**This review may contain spoilers**
Since the Shadow and Bone Netflix series is coming out April 23rd, I’ve taken on the challenge of reading all the books that take place in that universe before it airs (excluding The Language of Thorns and The Lives of Saints). To say the least, this isn’t the easiest reading challenge I’ve taken on; in total, there are 7 books to be read, totalling over 3,300 pages combined. I started reading the books in December 2020, giving myself 2 weeks to read each book. As of right now, I have one book left to read before April 23rd. The second to last book in this universe (currently) and one of my favorites was King of Scars.
Now, I’ll readily admit that one of the downfalls of Leigh’s writing is that her books can sometimes stretch on more than they necessarily need to. Although the information she provides makes sense in the long run, sometimes it can be really difficult to follow. This is especially true when there are multiple viewpoints within a book that is 500+ pages long. There were 3 primary POV’s throughout King of Scars; Nina Zenik, Nikolai Lantsov, and Zoya Nazyalensky. I’ll be entirely honest in saying I wish Nina had her own book. Although her experiences and plotline were semi-important to the progression of King of Scars, there were times when her content just made the story muddy and hard to follow. Zoya and Nikolai were together for a good majority of the book, and both of their stories were linear and made sense. As much as I loved Nina’s progression in this novel, I would have loved to just see a spinoff of her entire perspective, mostly to prevent any confusion with the main plot of the book.
While on the topic of characters, I have to say that I absolutely ADORED the three main characters of King of Scars. I’ll provide a general background on each of the characters, mostly due to the fact that two are ones I haven’t discussed in previous reviews (contains spoilers; skip ahead if you haven’t read the Shadow and Bone trilogy!). The one I have talked about before is Nina Zenik, but she’s worth mentioning again. Nina, in King of Scars, is a spy in the enemy country of Fjerda, doing her best to save any Grisha that are trapped there. Grisha are individuals who practice Small Science –not necessarily magic, but it’s definitely not something we are capable of, either. There are three separate categories of Grisha with smaller subsections within those categories; some have the ability to summon wind or water, while others have the ability to heal or harm others by utilizing a specific aspect of the individual’s life force. Nina herself is Grisha, but due to a run-in with a drug called jurda parem, she is a form of Grisha nobody has ever witnessed before. Many call her the “Corpse Witch”, as she is able to listen to and control the dead. Her characterization throughout King of Scars was incredibly consistent, especially when comparing it to the Six of Crows duology. I’ve always loved Nina, and every callback she made to characters not in the King of Scars duology got me excited. She was a little more pessimistic within this book, but it makes sense; she experienced a lot of hardships that would negatively impact anyone who experienced them, especially as an 18-year-old. Overall I really loved her, but like I said, her plotline and chapters could drag on a lot.
The second character I’ll bring up is Zoya Nazyalensky. She is considered the General of the Second Army (the army made up of Grisha soldiers) and is also Grisha herself. She is considered a Squaller, which means she has the ability to control the wind. Zoya is incredibly powerful, and is one of the only characters to show up in every single novel in the Grisha universe. I thoroughly hated Zoya when she was first introduced—I could only think about how rude and snotty she had been and how she was stuck up with zero interest in anyone except herself. Reading King of Scars, though, I slowly fell in love with Zoya. There was a lot of character development and discussion of her past, and it helped make her more three dimensional and human. Her bitterness can be attributed to losing her aunt, who she was very close with, around the age of 17-18 years old and generally being used for her power and beauty. She has become more closed off but has shown warmth toward select individuals. A specific person she has gradually opened up to is Nikolai Lantsov.
Nikolai is an absolute fan favorite character, and I can definitely see why. Nikolai is the king of Ravka with a dark past, a bastard child trying to keep his most harmful secrets within the walls of the Little Palace (where the king and the higher-up Grisha reside in the capital of Ravka). He is charming, witty, and funny as hell, constantly making me laugh with his one-liners and quick responses to hecklers. Not only this, but Nikolai is also an individual who has learned to shut himself off from others. He is relatively secretive, only telling Zoya of his original parentage, and is not quick to trust other people. Despite this, he is incredibly lovable, and the King of Scars duology (Rule of Wolves coming in second) is named after him. His characterization can be rather bland at times, and he definitely isn’t the most well-developed individual, but he is still wicked fun to follow the story of. I can only hope he gets more solid characterization in Rule of Wolves. (Spoiler-free content ahead!)
The last thing I’ll touch on is the plot of King of Scars. Without giving too much away, I can readily say that this book was one that dragged on. Like previously mentioned, I wish Nina’s plotline had been short or separated entirely from this novel. Sometimes I would forget what was happening with Nikolai and Zoya, which in turn could make me dread Nina’s chapters. On top of this, a new character’s perspective was brought in over halfway through the book, adding another storyline that could be frustrating and, at times, hard to follow. Although not the worst formatting route this book could have taken, there were definitely times where it was less than enjoyable. Once I got maybe a quarter of the way through the book, however, I started getting excited about the plot development and characters. The story overall was really enjoyable, and there were a lot of twists that I didn’t see coming.
Generally, I’d say if you enjoyed the first five books of the Grishaverse (the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology), there’s a really high chance you’ll enjoy King of Scars. Despite the slight confusion and dragging of the beginning, I did thoroughly enjoy this novel, and there’s a good chance I will read it again in the future. I highly recommend this (albeit long) series of novels, especially if you enjoy well developed fantasy universes and rather likable characters.