King of Scars is part of Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha-verse, the world in which her Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone. It is the first part of a duology about Nikolai Lantsov, a character who appears in Bardugo’s other series.
It follows Nikolai Lantsov, the Ravkan king trying to fix his country after their last civil war. Enemies are gathering at their borders and the young king is facing conflicts from inside as well. He must find a way to get rid of his country’s debt, forge new alliances, and stop the powers threatening his Grisha army.
Yet the dark magic within him that has inflicted him since the war grows stronger every day, threatening to destroy him and everything he’s built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai must journey across Ravka to stop the magic inside him from getting out of control. He will risk everything to save his country and himself but it feels like the forces that be are against him at every turn.
In typical Bardugo fashion, the chapters switch between the perspectives of the main characters and some background characters. There are a lot of reappearing characters and plot points from her other series, but there are enough new things to keep the story feeling fresh.
I admit that I’m heavily biased I my review because I love Bardugo’s work because it’s always quality. She puts so much lore into world making it incredibly immersive.
I wouldn’t recommend reading this book if you haven’t read her other series first because you wouldn’t understand what is going on. If you love fantasy and feel up to reading her trilogy and her other duology before this then I think you’ll like this. And, if you’ve read Leigh Bardugo’s books before then this definitely lives up to her other works.
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