The monster is me and I am the monster.
Rating
Review
I loved this so much, the Grishaverse is only getting better.
King of Scars takes place after both the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, with characters from both. King Nikolai bares the scars from Ravka's civil war- and a dark magic inside him that is only growing stronger. He would do anything for his country so along with a young monk and a powerful Grisha squaller, they set off to where Ravka's darkest magic still lives, to vanquish his darkness before it consumes him. It isn't an easy task and he'll have to risk everything.
I'm not going to lie, it took me so long to get into this book. It's just so long and it takes a long time to set things up and get going. Finally at around the halfway point, I really started feeling it and now I'm still screaming from how much I loved it. Twists and turns, amazing world, and even more amazing, fleshed-out characters.
I love Nikolai so much, and honestly I love Zoya even more. I vaguely remember her from back when I read the Shadow and Bone trilogy so many years ago but I didn't love her like I do now. Her power and personality are amazing and it's actually so hard for me to express my love but seriously, would easily die for her. I didn't expect to want Nikolai and Zoya together before this book but oh my god. The chemistry and banter? Sign me the heck up. The fact that this book actually lacked romance killed me but it's building and you can't change my mind.
Fear is a phoenix. Words Liliyana had spoken to her years ago and that Zoya had repeated to others many times. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.
I still like Nina and her powers are really interesting but ehhhh her plotline super bored me. It felt like it could be taken out of this book and shoved anywhere else because it doesn't ever really connect to the rest of the story anyway. I know there is a reason for it but I struggled to get through or understand why I should care. I hope in the sequel her story will actually be relevant instead of just a sidequest over there in another country. I still love Nina though, of course.
I probably said this in either of my Six of Crows reviews BUT Leigh continues to build this world and keep stacking it, and constantly raising the bar. I don't know where it's going from here but it's only going up. There are 6 books in this world now which doesn't seem that many compared to other unnecessarily long series, none of her Grishaverse books are stale, or a repeat of the last one, and I could easily read tons more.
After that cliffhanger ending? I need the next book right now, thanks.
