King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

The boy king. The war hero. The prince with a demon curled inside his heart. Nikolai Lanstov has always had a gift for the impossible. Yet with each day, a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. His country is Nikolai’s first love, and whatever it demands, he will give.

Zoya Nazyalensky has devoted her life to honing her deadly talents and rebuilding the Grisha army. Despite their magical gifts, Zoya knows the Grisha cannot survive without Ravka — and Ravka cannot survive a weakened king. Zoya will stop at nothing to help Nikolai secure the throne, but she also has new enemies to conquer in the battle to come.

Far north, Nina Zenik wages her own kind of war against the people who would see the Grisha wiped from the earth forever. Burdened by grief and a terrifying power, Nina must face the pain of her past if she has any hope of defeating the dangers that await her on the ice.

Ravka’s king. Ravka’s general. Ravka’s spy. They will journey past the boundaries of science and superstition, of magic and faith, and risk everything to save a broken nation. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried, and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

~~~~~

This book was the one I most anticipated reading after the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Nikolai Lanstov quickly became my favourite character and a series based around him is like a dream come true. King of Scars focuses on the aftermath of Ravka post-Civil War. A civil war in which Nikolai went through a terrifying change and that change still affects him in the present. There were three different plots going on throughout this book that loosely tied together so it was action-packed throughout. One main focus was “fighting your demons” and I think it was a brilliant way to tie together the events of this book. I think it was a really great introductory novel into this new adventure, it set up a lot of things for an amazing sequel and, of course, the characters were still just as amazing as they have been in past books. 

The main plot of this book is Nikolai trying to fight the monster inside him. Travelling throughout the country and witnessing new “miracles” he feels like these might be tied to the resurgence of the monster he had thought long gone. As we follow Nikolai’s story, we bounce around between him and some of his most trusted advisors. Zoya is a character we are introduced to at first in Shadow and Bone and in this book she finally gets her own voice to tell her story and this new insight and depth not only added to her own character but to Nikolai’s as well. As his closest confidante, her viewpoint gives us insight into his struggles and the precarious position Ravka is in like no other. We also get to see how powerful Zoya's character really is and that was exciting to see. It’s fun to be introduced to new favourites. On the other end of this we have what seems like, for now, an unrelated plot of Nina (a favourite from SOC duology) working as a spy in Fjerda on a mission to save and expedite Grisha from this enemy territory. But while she is there she finds something more horrific going on (this plot was probably the most exciting part of the book for me).  The espionage was very intriguing. Our last plot was at home at the palace where those who Nikolai and Zoya left behind must scramble to cover up the fact that the King is missing while dignitaries from bordering countries are all on their way to see the strength of this new Ravkan king. 

Once again, Leigh Bardugo has exceeded expectations when it comes to characterization and character development. There were things that came to light that brought these characters that we thought we had known so well, into sharper focus. Zoya was given a humanity that we see lacking quite a bit from the previous books, Nikolai is given a weakness that nearly brings him to his knees, and Nina has hardened her heart in order to achieve her goals…and her revenge. I also really liked how, because this book is set after both of the other series and includes characters from both of those series as well, there wasn’t too much background that needed to be explained. We were dropped into this world immediately and it felt familiar, like returning home because of all the references to the previous stories. I think Leigh’s setting us up for something big I the next book and I can’t wait. Even though the different plots happening in this book seemed very unrelated, they were all very exciting. Sometimes when authors focus on too many storylines at once it loses something but not with this, as we jumped from plot to plot, each one left off on a cliffhanger which only made me more anxious to keep reading to find out what happens.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that it didn’t feel as immersive as the others. In Shadow and Bone, we read the entire series from one point of view so it’s like a great epic story, in Six of Crows we get different characters viewpoints but they’re all part of the same plot so you get immersed into the story. With this book, there were multiple POV’s and each one was in a different plot AND location so it just felt like we didn’t get enough time in each plot to fully develop as much of a story there as there could have been. I’m hoping that it will be a bit more cohesive and tied together in the next book. 

All in all, I really enjoyed it, it was exciting and it focused on my favourite characters from the Grishaverse, what’s not to love? I wish we did get more time within each plot line that was introduced but I guess that’s what book 2 will be for. I can’t wait! 4 stars.