It has now been several years since Nikolai has taken his place as the king of Ravka. His ascension was fraught with many challenges, exiling the old king and queen, fighting a war against the Darkling, and trying to convince Alina to marry him, those just being the biggest of his many struggles. His struggles have not gotten smaller in any way. The kingdom was, and still remains, incredibly poor, any money that Ravka may have had that wasn’t being funneled towards the centuries old war was spent frivolously by the royal family. And although the Darkling is gone and there seems to be a tenuous peace within Ravka itself, there are other dangers looming.
On a slightly bright note, one thing that seems to be going particularly well is the advancement of weapons and transport. The air ships Nikolai has been working on for years are now at the peak of their functionality and his underwater ships are promising as well. The one thing he needs is more of them, as a means of protection now instead of a means of adventuring, because the threat of war from either Fjerda or Shu Han still lingers. The ships would be an immense help, due to the many soldier and Grisha deaths that occurred during the civil war, which greatly depleted their army. Nikolai is trying to put an end to his country’s debts and find a way to make allies, and even though he is reluctant to say so, he and those closest to him know that the best way to get both money and allies is through marriage.
While I am always excited to continue reading a book that is part of a larger series, I was disinterested in a lot of the plot in this one. It took me much longer to finish this than I would have liked because it kind of lost me in the middle. I think a lot of it had to do with Nina’s chapters. She was so terribly depressed and it did not make for great reading. I also was not into the new sect of religious fanatics led by Yuri, as well as not being into the character of Yuri himself. I am thankful that there were no chapters from his point of view. I also didn’t really care for all the chapters that detailed Nikolai, Zoya, and Yuri’s trials during their disappearance, even though what occurred is important for what it leads up to in the next book.
Some might consider this strange, but when Isaak started to become a main character; that is when I got drawn back in. I really liked him, even though he was a pretty minor character up until that point. I liked how he started off kind of ordinary but he became something kind of extraordinary. I loved his devotion to his family and to Ravka, and the way he fully committed himself into doing what was asked of him. My other well liked moments in this book were any scenes in which Genya and David spoke to each other. They are by far my favorite romance in this series.
To wrap things up, I will say sorry if you have been reading my reviews and have been waiting to see what I would have to say about the King of Scars duology. I have one more book to go and then my time with the Grishaverse will be at an end. If you have come this far, I will have some spoilers in my next review. They won’t necessarily be about the book, Rule of Wolves, I have not decided how that review is going to be written yet. But I will be writing what I thought about the Netflix adaptation of the books, and that will contain many spoilers. But hopefully they won’t be terrible spoilers, especially if you have read the original trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. Although this is primarily a book review blog I really feel the need to talk about the show because I have a lot to say about it.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 