REVIEW- Rule of Wolves (Leigh Bardugo)

Book #2 of the KING OF SCARS
by Leigh Bardugo

***WARNING- This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS***

To set things right, this series is a continuation of Shadow & Bone trilogy and it takes place some time after the events of Six of Crows duology. We are back we Ravka mainly, following the uneasy rule of Ravka's new king Nikolai Lantsov (who struggles to bring Ravka back from the consequences of the Darkling's civil war). We also have the perspective of General Zoya Nazyalensky, Ravka' most powerful squeller and one of the Grisha leaders. Then there is Nina Zenik, who is on her own quest as the king's spy in Fjerda's heart, the Ice Court, and she now has the bold Grisha Hanne Brum at her side; together they seek the way to stop a war between Ravka and Fjerda and to give Ravka a chance to win. Rumours that the birthright on Ravka's throne lays with another than Nikolai are getting stronger and Nina is trying to help Nikolai. Meanwhile, Nikolai are Zoya have to deal with the Darkling after he tricked them in the Fold and they have to save Ravka from the invasion of Fjerda and Shu Han (given the questioning of Nikolai's bloodline, it is not so easy). There are also few chapters from the Darkling's POV.

This is the second and last book of the King of Scars series. The first one was also very good, I love Nikolai so I was really excited to read it. But I didn't write a review because it wasn't so significant as the second book (also, why did they killed Isaac? He was so young and sweet and loyal. I liked him so much and this was bad). But as it turned out- there were more heartbreaks coming 💔

As I said I liked all of the series very much, Grishaverse is one of my favourite fantasy worlds and I love Leigh's worldbuilding so I am always glad to come back. This book was so packed with action, there was always something going on and it was faster than King of Scars (that was sometimes a bit slow pacing).
I love different POVs, it's always refreshing and more exciting to switch between more people. But sometimes I got the uneasy feeling of being torn out of the storyline to be suddenly entirely elsewhere and it took a long time before we got back to the point of the previous person. Then I always had to remember what exactly was happening in that perspective.

There were several plots in this book and everytime one was finished and cleared, another twist came and I liked that, it means the book wasn't boring but sometimes I didn't have enough time to recover between the plots. Maybe I am weird but I am used to think aboout the conclusions and this one didn't give me a chance 😅

There is no need to talk about the characters- easygoing and funny Nikolai is my forever love and negative, sarcastic (their common trait) Zoya has my heart in this duology (I confess I pretty much disliked her in both previous series). Than we have smart and reckless Nina who I always loved for her great comments about food and her skills as a Heartrender. Nina is slowly recovering from the loss of Matthias (I am never ever going to forgive that to Leigh) mostly thanks to her friend (something else later) Hanne Brum of Fjerda. Also lots of known and adored characters take appearance here which was so amazing- Mal and Alina, genious and ruthless Kaz, sarcastic and gorgeous Jesper (another forever love), Wylan, even Inej for a bit in the end (love her too) and of course the Darkling.

I expected some great blow to my heart here, since the duology is supposed to end with a grand battle and I braced myself slowly for who it might be. But I am not gonna lie, the blow came earlier and totally unexpected (somewhere in the middle of the book out of the blue sky) and I think nobody could forsee that coming. This incident broke my heart (even more to think of the occassion- the wedding! Poor Genya). 💔 It was totally unfair from Leigh to do that to me while I was still recovering from Isaak's death and for the rest of the book I was so affraid what else she might have prepared. And rightly of course.

In this series, we get to look to almost every country of Grishaverse- mainly we are in Ravka and Fjerda, which we now get to know a bit better, than we have a trip to Ketterdam to visit our great group of thieves and finally, we also see some parts of Shu Han which is new. I loved this connection of all the main countries and really enjoyed this aspect.

All the book I knew that Zoyalai was coming and couldn't wait for it (I was dying for them to be together for the whole series 💕), but I honestly didn't expect Nikolai to give up his throne and pass the crown to her! For me, he would always be Nikolai Lantsov, the King of Ravka! Sorry for the spoiler, I just couldn't help it and I warned you...

And in the end, there is the only one really big minus for me. It effects the overall feeling about this book. In the last 150 pages I got the feeling that Leigh thought the book is starting to get too big and long so she squeezed a lot of important incidents and twists to the final small chapters and made a quick end. Like the visit to the monastery (which was one of the main goals of the book after all and it took only few pages) or the whole Darkling's return thing (I expected it would be a bigger deal and that they all would actually be a bit more concerned?)

I still think it is a great book, but it could have easily been a trilogy and the whole series falls one step behind SIX OF CROWS duology. Finally, did Leigh really intended to give the feeling like there might be a sequel to the SoC?!?!

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The copy of this book presented in the pictures is from Knihy Dobrovský- the picture is featuring the main series of the review- The Rule of Wolves and the King of Scars and also the other Grishaverse books- Shadow & Bone, Siege & Storm, Ruin & Rising, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. You can find the picture on my instagram account @michelles_bookshelves