Reviewed by cornerfolds on
UPDATE 3/21/19: Well here's a thing I've never done before. I'm changing my rating from 5 stars to 3 stars. After the initial shock of the ending wore off I thought about this book a lot. The more I thought about it, the more I realised... I really wasn't that in love with anything this book did and I was actually kind of upset about some of it. I'll leave my original review, but you can find my reasons for the changed rating in the spoiler section at the bottom!
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ORIGINAL REVIEW POSTED 2/9/19:
I have been so hyped for this book ever since I first caught wind of it. Nikolai was not my favorite character in the Grisha Trilogy, but I did love him and I was very excited to see how his story played out! In case you didn't already know, I am OBSESSED with the original trilogy, but didn't much care for Six of Crows. It felt too different, but King of Scars is a nice blend of the two and it was amazing to be back in Ravka! I'm going to try really hard to keep this coherent, but no promises.
First, it's important to point out that, although this is marketed as Nikolai's book, the title is literally Nikolai, and the synopsis is 100% Nikolai, this is not really his book. There is so much more going on here, most obviously that about half the chapters are from Nina's perspective. As I said, I didn't love the Six of Crows duology, but I didn't dislike Nina here. Although I would have been just fine with it if her chapters were left out completely, I do think it was a nice way to bring together the two series.
So, let's get to Nikolai. He is the prince/privateer we all remember, but a little more grown up. To me, Nikolai was obviously a bit more mature than he was in the trilogy and I loved seeing this side of him. Of course, he still has the snark and remains full of himself. His journey in this book revolves around purging the darkness put in him by the Darkling and it is a long and fascinating one. I loved his struggle with the demon inside him and the complexity it brought to his character. I also loved his banter with Zoya, who I found myself loving even more than I already did! I definitely ship the two of them.
Speaking of shipping, there was not much romance in this book and that surprised me. While not every book needs romance, a Grisha book without anyone to swoon over didn't feel quite right. As I said, I loved Nikolai and Zoya together, so hopefully we get some of that in book two! It also seems possible that there will be a new Nina romance, but I won't say anything else to avoid spoilers.
My biggest question about King of Scars was whether or not the Darkling would be back. While it seemed a little impossible, we all know what that word means in the Grishaverse. Here's what I'll say about that: This book does a really good job of solidifying that the Darkling was a BIG BAD. I'll come right out and say he will always be my problematic fave. But there was a LOT of focus on how terrible he was in this book and I assume it may have something to do with how many readers loved him despite his being kind of awful. I still love him.
As you can see, the story is quite complex. There are multiple points of view and two to three main storylines happening at any one time. I enjoyed the entire book, but there were most definitely points where it dragged, especially the chapters with Nikolai and his crew. His story should be the most interesting, but there was quite a bit of walking and talking and sitting. At 528 pages, this is a big book and I did love it, but it could probably have been whittled down a little.
The only other thing I'll say is THAT ENDING blew me away and took this book from four stars to five in a page! I am going to be throwing one long fit between now and when book two is finally published because I cannot wait to see what happens next. I'll admit, this book was a little different than I expected, but Leigh Bardugo knows how to write a great story and I can't wait to read the next chapter!
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My updated feelings as originally posted in a discussion on my blog HERE. Beware of spoilers!
Okay, so. Let's talk. I have a lot of feelings that I didn't mention in my initial review because, like I said, the hype was so real over the ending. Here goes nothing.
THE NINA CHAPTERS
First thing's first. It seems like EVERYONE has an opinion on Nina being included in this book. In my review I said that I would've been happy without them, but they were fine. Now that I'm thinking about it more, I'm really not sure what the point of including them was other than to bring in the Six of Crows audience. There does seem to be something of a tie to Nikolai because she's working for him somehow, but it seemed like such a convoluted way to bring her into Nikolai's story. The more I've thought on this, the more I'm convinced that Nikolai, Sturmhond, our favorite privateer prince deserved better than to split his book with another character from another series and I am no longer okay with it. I don't hate Nina, but I wish she'd been given her own book or maybe been mentioned briefly instead of taking up half the book.
THE ROMANCE (?)
Where even was it? I've seen people talking about Nikolai and Zoya and what a great couple they are, but like. What? We've made it through a 528 page book and we have to wait even LONGER for our dear, beloved Nikolai to get a romantic arc? It's obvious that's where it's heading, but I really wish there'd been a bit more of it here. To be completely honest, though, I would have preferred a romantic storyline with a completely new character instead of Zoya. It's nothing personal against Zoya, I just feel like something new might have been more exciting.
DARKLING PSA
This and the last point are what really sparked this post. I'm starting to feel like half the point of this book was to drive home that the Darkling was Bad with a capital B. In Shadow and Bone Leigh Bardugo wrote a wonderfully complex character who was sympathetic and mysterious and easy to love in the way one loves a tortured villain. People shipped him and Alina HARD and a lot of us were pretty upset about how her romance ended up. Of course we all know that the Darkling was a villain. Obviously. But we love him and, I don't know, maybe she wasn't expecting that? It's really confusing to me that after spending the original trilogy making so many people love him, she spent this entire book driving home that we should hate him. I don't like it. :/
THE TIMELINE
Maybe it's because these books were written so far apart, but I had a HARD time figuring out where exactly we were this story happened on the timeline. I had the same issue with Six of Crows. It feels like a completely different world than the Grisha Trilogy and I had a really difficult time believing it was supposed to take place very shortly after. Then we start this book and Matthias has only JUST died? But Alina is basically a fairytale and everyone acts like she never existed. But it was just a few years ago that she saved everyone?? I'm so confused. After some digging I think this story happens maybe three years after the trilogy, but honestly, I don't know.
THE JOURNEY
Hm. So the other half of King of Scars, apart from Nina and her adventures, consists of Nikolai and Zoya on a journey with a Darkling cult member to rid Nikolai of his monster, which has been gaining strength. It is an interesting enough plot, for sure, but it gets a little weird. Saints exist in the trilogy, but here they end up in an in between world and do a Karate Kid training montage with some saints so that Nikolai can summon the monster and kill it. Like I said, it was interesting, but bizarre, and also seemed to take quite a long time but also not realistically long enough. Am I making sense?? Like, in pages I wish it hadn't taken so long, but in book time it seemed kind of off in the timeline (again).
THE ENDING
Okay, this ties into the Darkling PSA throughout the book and I have a lot of feelings. On the one hand, I was SO EXCITED that the Darkling was back! YES! This is what I was hoping would happen when the book was announced! But. BUT. What is the point of his return? It's very, very unlikely that my sweet Darkling is going to get a redemption arc and Leigh just spent 500+ pages reminding us what a terrible, awful, despicable villain he is, just to bring him back. Is the entire point of this series for the Darkling to come back, be even more evil to remind us how EVIL he is, then die again? Like? Why though?
In conclusion, I don't know how to feel about this book now that I've thought about it at length. What was the whole point of it in the end? I'm just... a little sad to realize that this really wasn't a five star read for me.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 8 February, 2019: Finished reading
- 8 February, 2019: Reviewed