User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
SPOILERSEDIT: after a couple of hours of sleep there’s honestly so much more i could talk about. from both of leigh’s heroines (old and new) being shoehorned into a maternal role that fits neither of them, to nina’s rushed romance with hanne and the way leigh handled zoya’s suli heritage. but there aren’t enough hours in the day and patience in me to discuss it all.
ORIGINAL:i know this is 4 days before the official release date, but my copy got shipped early.
heads up: if you're a die-hard fan of leigh or king of scars, you won't like this. so look away.
i'll try to make this as coherent as possible. it's 2am, forgive me.
the last time i sighed so hard at a book was when i read acotar. so strap yourselves in.
THE TOO-FULL-NESS OF IT ALLthis book is full. too full. there's too many things happening, so much so, that some lose their significance in the grand scheme of things, e.g. at some point in the book nikolai has a nearly deadly accident with one of his flying ships but it is glaced over within a page even though leigh supposes nikolai is deeply shaken by it. and then it's never mentioned again.
within the first few chapters ravka is meeting fjerda on the battlefield and after a first victory for ravka the war suddenly disappears. there's no retaliation until about halfway through when fjerda bombs os alta and then the violent conflict disappears again. only in the last quarter of the book do the armies meet on the battlefield again. it's hacked off, the brunt of the war, the terror and violence lessoned by every single thing leigh throws in in between. because there is a Lot she has decided to throw in.
besides ravka's war with fjerda, there's the trouble with princess ehri and her guard mayu, there's queen makhi and her plot, there's jarl brum, the fjerdan crown prince, the lantsov pretender, the apparat (???), the blight (that she's calling VAMPIRE), A WHOLE HEIST SHE SQUEEZED IN and of course, the darkling (more on him later). because of the constant pov switch between five characters there are times were several chapters fly by before you get to read a certain characters pov and storyline again and it rips you out of the action.
speaking of the povs: there's too many of them in my opinion. king of scars already struggled with the divide between nikolai, zoya, nina and isaak and rule of wolves fairs no better. jumping back and forth between nikolai, zoya, nina, mayu AND the monk gets tiring and as forementioned just rips you out of the individual storylines.
there just certain plot points that should've stayed on the editing room floor. for example mayu's whole pov. while i can appreciate that leigh finally decided to flesh out shu han and its people more and to try and step away from this cartoonish Evil Country image, it derailed the second half of the book. ravka is on the brink of collapse, nina is risking her neck in fjerda and suddenly you're in shu han, listening to mayu's existential crisis. not to mention that before giving her this pov, leigh has done almost nothing to spark interest in this character. she was an assassin sent to kill nikolai. that's the end of it. but she got a whole pov out of it. i couldn't bring myself to care.
the heist. what was that. i knew the crows were going to make an appearance at some point because leigh said so (
and the crows are probably by far the most popular grishaverse characters) but this was too much. while i enjoyed kaz, jesper and wylan's appearance (a breath of fresh air, really), it was, again, too much. writing out a whole damn heist while this book was supposedly about a king and country at war felt....redundant. especially with everything else that was ALREADY happening in this book.
the cameos. like i said i enjoyed the crow cameos but it just filled the book and felt in my honest opinion too fan service-y.
the apparat thing. let this man die. PLEASE. that last minute reveal of him wanting to build a new country under the pretender's banner with zoya as his saint was just....what. not only was it completely out of left field but it was unnecessary. i know leigh used it to trigger zoya's acceptance of her powers but she literally could've done that in ANY other way that would involve plot points that were previously mentioned.
the blight
why the fuck would she call this "vampire" when there has been no previous mentions of vampires existing, that's RIDICULOUS. it made a grand entrance in the beginning of the books and then, like everything else, was swept under by everything else that happened in this book. its attacks are mentioned several times in this book, but the horror and the threat of it aren't built up enough to make it into the world destroying threat leigh tells you it is in the end. and it is only dealt with in the very end. second to last chapter. no, i'm not joking. if the blight was this important she should've dedicated WAY more time to it, to the search of the monastery. it just fell short in the end.
i could go on because, again, there was just TOO MUCH. but this would get too long. alas, let's move on.
i didn't know where else to put this but playing up genya and david's romance so it would hurt more when she killed david off was a cheap fucking shot.
