Book Review Tuesday (3/12/19)-King of Scars

Alright, I know it’s been a little while, but finally welcome to the first Book Review Tuesday of March 2019!

This book is/was easily one of the most anticipated books of the year, and it only released in JANUARY. Understandably, of course; I mean, who wouldn’t want a book centered around NIKOLAI LANTSOV? C’mon…

Aaaaanyway, I was surprised to find it already available at the library, just shy of a month after it had been released. So, naturally, I IMMEDIATELY put it on hold. I’d been waiting for this book for at least…hmm, probably a good six months, so I was beyond excited. I expected classic Leigh Bardugo fantasticness, but…

MAN, KING OF SCARS TRULY BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER. 5 stars on Goodreads, 10 stars on my personal rating scale. No rounding down to 4.75 or anything. Just a solid 5.

If you do read it (which I HIGHLY recommend), I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Enjoy this week’s review!

NOTE: If you’re interested in reading this book, it occurs after the events of the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology; both are also referenced throughout the book. Read both series before you read this.

King of Scars

In the blink of an eye, Nikolai Lantsov has risen from an infamous privateer to the king of Ravka. On the outside, he seems to have it made; he’s popular among the people of Ravka, and after the war to conquer the Darkling and his armies, Ravka seems to be at peace. But Nikolai is struggling with both internal and external forces that threaten to topple not just his reputation, but his country as well. The demonic entity inside him possesses him more and more, and the results grow more catastrophic with each day. Additionally, a threat that Ravka thought was gone for good threatens to rise once more, and if it does, it may mean the end of the country as they know it. Will Nikolai be able to juggle his personal conflict and the future of his country all at once?

Nikolai was always one of my favorite characters in the original Grisha trilogy (for my reviews on those three, see 7/3/18, 7/24/18, & 8/21/18), and I was ecstatic when I found out that there would be an entire book dedicated to him. (Who wouldn’t be, though?)

I was not disappointed in the least. Jumping back into Leigh Bardugo’s carefully crafted book felt warm and fuzzy, almost like reuniting with an old friend. The beautiful world, the simultaneously heartbreaking and magical prose, the crackling chemistry of the characters,  and especially the witty, absolutely gut-busting banter. OH MY GOD, through all of the generally disturbing action scenes, there was always a truckload of hysterical one-liners throughout. (Mostly from the likes of Nikolai, of course.) In short, everything you could ever want in a book, period.

It has been confirmed that this will be part of a duology (!!!!!!!!), but we don’t have any details other than that. (Naturally, as the book just came out a little over two months ago…) In the meantime, we’ll just have to…re-read every single book in the Grishaverse to satiate ourselves while we wait for that…and the Netflix adaptation, whenever that’s coming out. Should be interesting, at the very least.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this review! Thank you for stopping by, and have a great rest of your day/week!