King of Scars (Spoiler Free) | REVIEW 

This is the "Penguins of Madagascar" of the the Grishaverse. Where they took the best characters of the main series and somehow made them uninteresting.

I was so surprised that we didn't have Nikolai's pov till chapter 4 and I got bored during Nina's parts which is so sad because I love her so much.

I feel like Leigh shot herself in the foot a bit by marketing this as the Nikolai duology because, yes, we all expected more Nikolai in it. I loved Zoya's perspective. I was bored by Nina. If Nina could give her sections to Nikolai, I'd be happy haha.

I haven't read King of Scars yet, so I can't say anything about the plot, but the cover is so pretty 😍 I could just keep staring at it forever ❤😂😂

I love that you're so honest with your reviews. Even though you adore the Grishaverse, it's nice that you didn't let that love or hype keep you from giving us your real feelings about it.

I loved the book, gave it 4 stars (which is a lot for me). I found it way more amusing than the shadow and bone series which I rated 2-3 stars, but not as good as Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom which I rated 5 stars. Overall, I think it was a really good book. I loved Ninas part, it had me at the edge of my seat. I loved Zoya way more than Alina, and Nikolai is forever charming. If you liked the books, give it a go!

I’m reading it now, and while I love Nina I’m not liking her chapters as they seem meandering and pointless. Also the new budding romance seems too soon after Matthias for me. I love Zoya though she’s epic.

I’m currently in the middle of it but so far it’s slightly underwhelming. I’m sad, I really wanted to love this. Once I finish it I’ll go watch your spoiler discussion and complain in the comments 😂

I’m currently reading this and I’m so bored :( I find the plot dragging, it’s not developed whatsoever, and I feel like I’m pulling my teeth just to pick it up. Which hurts my heart because I love the grisha world so much

You summed up my feelings so well in this book. I can’t wait to watch your discussion video.

EEEEEE I'm so excited to read this! First of all, Nikolai. Second, I'm delighted to hear that the world is expanding. I just read the trilogy last month so it's all very fresh. I haven't yet read the six of Crows bc the wait list at the library is ridiculous. But I know I'm gonna love it. The quality of the story telling ramped up dramatically in the trilogy.

I just got my copy from Amazon yesterday, but I have been hearing/ reading bad reviews since it first came out. Scared, but the hardcover is Beautiful.

Hi I still need to read this series! Thank u always for ur book reviews!!

I appreciate the book for what it is but it could have been so much more. Nikolai is one of my favorite characters and he did not get nearly enough page time in my opinion. Hoping the second one is more of a Nikolai story than a Zoya and Nina story. She could have just released a couple novellas to cover at least Nina's story. That would have worked a little better.

Nikolai is my favorite character from the original trilogy. I'm kinda bummed that the book is getting such mixed reviews. I can't wait to read it. (m)

I'm only about a fifth of the way through so maybe my opinion will change, but I totally agree that for this being the "Nikolai duology" there isn't enough focus on him. I really would have preferred it if the only POV character had been Nikolai. I also don't know how I feel about the romance but I've sort of come to expect to _not_ be satisfied with Leigh's romance, considering how Ruin and Rising ended lol

I’m kinda on the fence about this one cuz I didn’t like the grisha trilogy but I absolutely loved six of crows so now I’m not sure if reading this would be worth it?

I know your channel has nothing to do with this, but would you ever consider doing a hair tutorial? I have hair just like yours, but it's very hard finding ways to style it and the way you style yours looks really nice!

It is so crazy in an astonishing way because that kind of shows how important subjectivity is. A lot of people seem to not care about Nina's parts but for me the entire 1st half of the book was carried by Nina then from the 2nd half I loved all three perspectives.

I ordered The Crooked Kingdom and King of Scars at the same time and I still don’t have Crooked Kingdom so KOS is just sitting on my shelf like ‘read meeehhhh’ but I can’t yet and this hurts meeeeee. Freaking loved Zoya in the original trilogy though, I’m excited to read from her POV!!

Tbh I was thinking the same thing. This was/is a Zoya book/Duology lol not Nikolais' I just felt like we got a better character arch from her and how much she was fleshed out here really made me appreciate her character more as for Ninas parts I... understand what her chapters were meant to be glimpses of the world and the effects of panem and about Fajerda but hmmm idk I still dnt have a verdict with this story.

