King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo REVIEW

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Started: 31/01/19

Finished: 23/02/19

Spoilers: Yes.

Well . . . That was underwhelming. Bobbing somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars, depending what part of it I think about.

The thing is, I love Leigh Bardugo as a writer - Six of Crows is one if my all time favourites - but I'm not about to rate a book 5 stars just because her name's on the cover.

There's lots of spoilers here. Ye be warned.

Plot Let's face it. It was a hot mess.

In theory, this book should have been everything I could possibly want for in a Grisha book. Nikolai, my favourite character from the trilogy. Nina, one of my favourite characters from the duology. But both of their stories were so devastatingly disappointing that I actually feel bad them. These incredible characters deserve better than the average storylines they were given.

I was really enjoying it at the start. It was shaping up to be something quite political, I love a bit of politics mixed with my war. The issues regarding finding middle ground between all these enemy countries that want a piece of Ravka was highly interesting to me, but the court politics was cast aside by Nikolai very early on when he journeyed with Zoya to purge the monster within him. The politics baton was passed only briefly to Isaak until he started fancying a princess, and then all he thought about was her.

The plot itself didn't feel structured at all. There's all these random miracles happening, but how did Elizeveta know that Nikolai would come to the Fold to inquire about them? Surely if he stayed in the palace, he would never have ended up in that other place and so would never have met Elizeveta and discovered the Darkling's body. She'd still be trapped there. Nothing about it felt planned or preconceived on Elizeveta's part. Was it really nothing more than a convenient coincidence that brought Nikolai to her? I'm sorry, but that's not good enough.

The whole thing with Nina trying to find and free Grisha slaves felt incredibly dragging. I was actually bored at times. There was nothing exciting in that storyline and I found I didn't much care about the Grisha slaves. Somehow that plotline completely missed it's mark.

As for the pacing, it felt for a long time like I was waiting for something to happen. We'd be treated to something exciting, and then there'd be long periods of not much again. It was just off, okay. Way off.

And don't get me started on the ending. I'm so done with the Darkling. We buried that storyline two books ago, please don't start digging him up now. He had a good satisfying conclusion and bringing him back now is not only cliche, but pretty weak writing tbh. I'd have much preferred instead to see a new war or conflict instead of rehashing something that's already happened.

Another little thing that bugged me was that whole fact that the saints were real people. I mean, Grisha power is referred to as the Small Science. Well, if it's science, it can't be spiritual, I'm afraid. Rather a contradiction, that. If the saints are real after all, and all power comes from them, then it's most certainly not a science. Science is something tangible, something that can be explained academically. Religion is not. Religion is blind faith and a lifestyle choice.

There's a reason religion and science don't mix. Oh yeah, because they're both one big contridiction of the other. And which ever one you choose to believe in, you simply can't believe in both.

Are we now supposed to accept that the Small Science is no longer a science and in fact the occurrence of martyred saints living in an alternate reality? . . . okay, cool . . .

I'm still excited for the next book, but that ending was eye-roll worthy and more annoying than anything.

It's a strange, strange thing, this book. It somehow lacks passion. Leigh is normally very good at making a reader love every character and invest in every storyline and feel every hurt, but this book is deeply lacking that spark. There's something hollow about it all, something linear. It lacks depth and feeling and I think that's it's downfall.

Characters I'll start with Nina. Throughout the book, I didn't care one jot about her storyline. It wasn't from a lack of trying. I love Nina and I wanted to love her here but I just couldn't get into her storyline. Not to mention the fact that it's way too earlier to introduce a new love interest to her. I found myself disliking Hanne a lot and hoping she'd maybe die during the factory break-in. It didn't make sense to me for Nina to move on so quickly like that. Yes, I know nothing happened, but it was certainly hinted at. Yes, we know Nina is bisexual, but does that mean she needs a romance mere chapters after burying Matthias? It was unnecessary and added little to the story. In fact, Nina's entire presence in this book added little to the story. It might even have been better without her.

