Title: King of Scars
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy YA
Format: Hardback
Length: 514 pages
Series: Nikolai Duology #1
Publisher: Orion Children’s Book
Publication Date: 29th January 2019
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
The dashing young king, 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, Nikolai 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 general, 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.
My Review:
This novel is the start of Bardugo’s Nikolai duology and it picks up three years after Ruin and Rising. Ravka is intact, mostly. Nikolai wants to move forward, let the past stay in the past, and begin a new era but age-old hate and fear are hard to overcome.
On top of battling to bring his country into a new era, he has to battle his own inner demon which is rooted within him and the Triumvirate is trying hard to eliminate. This story also follows Nina, who was sent to Fjerda to investigate the growing threat. She is haunted by the phantoms of the dead and grieving her lost love.
The plot of this novel is much slower, and I like how it gradually builds instead of throwing you in all guns blazing. She dangles just enough of the plot at you to make you want to keep reading and find out what is happening in Ravka and Fjerda.
Bardugo pours her heart into the characters and brings them to life in her prose. They aren’t perfect, they all have flaws. Bardugo takes care to highlight their triumphs and their failures. What I enjoy about this story is that it follows three different perspectives, and each one gets its own care and attention.
Nikolai is a great character and I remember liking him when we met him in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. He’s a crowned bastard trying to help a country that smiles at his face but sneers behind his back.
When we first met Zoya in Shadow and Bone, she was the right-hand to the Darkling. Enthralled by him and moulded to be obedient to him. This novel shows you how far she has come, and how she survived her abuser and is in the process of healing. She is an interesting counterpart to Nikolai because they have both suffered at the hands of the Darkling and are both fighting to overcome what they went through.
Finally, we have Nina. She was one of my favourite characters from the Six of Crows duology and my heart broke for her in Crooked Kingdom. She is angry and grieving and her trauma shows in this book. She meets a new character in this book, and she begins a new journey.
The only thing I wasn’t really fond of in this book was a character’s return. I’m not sure it’s necessary to the story as there is so much happening already but I guess we will see where Bardugo is going with this comeback. I look forward to reading Rule of Wolves and seeing how this story ends.
