King of Scars

There will be some spoilers towards the end, so you have been warned.

I was so excited about this book/duology. I had been hoping that Bardugo would have used what she learned writing the Six of Crows duology and she did to some extent. I'm glad that after the Grisha trilogy she doesn't write in first person and she switches up the POVs. However, what came back from the Grisha trilogy was this macguffin-driven plotline which is not super compelling.

It was the same problem with going after the amplifiers, it seemed really random and convenient and it took what could have been a really cool premise, which was Nikolai dealing with this monster inside him into seemingly directionless storyline. Not to mention seemed to be more focused on bringing back a popular character (the Darkling, or–as I like to call him–Hot Topic) rather than saving Nikolai. Even Elizabeta's betrayal didn't seem like a twist just because it fell so neatly inline with what the end goal clearly was.

With Nina's storyline, which I found much more compelling, it felt like two very different books together. I'm guessing that the second book there will be this “THIS IS ALL CONNECTED” twist thing, but this first book... it literally was like jumping between a generic fantasy macguffin plot and this really gritty horror mystery plot. This made it a lot easier to put it down if something wasn't grabbing my attention.

I think Nina's story was the stronger of the two because it focused so much on her character which was already so well established and showed her growth as well as her burgeoning relationship with Hanne. Bardugo's at her best when the stakes seem more personal.

With Six of Crows, yes you could argue that the jurda parem is a macguffin, but the real threat was how dangerous it was to the individuals we know and love vs. Nikolai's macguffin where they keep tying it back to Ravka and what would happen if he wasn't king etc. etc.

Overall, better than the Grisha trilogy, but not Bardugo's best. I might just get the second book from my library.