[Review] King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Series: Nikolai Duology #1

Rating: 4.5 stars

Published: January 29th 2019

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.
Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

The monster is me and I am the monster. - p. 89

What a pleasure it was to jump back into the Grishaverse again!

This time we're back in Ravka (and also in Fjerda, a new change of pace), with three POVs: Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina. Nikolai has to fight to contain the monster that's within him from the time he was captured by the Darkling's creatures in the original trilogy. Zoya, General of the Grisha Army, is there to protect him. Nikolai's got to consolidate his rule by finding a consort, and eventually have an heir. Meanwhile, Nina is off in Fjerda saving missing Grisha and trying to lay Matthias to rest. But while this is all happening, a young priest, Yuri, wishes to expand his worship of the Darkling to the rest of Ravka.


I just love books and media that balances numerous plots at the same time. I've always adored 'Too-Clever Fox' Nikolai, but finally! Some Zoya. I feel like the plotline with her and Nikolai had more to do about her than about him. And I'm totally here for it, our chilly, cold-hearted general queen. There was very little in the romance department in King of Scars, but the two of them have the best chemistry (and Zoya is so fit to be queen).

Enjoy some of my favorite passages with these two.

Zoya would still be Nikolai's general, but she knew it would be different. He would have someone else to tease and lean on and argue over the herring with. She'd made men fall in love with her before, when she was young and cruel and liked to test her power. Zoya did not desire; she was desire. And that was the way she liked it. It was galling to admit that she wasn't at all sure she could make Nikolai want her, and more galling to think that a part of her longed to try, to know if he was as impervious to her beauty as he seemed, to know if someone like him, full of hope and light and optimistic endeavor, could love someone like her. - p. 243

I'll find a way. All his life, Nikolai believed that. His will had been enough to shape not only his fate but his own identity. He had chosen what he wanted people to see - the obedient son, the feckless rogue, the able soldier, the confident politician. The monster threatened all of that. And they were no closer to finding a way to drive the thing out than they had been six months ago. Lesser animals whined and struggled when they'd been caught in a snare. The fox found a way out. - p. 63

He would not beg Zoya to stay. It was not in his nature to plead with anyone, and that was not the pact they shared. They did not look to each other for comfort. They kept each other marching. They kept each other strong. So he would not find another excuse to get her talking again. He would not tell her he was afraid to be left alone with the thing he might become, and he would not ask her to leave the lamp burning, a bit of child's magic to ward off the dark.
But he was relieved when she did it anyway. - p. 103 - 104

For Nina's plot, I just feel as though she never got her resolution with Matthias's death, but I do enjoy Hanne and Aldrik and Leoni. However, it is so disconnected from the Ravkan side of the story that I wonder how it is going to culminate in the second (and final) book.

I also just think Bardugo shines through with her character interiority, and with their snarky deliveries! They always remind me of MCU movie one-liners.

"Everything tastes like doom," he whispered.
"Then add salt." - p. 330

I am a bit miffed by the ending, though. (Spoilers ahead) We spent a whole trilogy surrounded by the Darkling, only for him to return again in King of Scars. I wonder if it would have been better to establish an entirely different villain, but because I think Bardugo's writing has grown on me, I think I'll let it slide.

The thing with Bardugo's books that while I notice the marked change in writing from the original trilogy to this one, it's always hard for me to give an outright 5 stars. Most of the book is okay (the Isaak switch was cliched and a little dull for me, but still interesting), but the focal point of the novel for me was Zoya unleashing the rest of her Grisha abilities and Nikolai having to finally face the monster. To return to the Shadow Fold, after so long, was perhaps the best part for me, a continuous stream of excitement and rising action. Because now we're seeing the aftereffects of the Darkling's destruction.

There was even the juggling of political and international ramifications here, and I enjoy when that is balanced so well! I enjoy that we got glimpses of the other countries, and even more so of Shu Han and Fjerda. Hopefully our cast of misfits can save Ravka in the second book.