Now, with that out the way, let's talk about Nikolai. I love Nikolai, always have, I just wish there was more of him and his humour. It seemed like he had less chapters than Zoya. (Love her too, and love the chemistry between them) but for a book about Nikolai, there wasn't much Nikolai. I know he was struggling with his demons but even he felt off. He wasn't quite as witty and rougish as I would have expected him to be, but I'll chalk that up to his monster issues. I expected so much more for him and was a little disappointed when he didn't even remove the monster. I'll hope for a lot more from him in the next book.

I enjoyed Isaak's chapters mostly because I got to pretend I was reading Nikolai for a short time. He made a good fake Nikolai but didnt quite stand as a developed character in his own right. He was less 'Isaak' and more 'just a Nikolai replacement.' He was good but expendable, and nothing more.

Zoya is probably the best bit of the book, tbh. I love that she broke the boundaries of Grisha power and is now essentially the most powerful Grisha in the world. I like that she rediscovered herself and has, despite this new power, stuck loyally with Nikolai. I did however find her tragic backstory a little cliche. Did she really need a miserable past that's scarred her deeply but made her stronger? Can't any of these people just come from normal, happy, loving families?

Setting Unless I'm reading sci-fi, I hate alternative worlds. Less so when they're not explained. I was so confused about this 'other place' Nikolai and Zoya went to. It didn't even have a name! It wasn't explained. If I was Nikolai I would have wanted answers. And more bizarrely, when they left this 'other place', they just walked out of it, just like that, like it was apart of their own world. Wt-actual-f! Still have no clue what went on there.

But I do like Ravka, though. The rest of this world Leigh has built is wonderful, and pretty much the thing keeping me reading at this point. If it wasn't for the fact that this was a Grishaverse book, I might have even DNF'ed it.

Writing Style Is it me, or did the writing in this book feel more Shadow and Bone than Six of Crows? I think we can all agree that the SoC duology is the peak of her writing so far. Everything about it was perfect and it was very clear to see how her writing had improved from her previous books. SoC was almost obnoxiously good.

This book, however, feels like a step backwards. Not as bad as the trilogy, but certainly not the same standard as the duology.

There were still some great lines, don't get me wrong. Nikolai was still wit on a stick when he wanted to be, and the banter between him and Zoya had me laughing out loud at times, but I felt like the writing itself was too heavily weighed down by references. Speaking of which. . .

The numerous references to the other books were cool, but far too numerous. Certain parts of the story barely had room to grow past the barrage of references of former characters and plot lines, and quite frankly, they weren't really necessary. Why would you even want to read this book if you haven't first read what are essentially the prequels? If you do and you're confused, tough shit! What do you expect, really?

I like a subtle Easter egg to find as much as the next person, but this was less a hunt for references so much as Leigh shoving them down our throats screaming 'you found them!'

And another thing: Everyone would call Nikolai Your Highness, and it would bug me just a tiny bit, cause Your Highness is traditionally used for princes and princesses, and Your Majesty is used solely for a king or queen. Besides that, this is meant to be Russia, so should they not refer to him as the Tsar? In fact, I'm very certain in the Grisha trilogy, Leigh uses the word Tzar when referring to the king. It's a very minor thing but the royal protocol, not to mention continuity, is still a noticeable error.

Final Impression Look . . It's not like I didn't like this book. There were points that I really enjoyed, it was just like wading through treacle to get to them. I'm still very excited for the next book as I think (hope) that it'll be ten times better than this one. But let's face it, people, this is not Leigh's best work. But I'm okay with that. It's my own fault for expecting so much. If I hadn't hyped it up so much in my own head, maybe it wouldn't have fallen so flat, maybe.

Yes, of course I'm going to buy the next one. I'll probably even pre-order it because I love Nikolai, and hopefully Leigh will acknowledge the rather mixed response this book has received and grow from it. She's still a fantastic writer with bags more potential for this incredible world she's created.

But overall, a disappointing read with the possibility of having a very exciting sequel.