Rule of Wolves

Rule of Wolves Book Review by Leigh Bardugo 

I love Leigh Bardugo. 

I love her Grisha Series. 

I love her characters. 

Essentially, there’s just a lot of love. 

This kind of love towards books can be a double edged sword, though. I have such pure unadulterated adoration for the Six of Crows duology that any other installments in the Grisha verse from Bardugo has never quite lived up. 

That might be a super unfair statement to make and I recognize that. However, Kaz Brekker and his team of criminal misfits was the first foray into Bardugo’s world that I undertook and it has a special place in my heart (yes, I read it before the original Shadow and Bone trilogy and yes, I was an idiot and had no idea what was going on). 

For several reasons, I thought King of Scars was...okay. You can read my review on it here. Largely, I just had a hard time getting invested in the characters and the overall political plot of the world following the heist plot of the previous series. 

Fortunately, this trepidation I had going into the Rule of Wolves was largely expelled. Picking up almost directly from its predecessor, Rule of Wolves follows Nikolai in his desperate goal to claim the broken and bitter throne of Ravka despite machinations of other countries and the ever-looming threat of war from Fjerda, Zoya’s struggle to understand the dragon inside of her as well as her own threat of emotions and vulnerability, Nina’s quest to aid her country while in disguise in a foreign land and her growing feelings for Hanne amidst suitors and Jarl Brum, and Mayu coming to terms with herself and the treacheries of Queen Makhi. 

Basically, there’s a lot going on. 

While I found the four of these characters somewhat banal in King of Scars, I found myself much more tolerable of their characters and their motivations this time around. I think this is largely due to the overall plot being more interesting than the last with Ravka on the brink of war and the immeasurable struggles that come with it. 

Add in the Darling being resurrected, the Apparat doing shady things as always, the resurgence of not only Alina and Mal, but also of Kaz, Jesper, and Wylan and you’ve got me hooked immediately. 

I did think the cameo’s of Kaz and the boys was a bit of a stretch (truly, I think Bardugo knows how beloved they are and was searching for any reason to fit them into the book) and while my literary brain can recognize this and scoffs, my heart is happy because my loves have returned, however briefly it was. 

I could delve more into the thickness of the plot, the twists and turns that arise, the small surprises that pop up, how Bardugo ends almost every chapter on a cliff-hanger (that is truly a lot of skill), but really, this is book is best left to the Grisha fans out there. 

The plot is complicated. This book came across more like a war book than anything else, and while normally this isn’t my cup of tea, I did enjoy the complexities of all the nations and the delve into more strategic and emotional conflicts. 

I would also be bereft to mention that while I was reading Rule of Wolves the TV show Shadow and Bone started airing on Netflix. I didn’t actually plan to be reading and watching simultaneously, but that’s how it worked out and I couldn’t have asked for anything more beautiful. 

It was so neat to be watching what was the past in the TV show while also reading the current going ons of the Grisha world in the novel. I don’t think I’ve ever quite had that experience before and I would be foolish to think that it didn’t increase my overall favorable opinion of both the show and the book. 

Regardless, I fell in love with both. If you want to jump onto the hype train and watch Shadow and Bone with the rest of the world, I say go for it. 

And then I say you should follow it up by diving into the whole of the Grisha series (although unlike me, you should probably start with the original trilogy), and then work your way up to the Six of Crows duology and then the King of Scars duology. 

You won’t regret it. 

It’s a fascinating series with amazing characters that’ll both pull at your heart strings and make you laugh out loud. The complexity of the world, the creativity and detail, the engaging plot, the surprising endings-all of it is worth your time and your interest. 

Recommendation: Consume everything Bardugo has produced. Watch the show and then read the books, or read the books and then watch the show. I don’t care, just go out and do it. You won’t be sorry. Instead, you’ll find yourself falling for the Grisha verse and all that entails, just like me and so many others have. 

Score: 8/10