Review for "King of Scars" by Leigh Bardugo

Remember, he told himself, remember who you are. He felt his claws emerge, his teeth grow long. I am Nikolai Lantsov, privateer and king.



Rating: ★★★☆☆

Two books disguised as one, what a deal! This book is the continuation of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. And it was sort of a letdown!

Ravka was his first love, an infatuation that had begun in his early boyhood and that had only deepened with age. Whatever it demanded, he knew he would give.

I'm giving this 3 stars, which I feel like is pretty generous. I liked the emotion, and I love the parallels between Nikolai having a monster inside him and like how that relates to fighting inner demons (mental illness). I don't know if that is a crude/weird connection to make, but personally it helped me relate to Nikolai's character a lot. Which was needed because I didn't like Nikolai near as much as I did in Siege and Storm or Crooked Kingdom. I think that's because he was more serious, but I was able to still feel a connection to him. I just thought that based on his charm/wit from previous books, his inner monologue would be more witty/charming, but it wasn't really. Honestly I thought the Nikolai perspective was the most boring. But I digress. Another thing I liked in this book was Zoya's perspective, I thought the background added depth to her character and I just love seeing beyond her harsh facade. It's mentioned that men often think she's soft underneath, and the point of her POV is to say, no I'm not soft, I'm actually this cold and I'm powerful, deal with it. Speaking of soft: I loved reading Nina's inner thoughts about Matthias, and how he had a lasting impact on her. Last thing - I liked the addition of Hanne. I think she has a lot of potential for development in the next book.

So first of all, the obvious critique that I'd heard before I started the book: it's tediously slow-paced. I just don't know why. It feels like so little happened in 524 pages. It is just really frustrating.

Second of all, why were there two plotlines? I really thought they would collide at the end and that would make for a really grand finale, but no. The Zoya-Nikolai-Isaak story was literally complete separate from the Nina story, and they were even separated by an entire country. Other than Nina mentioning Nikolai a few times, and Nikolai mentioning Nina a few times, I'm tempted to say the plotlines were so separate they could've been just two entirely different novels. My assumption is that they will come together in the final book, but I just wish we had gotten a little more of the connection before that.

One small thing that bothered me was kind of the cheesiness/implausibility of certain plot points. The main one that comes to mind is Trassel. Like, really out of the ENTIRE country of Fjerda (Fjerda is big), Nina just happens to stumble upon Matthias's old wolf? Seems unlikely, and I think the Nina-Matthias emotional moments of this book were sufficient without the addition. Somehow though, even though I know it's unlikely and corny, it still makes me smile.

I really did not like the Saints plot of the story. I guess I just didn't really get it/the mythology is starting to seem a little bit too extravagant. I don't know. It just did not work for me.

I think the number one issue I had with this book is the blatant recycling of ideas. It seems like a good idea to continuously make books in the same fantasy world... until all the plots start to look the same. First of all, we have the Nikolai battling his inner demon plot, which I'm pretty sure was resolved at the end of Ruin and Rising so it kind of seems like the author ran out of ideas and just defaulted to that when she brought it back. And also why the Darkling. Why bring him back. I won't even dignify these questions with question marks. I am so over the Darkling. And it's kind of like, what was the point of the entire Shadow and Bone trilogy and Alina and Mal's sacrifices if he's just going to come back. I never liked the Darkling as a villain, and I just feel like it's lazy writing to bring him back instead of crafting a new villain. I'm over it. The last aspect I felt was recycled was the power build up. Every book it's like, ooh a new thing happened/a new thing was acquired and now I'm extra OP! Like in Shadow and Bone it happened when Alina realized the power of the stag belonged to her and not the Darkling, in Ruin and Rising it was when she killed Mal, and in this book it's when Zoya kills Juris to gain his power. There's just always another secret level of power to get to, and it makes the entire hierarchy of power useless. I just want the author to create a system of magic, explain it, and stick to it. This book has just been the author breaking the previously established rules of the magic system, and not in a creative way but in a lazy way.

I'm so over the Darkling, I'm not sure if I'll read the next book. I might read it just for the Nina/Hanne bits, but it honestly might depend on how long it is (how much time I would have to invest in it).

September 2019 Wrap-Up

What a whirlwind of books this month! I read 19 books 😱which I was not expecting to get that many in what with school starting and everything. But still, how frustrating that, once again, I couldn't get just ONE MORE in to get it to a solid 20. Here's some stats for the month:
Total books read: 19
Total pages read: 6044
Average rating: 3.35
Most read genre: Contemporary
Average pages/book: 318
Contemporary is not usually my most read genre, but this month it took it by a landslide because I read What If It's Us (see below), and it was so adorable I went and found as many cute teen gay romances as I could and have been reading them ever since. And more to come in October!
The books I read this month are definitely shorter than usual, but it's still a respectable average with 19 books considered.
Side note: I don't give ratings to books that are rereads, because obviously if I'm rereading them they were probably a four or five star book, so I don't want the rereads to skew the average higher than it would be. Rereads are purely for enjoyment. My average rating this month was kind of low, but there are a couple of one and two star ratings that probably contributed to that.

Here are the books I read in September:

1. Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: ★★★★☆
I liked this installment a lot more than the first book. I loved the addition of Nikolai, and I like the direction the series goes in from here.

2. Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: ★★★★☆
This was a solid conclusion to the Shadow and Bone Trilogy.

3. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: No rating (reread)
I love the Six of Crows duology!! This is actually the first book I ever in the Grishaverse, and rereading it after Shadow and Bone trilogy makes everything make a lot more sense. You can enjoy it without reading Shadow and Bone, but I personally recommend reading Shadow and Bone beforehand. Especially because Six of Crows is better (IMO), so the universe only improves.

4. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Read this for the hype, it has major "I'm privileged" vibes. Issues I had with it: You can’t simultaneously argue “you are in control of your own happiness, take responsibility for yourself” and “God is in charge of everything so you ultimately aren’t in control of your own fate.” Also the blatant humble bragging... we get it, you’re the best at everything which is why you are rich and famous and we aren’t. I was totally rubbed the wrong way by the sex chapter. Not because it was too intimate, but because she encourages women to force themselves to like sex even when they don’t.

5. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Rating: No rating (reread)
As of yet, this is my favorite Shakespeare piece. And I think it's very important for young readers today. I first read this in high school, and just because of the themes about prejudice, I think it should be a required reading in all high schools (if need be, in place of Romeo and Juliet).

6. What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Rating: ★★★★☆
Obviously I liked this book more than the last Becky Albertalli I read, The Upside of Unrequited. I still saw remnants of the things I hated from that book like the signature unlikable supporting character that the narrator swears is the most amazing person in the world (Dylan) and super obvious telling-not-showing. But I shipped Arthur and Ben so hard. They were so delightfully awkward. This book was, to me, what I wish Eleanor and Park had been (that one was only meh for me). At times I was annoyed by Arthur and/or Ben, but then I realized, hey they are literally sixteen years old, and they’re just acting like they are. I can respect how the authors nailed the teenage romance perspective. Their actions and feelings feel immature at times, but that’s because they’re meant to because they’re kids. But seriously... i need a different ending!!! Or a do over ending! A sequel maybe...? Also - loved the narration in the audiobook, highly recommend.

7. The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

Rating: ★★★☆☆
I really liked the serious parts of the novel, I think they are really important and those topics were handled well but it was still realistic and relatable. Can’t give this one over 3 stars because the best friend characters were so awful and for some reason they are a large part of this book. Like, all of them are terrible. Also there were some chapters that were completely pointless and unrelated to the book. Why did we have an entire chapter about how Jordan adopted his dog?
Another note: I didn’t love the narration of the audiobook. The Max narrator was okay but the Jordan narrator was not good. And for some reason they did these ridiculous voices when they were speaking another character’s dialogue. The Jordan narrator speaking as Pam was kinda stereotypically racist, like she was some 50 y/o sassy black woman and not just a teenager. And the Max narrator doing his two best friends was just bad.

8. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Rating: ★★★☆☆
I spaced out during some of this, but overall I really liked the stories of the mothers and their daughters.

9. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Rating: ★★★☆☆
This book did not turn out the way I thought it would. It was a pretty good story. My major takeaway: read this book if you want to be SAD. It is sad.

10. Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Just... read my full review HERE.

11. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Rating: ★★★★☆
I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I watched the movie afterwards, and I actually didn't hate most of the changes they made from book to screen. Some of them I even think should've been in the book in the first place, such as Jonas getting chased when he's trying to get Gabriel and then escaping.

12. Iron Man (Junior Novelization) by Peter David

Rating: No rating
I can't rate this... I love the MCU and I'm so partial to this story and these characters even if this was not the best rendition of them.

13. The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: ★★★★☆
Very whimsical fairy tales. I enjoyed most of this. Some things were just way too descriptive. It's fun to read the actual Grishaverse books and catch some of the references to stories of "monsters in the thorn wood" or "rivers that could talk" knowing that these are those stories. My top three I really liked, and the bottom three bored me.
My ranking of the stories:
1. The Witch of Duva
2. Ayama and the Thorn Wood
3. Little Knife
4. The Too Clever Fox
5. When Water Sang Fire
6. The Soldier Prince

14. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Rating: ★★★★☆
The description of this book makes it seem so much more frivolous than it is. This is deep stuff. The book is told from the viewpoint of individuals who have died from HIV/AIDS as they watch over 7 gay boys trying to make their way through life and accept themselves. Craig and Harry, who were together but aren't anymore, are trying to break the world record for the longest continuous kiss. Peter and Neil have been dating a year, and they must consider their relationship through the difficulties of being a gay couple. Ryan and Avery have just started to go out, and they deal with homophobia and their pasts. Finally there's Cooper. When Cooper's parents find out he's gay through reading his messages in online chat rooms, they are furious enough to drive Cooper out of the house, and right into the arms of the other men in those chat rooms. Some of it is hard to read. The POV is really unique, and I think the story is told beautifully. I love all the different characters' circumstances, and how they're all kind of intertwined as you get to the end of the story. Hearing the narrators talk about the characters' situations while also referring back to when they were alive and fighting the disease was so powerful. I gave this four stars for being really excellent, not quite five stars because some of the lines were too poetic to the point where it felt cheesy and silly.

15. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: No rating (reread)
Still love this conclusion! It wasn't as magical as the first time around, but things rarely are *sigh*.

16. They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

Rating: ★★★★☆
I liked this story. I thought the contemplations of death that the boys were forced into were tragic and deep and really well developed. I think this is a relevant piece, especially for people would are familiar with grief and loss. I got very emotional at the conclusion of the book (the title says it all), and that does not normally happen to me with books.

17. We Are Okay by Nina Lacour

Rating: ★★★☆☆
I guess my overall impression of this book is just underwhelmed. I read this 4 days ago and I can't even remember the main character's name. I know the mystery element was pretty good (but also I was a bit like "is that it?"), and I liked how the story is told in two different timelines. Loved the ending of the book, I thought it was a really good conclusion. But overall, compared to a lot of hard hitting contemporary, it's kind of unmemorable.

18. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Rating: ★★★☆☆
This book was a snooze fest for me UNTIL Tea Cake entered. Not that he was an amazing character, but things just picked up from there. Unfortunately that was literally 50% through the book. I would give the first half a two star and the second half a four star rating, thus three stars.

19. This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Check out my full review HERE.