erin for finally getting me to read this book by buddy reading it with me. I always have so much fun buddy reading with y'all.
This book is hard to review without spoiling things but I am going to try not to spoil anything. It's told in multiple POVs just like Six of Crows and it switches between each characters POV which can be frustrating especially if someone's chapter ends on a cliffhanger and you really want to know what's going to happen next. The main POVs we get are from Nikolai, Nina and Zoya. I was enjoying Nina's storyline more than I was Nikolai and Zoya's. Zoya has always been a character I really didn't like and that was the case for the beginning of this book but we do get to see a different side of her in this book that I hope carry's on into the next book. It's pretty slow going for the majority of the book because we are getting a good bit of backstory on the characters some of which if you've read the other series she has written you will already know but we do get new information as well. To me Nina's chapters were moving the book along and Nikolai and Zoya's chapters made it slog a little bit. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Despite the slowness I was invested in the story I just personally would have enjoyed it slightly more if it wasn't so slow going.
I struggled with how to talk about the ending of this book because I definitely have thoughts I just didn't know how to say what I wanted to say without spoiling things for y'all and I really didn't want to do that. Upon reading other peoples reviews I came across one review that explained it perfectly so I will link to her review here. Although now that I am writing it I feel like this could still be a bit spoilery so read at your own risk. When I read the ending I was mad. Did it shock me, yes. Was it a twist I didn't expect to happen, again yes but as Maja said in her review it's kind of a setback and that's really all I can say without full on spoiling everything. Overall I am invested in these characters once again and I can't wait to read the follow up because I want to know how things play out for each of them.
Another solid entry in the Grishaverse. Not as good as the Six of Crows duology, but better than the original Shadow and Bone trilogy.
I initially found Nina's story slow, but it built up pretty well as the series went on. Zoya had some pretty good character development in this book I thought. I'm looking forward to jumping right into the second book.
The narration for this is really good. I think Lauren Fortgang did the previous ones as well, so if you liked those in audio, you should like this too.
Yearning for ribbons = me thrashing and screaming
Matthias and Nina got me hella depressed tho
Fantastic book, I read this right after the Shadow and Bone Trillogy having started with the 6 of Crows duology. This was a return to what made 6 of Crows so great, back to 3rd person (THANK GOD) and multiple different perspectives with intricate backstories and clever political intrigue. Altogether fantastic book, can't wait for Rule of Wolves.
The end????? I can't wait for the Fjerdan plot but really, again, Ravka, why?? Not sure if I like it or not, thankfully the next book is already waiting for me.
“Tenía la sensación de que ahora su mente era territorio enemigo”... Lo he pasado fatal, Zoya eres mi favorita
King of scars brings back my favorite character from the Shadow and Bone trilogy, Nikolai and one of my favorite characters from Six of Crows, Nina. This book follows Nikolai returning to being King and battling his “demons”, Zoya helps Nikolai secure his throne and rebuild the Second Army, and Nina who is trying to get over the loss of her love and must fight an old enemy to release Grisha slaves.
This was cool! But a little repetitive...
When I see Leigh Bardugo's book, I need to read it! I really liked the Grisha trilogy and Alina's story. I read Six of Crows Series, which I also liked. (I found out there will be the third one!) So, I see this author's book, I need to read it!
However, I felt that King of Scars isn't adding anything new to the story. It was a book to fill the TVShow's gaps. It also helped to better develop some characters. So, I was a bit disappointed.
I care enough about these characters to read about them and there are some good ideas here:
Humanizing Zoya's backstory
Nikolai's real and metaphorical demons
Nina's bitter grief and quest across cultures
People unexpectedly worshiping the Darkling
Perhaps most of all, I really like what Brandon Sanderson in Mistborn calls “What happens after the good guys win.” Oftentimes we gloss over that in an epilogue, so I like the politicking here and thought the intrigue in the capital was a good subplot.
But overall, I confess I was pretty bored. It felt like the plot got tripped up around the time they went into the sand world, and the momentum never quite recovered. After the frantically enjoyable pacing of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom (which both transcend the top tier of YA for me, nearing the HP/His Dark Materials/Mistborn quality tier), I'm just a little bummed to see a much more ho-hum YA entry here.
I just wish she could find someone else to disturb the peace. Unnecessary to bring the Darkling back. Very unimaginative, in my opinion.
while it started slow, it was nice to visit the world again.
the characters were well thought out and old characters grew. Zoya had a deep level of depth I didn't foresee. Nikolai and Zoya banter was on point. And Nina was brilliant, as always but seeing her grow from Six of Crows was great.
