Hello everyone!
I am back with another book review, King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo.
After the civil war, Nikolai has become king of Ravka - a role many of his enemies believe him to be ill-suited for. As Nikolai tries to navigate his new kingdom, he is also faced with a more personal challenge. Since the defeat of the Darkling, Nikolai has noticed a darkness inside of him. No longer content lying dormant, this demon-creature takes over Nikolai's body in the night and sends him hunting - with Zoya, the king's Commander hot on his heels. As the darkness becomes more and more difficult to contain, Nikolai, Zoya, and a radical monk who worships the Darkling set out on a journey to cure the king. But they soon realize that curing the king might be more difficult than they had hoped - and with dire consequences.
Before I get too far into this review, as someone who has read both the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, I highly recommend reading both of those series before picking up this book. The story picks up more-or-less where Crooked Kingdom leaves off and incorporates characters and concepts from both series. Besides, you really would be missing out on some amazing adventures if you just skipped to this book.
The story is divided up into multiple POVs, including Nina, Nikolai, Zoya, and (later) Isaak. Each character is a part of a different story - while some of the characters are together for most of the book, we also get glimpses of what is happening outside of the main storyline with their perspectives. Bardugo did a good job of keeping them separate, they all had distinct voices and I could easily tell who was who.
Story-wise, I thought things were a little bit slower at the beginning of the book, but I knew Bardugo was setting things up for later. Much like Six of Crows, the first book was a bit more background heavy and then there was a big event toward the end to set up book two nicely. And I have to say, I need book two after that ending! I think that this book will be a bit slow for some readers - especially those coming straight from the Six of Crows duology because I feel like that series had a lot more going on. This book was important in the grand scheme of things, but there is a lot that felt a little bit slower, despite the fact that it needed to be laid out.
Overall, I am able to forgive a slower plot for the sake of setting up (what I hope to be) a fantastic sequel and I will be hotly anticipating the next book because of this ending!