Book Review: King of Scars
A Novel by Leigh Bardugo
The young adult fantasy novel King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo deals with themes of protecting the people you love and maintaining a reputation that could easily be lost.
Synopsis
King Nikolai continues to face his demons from the previous Shadow and Bone trilogy. He searches for a way to rid himself of the darkness within, and when a glimmer of hope appears, everything shatters.
Review
The story is told in the third person, alternating between narratives. The novel follows both the events of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology.
I enjoyed the story. It is a bit darker and morbid compared to the previous books. The abilities of some Grisha surpass the Small Science, diving deeper into the magical realm of the Grishaverse. I have mixed feelings about that. I liked the expansion of different possibilities of power, but at the same time, I didn’t like it.
I had some questions that I won’t go into because of potential spoilers. However, I will say that in the end, I wasn’t sure how I felt about a certain event that occurred. It felt like everything Alina Starkov and her followers fought for in the trilogy was wasted.
In my opinion, the ending took away from Alina’s importance as the main character in the Shadow and Bone trilogy and what she means to the people of Ravka. Although the ending made me feel this way, it also left me curious enough to want to read the next book, Rule of Wolves, and see what happens and how the significance of the event from this book plays out in the next. I’m also interested to see how the characters deal with this challenge, and with it, I hope Alina makes an appearance.
Content Warnings
This novel contains language, sexual content, reanimation of the dead, and violence.