THE WRITINGthe writing was disappointing, to say the least. after six of crows, i thought leigh would improve even further than she already had since the og trilogy but rule of wolves proved to be a regression. it is repetitive. the "banter" is generic and you can't really assign it to any character, the lines are practically interchangeable at times. she also can't seem to decide whether she expects you to have read her previous books in the grishaverse and know certain things or whether she wants to explain everything again. the explanations of events of previous books are quite frankly boring, and they happen again and again. not to mention that she even tries to explain the same things several times. i know what sun soldiers are, leigh. you've explained it 3 times in this book.
THE DARKLING AKA LEIGH'S ARCHNEMESISthe darkling. the boogey man of the grishaverse. where do i begin? she should've let him stay dead. his presence serves next to no purpose. only in the end he's conveniently the only immortal being around to sacrifice himself to stop the blight. which brings me to my next big point: leigh needs to decided how the fuck she feels about him and how she wants to write him. because this is a mess.
i already have a bit of a grudge over his characterization (and inconsistency thereof) in the og trilogy but i'll leave that out of this today. so, let's focus on rule of wolves.
throughout this book the darkling swings back and forth between being a deeply troubled, ancient and powerful man, who starts to faintly doubt himself and what he has done in the past and a mustache twirling, cartoonish mega villain. and it is infuriating. leigh has him tell us his past, has him quietly yearn for kinship and for safety for the grisha, his people, and in the next moment he's back to making grand schemes of terrifying the population into obeying him. she paints him as sympathetic, a man that can be understood and then she randomly adds in more crimes he apparently committed. one second she has him help nikolai fight against fjerda and the next he suddenly wants to leave him to die. it doesn't add up. it's inconsistent. he tentatively starts to second-guess himself but in the end she has him declare that he regrets nothing he has done in a textbook villain monologue. it's ridiculous.
which brings me to my next point:
FINGER WAGGING, DOUBLE STANDARDS AND OTHER THINGS I LOATHEleigh has an agenda. it's clear as day, especially in this book. there are several scenes where she outright wags her finger at the reader, scolding them for daring to interpret anything in her works differently than she wanted them to. the most glaring of them all is the meeting between the darkling, alina and mal. very aware of the criticism of the ruin & rising ending, she has alina explain how
actually, she didn't give up her powers, she was punished for being greedy like the darkling (because remember, he's the Big Bad Boogey Man) and now that she lives a quiet life tending to orphans with the man who really wanted her not to have her powers in the trilogy
an elephant never forgets, malyen, she's happy. in this effort to justify herself, leigh bends alina so far out of character that she forgets she knows the darkling's name. yeah. she has characters mention several times that the darkling isn't deserving of redemption, in those words. yes, they actually say redemption. we get it leigh, you hate him.
then there's the double standard within leigh's magical system. she has a whole scene of a character talking about how the grisha powers are the "small science" and how everything needs to be in balance or else. yet zoya is part of this very conversation with basically unchecked power. she can master all summoner powers, she can read other's emotions, she has visions and of course, she can turn into a dragon. there's no established boundary to what zoya can do but balance is important. alright.
another thing that annoyed me
a lot was the fact that leigh spent considerable time having her characters discuss humanity, the horrible position being at war puts you in, the terrible decisions one has to make and nothing groundbreaking ever comes out of it. lines like "we are all monsters now.", "i am the monster, the monster is me." and "mercy means nothing if we can't protect our own." are supposedly there to embrace moral grey areas, to show case how difficult decisions sometimes have to be made. yet, the darkling is condemned for his every action even though he did it to protect his people. it doesn't add up. either you fully embrace this moral grey space or you keep your fingers away. this flip-flopping is incosequential and annoying.
in general, leigh wants you to interpret her work exactly as she wants or she'll nag at you through her story telling. it's petty and not a good trait in an author.
THE (OPEN) ENDINGthe final fight with the fjerdans was....something. zoya flying in as a lightning spewing dragon seems like a fever dream and i honestly have no words. and the open ending with zoya sending word to kaz....please don't. let these books and characters rest. don't be cassandra clare.
SILVER LININGSyes, there were things i liked! i adore these characters, which is why i sat through this book in the first place. so, here's a list of some positive things:
- nikolai and zoya! their moments were incredible! i'm a sucker for royalty x general ships and they delivered. the scenes in zoya's garden and nikolai's confession tore me apart. why could we not have more of this?