I remember Leigh saying that the book would be divided between Nikolai, Nina, and Zoya’s POV so I wasn’t surprised by the lack of a focus on Nikolai. I actually did enjoy Nina’s storyline and the hinted romance (PLEASE happen). Wasn’t sold on the other at first but I liked it by the end. I do agree about the antagonist with Nikolai’s and Zoya’s storyline. Definitely “meh.” Overall I sped through it faster than my average book and loved the ending - super ready for book 2!

It would have been interesting to read this story from first person past tense POV like the original trilogy to focus on Nikolai more. He's one of my favorite characters and I want to read a story in his voice. He's hilarious but intelligent and that would have made for an awesome story.

I had so many conflicting thoughts as well (and didn't particularly enjoy Nina's plotline either which BROKE ME because she's my favourite among the Dregs), but I rounded my rating to a 4 because I saw a couple of things differently... First of all, I felt like Zoya didn't have that much of a build-up because she was already an incredibly powerful character to begin with, and also because of that whole amplifier thing. I don't know, her development is objectively a bit rushed but it didn't feel /wrong/. Second thing, I interpreted the whole Saints plotline in more of a... nihilistic way? something like "Oh, that's what all the fuss and the superstition is about". The way they were introduced, instead, was trippy and confusing as hell! About the Darkling, I feel like I need more time and possibly a re-read of the Grisha Trilogy before I can have a solid judgement :/

I have been so excited to read this but every review has said it isn't the best and im sad :(. I really hope I end up liking it

This is the only Leigh Bardugo book from the "Grisha World" that I didn't like and finish. I was disappointed af. I kind of expected Nikolai's book to be better than the Grisha trilogy and the Six of Crows duology because, duh, we're talking about Nikolai here (lol) but so far, basing on what I've read, the books isn't actually meeting any of my expectations. The prologue and earlier chapters were amazing but it just kept spiraling downwards. It's like the cursed child from the harry potter series for me. In other words, it's kind of destroying my whole reading experience on grishaverse and six of crows. I dunno, it just kind of does. Or maybe my expectations were just too high. But anyway, please read the second book when it's released and judge if it's worthy of reading. Until then, I won't be continuing King of Scars because I just can't hahaha. Btw, I just discovered your channels a few moments ago and I agree on most of your reactions on the books that you've read that I also have read. I was, like, nodding all the time and shouting, "Right!?"

I'm about 70pages from the end and I'm having to complete agree with you. The reveal about the factory did not have enough weight for the circumstances. There wasnt enough emotions there for me to really care about the girls. Theres a lot that bugs me about the book but I'll still read them because of the original trilogy and Six of crows. And the dialogue is always fun and snarky.

I really got bored in b/w had so much expectations, Nina's part was very uninteresting and I was waiting for her chapters to end x) But I loved the zoya POV's, she's my fav now

I was at least hoping for more Nikolai and Zoya stuff happening bc they’re genuinely my favourite characters out of the whole Grishaverse :/

Why nina and Zoya? is there a love triangle in it?

Theory for King of Scars 2: Because people were angry with The Darkling and Alina not falling in love, and because The Darkling is back, I think Leigh will make Alina return in the sequel.

All these mixed reviews are making me glad I’m not a super critical person when it comes to books and tv

this should be totally about Nikolai. But she had to bring some character from Six of Crows to it. But i hate that gave so much screen time Nina. Nina's chapters were unbearable. I don't give a fuck about Nina and i didn't even finish six of crows. Get iot just sucks to be me because most people like that shit.... Anyway, it was supposed to be about Nikolai and it wasn't and i hated it.

I read this and found it terrible. I had to hate-read it to finish it. Maybe if you've read all the author's other books, it's ok, but I hadn't. It was sold to me as BOOK1 in a fantasy series. It's not. To me it was a complete rehash of past characters, past events, characters who are now dead, prior love interests who are no longer there, ppl coming back to life, seriously WTF? The first chapter is the only part that was any good bc it's the only INTRO of a character and setting. Unfortunately it was just a hook to bring in characters which were much less developed (at least here). I didn't care about the characters, didn't understand their motivations, and didn't feel any antagonists or 'tension'

The whole book was a let down