Leigh Bardugo's 'Rule of Wolves' book review

4 stars

First of all, I hardly read book sequels even if it is my favourite book. Still haven’t read Ghosts of the Shadow Market and Lost Book of the White in the Shadowhunter series. However, I decided to read the King of Scars Grisha sequel duology because I love Leigh Bardugo and I just read everything she writes. So I read this and I loved it. I’ll admit I struggled a bit with King Of Scars but Rule of Wolves I loved.

The ending of the novel teases more for the Crows, aligning with Bardugo’s previous statements that she has long-term plans for a third Six of Crows novel. However, Rule of Wolves will serve as an ending to Nikolai, Zoya, and Alina’s storyline with Bardugo commenting: “I want to let the Grishaverse be at the crossroads…for me, there’s a great sense of peace knowing that a lot of the story has already been told.”

This was a good sequel and view into their lives after the first books. We get to see the aftermath of the war. I find this boring sometimes and tbh I found it a bit boring here too but I did enjoy the book.

It took me a month to get past the beginning not kidding, but 2 days to finish this and I loved it. My comments and reservations from book one seemed to be sorted out in this installation.

This was Nicholas story as well as all the other characters. Not sure about the return of you know who, I felt that was very unnecessary but anyways whatever. I did enjoy it and this was better than expected considering I was literally expecting nothing.

I disliked Nina’s story and plot in the other books but as opposed to King Of Scars, but here, I looked forward to it and that ending wow I wasn’t expecting it and I loved it.

At a point, I felt the book was doing too much but it also made the story captivating and more interesting. There was war, politics, the gods, love, marriages, and so many plot lines but that made it all the more interesting tbh I just hated that I had to stop one pov and start reading another pov after a cliff hanger but that was one of the reasons why it was so captivating.

It was also fascinating to see other characters from other books and this felt much mature. In the other books, it felt like children doing adult stuff but here it felt like adults fixing the older generations mistakes and it was interesting to read.

In all it was nice to see an ending for the characters, seeing other loved characters, addressing certain issues, Nina’s plot twist, Nikolia’s and Zoya’s plot twist, the heist, bringing together and mentioning of certain characters, as well as the growth of the major and secondary characters. This was a good book. I felt like it was too much and too little at times but I guess with a story like this especially in the post-war pre-war setting it is to be expected.

So the question I am here to answer is should you read the duology? Yes, you should.

Blurb

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!

See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with Shadow and Bone, now a Netflix original series.

The wolves are circling and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant #1 New York Times–bestselling King of Scars Duology.

The Demon King. As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm―and even the monster within―to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible.

The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost.

The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.

King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall.

Read all the books in the Grishaverse!

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy