King of Scars
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did, but at the end of the day it was still decent and I would have read it regardless since the author is Leigh Bardugo and I love her to the bottoms of the earth.
I actually went to the book signing for this novel and while the lines were never-ending and the night was late with work looming bright and dreary the next morning, the event itself was still super entertaining and a blast to attend. Leigh herself is very personable and exceptionally funny, and the Q and A with her and a dude from Netflix was a huge highlight of the whole event.
In addition, Leigh also takes very good care of her fans. There was a fan event before the book signing where they had free giveaways and merchandise, as well as a photo booth complete with picket signs and feather boas.
Lastly, each fan was given a cookie that said “Feed your Demons” on it-which-how incredible is that-along with a personalized note from Leigh and a map of the world from the novel to use as a little placard bookmark.
While the event was spectacular, the book, unfortunately, was less so. The novel surrounded three primary figures, one whom we’ve prominently read about before, and two others that we’ve seen multiple times but never had the pleasure to delve into their minds.
The first character, Nina, is a recurring figure from the Six of Crows duology, and honestly, she was better suited for a life of crime and espionage with Kaz Brekker than in the Fjerda countryside rescuing dead women from a factory. If you’re confused about what I just said, you’re not the only one.
Leigh has always adopted a more hands on approach with her novels in the form of the-readers-can-figure-out-my-fantastical-world-eventually-I’m-sure-if-I-just-keep-writing-perspective and while usually I really like having to figure out world mechanics for myself this novel was just…odd.
There isn’t a better way to put it. Nina’s mission in Fjerda didn’t make much sense to me and while I enjoy her as a character, the introduction of Hanne was less welcome in my humble opinion.
Next you have Zoya, who is this tough, fierce, bloodless, heartless woman and yet, since we’re inside of her head, we see that it’s actually quite the opposite and that she has a rather cliched attachment to the king and a traumatic past that has made her cold hearted and closed off but still yearning for purpose and love. Zoya’s parts of the story were…fine.
Honestly, not much happened and her parts were especially repetitive seeing as her and Nikolai were generally together the whole novel and their sections often overlapped and depicted repeat scenes or locations switching from her POV to his.
Last, Nikolai, the king of scars himself. I enjoyed the aspects of Nikolai facing his demons and I enjoy his wit and his banter with the other characters, but this novel as a whole was just so incredibly boring. It was almost 500 pages worth of mundane reading about the same goddamn things over and over and over again. Oh Nikolai transformed again? For the fifth time? Oh no! Whatever shall we do? Oh Nikolai and Zoya actually have feeling for each other? Din’t see that coming! Oh, the darkling is actually alive somehow?
Of course.
The first part of this novel was titled The Drowning Man, aptly named to draw parallels between Nikolai’s life and his kingdom and yet I was the one who felt like drowning.
I love Leigh Bardugo and I love her Grisha verse, but this was not one of her better installments. It was still interesting as a whole due to the fact that many of the characters are repeating figures we have seen in the past and loved, but the novel as a standalone was mediocre and mundane with some hastily thrown in action, and when it comes down to it, I didn’t connect with these characters as much as I have in the past with the likes of Kaz Brekker and Alina Starkov, which, let’s be real, is why we read these books in the first place, to feel something and connect with others outside of ourselves and if that isn’t accomplished, it’s a book quickly forgotten and cast aside.
Recommendation: Read all of the Grisha verse. All of it. And then pick up one of Leigh’s sugar cookies, come here to read my review on King of Scars, look up the rest you don’t understand from Wikipedia, and pray to the saints (although not to Saint Elizabeta-that bitch) that the next novel will be better.
Score: 6/10
