Her story felt a bit disconnected from that of Zoya and Nikolai, and truth be told it didn’t even feel like I was reading about the awesome Nina Zenik we met in the Six of Crows books. I was excited at first to get chapters from Nina’s POV, but I struggled to understand their significance.

I LIVED for their banter, and if you love character duos where one is all “sunshine and daisies” and the other is a “grumpy goose”, I’m certain you’ll enjoy the parts of this book that feature Nikolai and Zoya. I am a huge fan of both Nikolai, with his radiant charm and sharp with, and Zoya, with her no-nonsense attitude and ruthlessness. Grishaverse fans who loved Nikolai and Zoya from the Shadow and Bone trilogy will greatly enjoy seeing these two try to navigate the complex politics of Ravka. In my opinion, we don’t actually get enough scenes covering magic in this book, so that’s a *sad face* for readers hoping to get that here. Nina’s new power over death is also shown here. The magic of King of Scars remains the same as what was presented in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, though this time around more people have become Sun Summoners after Alina Starkov sacrifice. King of Scars was a sort of melding of the two, with the world still feeling magical but with just that hint of more modern details. Then Six of Crows gave readers more of an urban feel to the story, featuring guns, explosives, and mechanically enhanced soldiers. The Shadow and Bone trilogy felt more like a solid, old school fantasy with soldiers that had powers akin to magic (but don’t let Zoya hear you call it ‘magic’ because she will most likely hurl a lightning bolt through you). I also think it was interesting to see how Bardugo presented the sort of modernization of the nations. We get a lot more of the world’s history, with stories of the saints and details on the cultural differences and the governments of different nations. In King of Scars we get to see more of Ravka, as well as the nation of Fjerda. I have expressed my love of the Grishaverse with regard to its world-building, and I do like how Bardugo expands on this. We also get chapters featuring Nina Zenik, a Grisha Heartrender who was once part of the Dregs. Apart from Nikolai, we also get POV chapters from Zoya Nazyalensky, a powerful Grisha Squaller and Nikolai’s general. The events of this book take place about two years after the end of Crooked Kingdom, and mostly follows King Nikolai Lantsov and his struggles to strengthen the nation of Ravka. This review at The Fantasy Review of King of Scars is spoiler-free, but will contain spoilers for the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology.Īlthough I was thrilled that Bardugo was expanding the Grishaverse with what is called the Nikolai duology, I had actually lowered my expectations for King of Scars, as I had already seen mixed reviews.

King of scars leigh bardugo