I would have loved to see more internal emotions from Nikolai as he battles his monster, but that's my only issue with the book.
a simple enough plot, but the Characters drove this story. the twist at the end I foresaw, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
“You are strong enough to survive the fall”― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars
rating- 4.5/5
//This review contains A LOT of spoilers for the grisha trilogy and king of scars. Do not read this if you haven't read the books.\
buddy read with shreya:)
okay but this book was so hard for me to rate. I absolutely love the characters (cough cough nikolai cough cough) and i loved it? but there's also a few major things i didn't like:(
i'm going to start with what i disliked, so i can get that out of the way:
Undermines the Grisha Trilogy:
what upset me was how [b:King of Scars|36307634|King of Scars (King of Scars, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525110825l/36307634.SY75.jpg|57978319] takes everything you've learnt about the grishaverse so far and throws that out of the window.
a grisha's power isn't limited within the orders? between the orders? they have been using amplifiers wrong this whole time?!! (the entire original trilogy focuses on the search of the three amplifiers. please-)
i don't know if it's just me but the whole “we are all just things” ideology seemed very abstract to me. scientifically, it does make sense you know, because all elements are ultimately made of atoms. But but, that would mean all grisha could manipulate everything? there would be no limits to their powers? this is just all over the place-
somebody tell me why [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] was so determined to change everything??? I ABSOLUTELY loved the original grisha trilogy (maybe even slightly more than [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628438817l/23437156.SX50.jpg|42077459]. yes we exist.) I agree she wrote it a while ago and might want to change the way she's done a few things. But changing the entire grisha magic system? and it all happened so fast agghd.
[ i find it hard to cope with change, leave me alone :( ]
note: i know this is set up a little bit in the shadow and bone trilogy as well, through morozova's journals but he's continuously passed off as a man consumed by too much power. And i just liked how organised the grisha system is okay? angry huff.
The Darkling:And i don't know how to feel about the darkling being back:/. I absolutely loved the way things ended in [b:Ruin and Rising|14061957|Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392398530l/14061957._SX50_.jpg|19699754] (well atleast for the darkling *sigh*)“In this moment he was just a boy -brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity."And it just felt right. everything. where alina kills him with a tiny tendril of his own power, when they were both burnt. It was this profound moment where somebody who was essentially thought to be immortal and who had immense power was defeated by this young self deprecating orphan from keramzin. His character arc was closed in [b:Ruin and Rising|14061957|Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392398530l/14061957._SX50_.jpg|19699754] really well, and his resurrection feels contrived to me idk.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. i don't like how this book undermines the original trilogy when it's one of my favourites:/
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THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS
I was considering rating the book about 3.5 stars, and then i read the last few chapters. And they completely blew my mind. Kind of like [b:Ruin and Rising|14061957|Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392398530l/14061957.SX50.jpg|19699754] tbh, The author has a thing for crazy endings i guess.
The plot twists were unpredictable and weren't something i expected.
What's with Brum appearing out of nowhere in the grishaverse haha. i feel like all his appearances are like that.
BUT what fascinated me most was the Ehri-Isaak-Mayu thing. i've read some reviews and none of them mentioned this. like- I DID NOT EXPECT THAT? THEY WERE BOTH GUARDS PRETENDING TO BE ROYALS?!!! why is that so cool.
Okay but killing the ravkan king & their fake princess and framing Fjerda for it? The Shu are so smart please. I feel like we always forget that, and paint fjerdans as the real villains. Parem, Kherguud. ALL shu. (shurewd shu. why am i like this?)
Nikolai and Zoya
NIKOLAI is another reason this book is up there. He's literally so incredible please. i loved the charming, confident, sarcastic nikolai that we see from alina's pov and i love self-doubting, using-his-charm-and-humour-as-a-defense-because-he's-not-as-confident-as-he-seems-nikolai that we see from his own pov. (To all the reviews i read, that said “he's not the nikolai i fell in love with” pLEasE. you guys can't handle a character that's self deprecating, like not everybody has high self-esteem??? and it just makes him seem so much more realistic in my opinion.)
“He was a king who had only begun to make mistakes. He was a soldier for whom the war would never be over. He was a bastard left alone in the woods. And he was not afraid to die this day.”
Soldiers did not cry. Princes did not weep. Nikolai knew this. But the tears fell anyway. “Dominik the brave. Hold on a little longer.”Dominik squeezed his hand. “This country gets you in the end, brother. Don't forget it.”
ZOYA
“In that moment, he wished things might have been different. That he might not die tomorrow. That he could be led by his heart instead of duty. Because Zoya was not kind and she was not easy. But she was already a queen.”
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3,5⭐️
Nie wiem czy ta książka musiała być taka długa ale zakończenie motywuje mnie do przeczytania drugiego tomu
The only reason this book has 4 stars is because of nikolai lantsov. Thats it. Its all for nikolai
An emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. I fell more and more in love with familiar characters and some new ones. I got very angry at other familiar characters. Spectacular writing from Leigh Bardugo as usual.
Adored This - Finished in a day
Fast moving plot, likable characters, and more than a few surprises along the way. I could not put it down.
“Zoya of the lost city. Zoya of the garden. Zoya bleeding in the snow. You are strong enough to survive the fall”
I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED THIS BOOK IN MY LIFE UNTILL NOW. lots of peoples say that this book is boring, but I found it so fun and exciting. Zoya is 100% my favorite character
GO TOO HELL THE DARKLING