- the crows! jesper and wylan being domestic and in love? sign me the fuck up! kaz still being a scheming bastard, outsmarting everyone and longing for his wraith? yeehaw baby!! inej sailing the seas unbothered, hunting slavers and being extra as fuck? what a queen
- the darkling's pov. when it was good, it was
good. it made glaringly obvious all the potential that he had and i mourn it every day.
ALL IN ALL...this book was a mess. there's no way around it. if you enjoyed it, if you loved it, good for you. i wish i was you. but for me this is a no. zoya, nikolai, i'm so sorry leigh didn't think that you could carry these books. you deserved more than this.
one last thing: how the fuck is jarl brum still alive after all of this?
Rating: really liked it
“All the Saints and their ugly mothers.” Bardugo has outdone herself again! Based on a lot of reviews, I didn't expect this series to measure up to the standards set by SoC - and the first book did feel like a step down - but Rule of Wolves makes a phenomenal comeback! For me, this second book is right up there with SoC duology, and I loved every bit of it.
“I have a surplus of bad ideas,” It feels repetitive to mention how much I've come to admire Bardugo's writing, world building, and character building, but, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge those excellent traits. I think she can make anything immersive enough to keep a reader engaged. But Rule of Wolves isn't 'anything'. It makes up nicely for the somewhat slower-paced King of Scars by delivering a highly eventful, and a thoroughly entertaining wrap up to the duology which is full of suspense, mystery and anything else one could hope for. Considering the length of this book (compared to previous ones), KoS could've easily been a trilogy. It certainly would've been possible with how much was happening in this book. I'm really grateful that Bardugo decided to pack everything here, and not to keep the readers waiting for a third book.
“I like to keep all of my potential assassins in one room.” The story picks up from that annoying ending of King of Scars, but the author introduces a set of twists at beginning, to eliminate the predictability of the story. We get a couple of new POVs, and some brief side quests to Shu and Kerch. It's a little difficult to say anything here without spoiling, so I'll just stop at saying there are some nice surprises waiting for SoC fans. I thought it would be annoying to read The Monk's POV, but it turned out good, if not amusing. Just like with King of Scars, even with the new POVs introduced here, more than half of the book orbits around Zoya: She is definitely the main character in Rule of Wolves. But I'm not complaining, as she has become one of my favorite characters in Grishaverse. Although, I feel she may be a little too over-powered here. The gloomy nature of Nina is not much changed, and I think Bardugo is not willing to make her character appear shallow by making her quickly recover over the loss of Matthias. I definitely hope to see her in future Grishaverse books. And finally, with beast or no beast, Nikolai is awesome as ever, and full of humor.
“We could play cards,” suggested Nikolai. “I’ve been working on a new poem—”(Tolya) “Or we could shoot ourselves out of a cannon.”(Nikolai) “A bit of culture wouldn’t hurt you.”(Tolya) Saying the plot was eventful is an understatement for this one. There was so much happening, and it often felt like reading a sequel to SoC. The suspense kept on building, and the ending was spread throughout the last quarter of the book instead of confining it to the last few chapters. It made the ending much more satisfying, and helped tying up a lot of loose ends. It was nice, for once, to have a proper ending.
“I think strong men show strength, but great men show strength tempered by compassion.” This time, with this being the last book and one with the big war, I thought I was prepared for loosing one or two characters towards the end, but Bardugo caught me off-guard. That bomb fell fell out of nowhere - literally and figuratively - and it was nearly impossible to recover from the melancholy it caused even after the end. And then, again, when it came to the last two chapters of Nina, Bardugo almost had me again. That could've broken the ending for me, but luckily, she must've been in a good mood when she wrote Nina's last chapter.
"I have a gift for order and a taste for chaos." For me, I think this is the first time that a second book of a series worked out this well, by elevating the overall quality of a series. While S&B trilogy was good, I don't think I'll re-read it in foreseeable future. SoC was incredible, and I can't wait till I get to re-read the duology, but as both books of that duology were equally good, no surprise there. This duology had a very different effect. Although I did enjoy King of Scars, it didn't have that 'must re-read' quality. But Rule of Wolves made me re-think that. The second book was a huge step-up from the first, and it not only became great on its own, but also elevated the overall quality of the duology, making one certainly wish for a re-read.
“Love is not known for making men reasonable.”
Rating: really liked it
This book would best be enjoyed by readers who are mega-fans of the Grishaverse characters and want to see more of them. Narratively however, this felt unnecessarily long and convoluted to me due to the number of character perspectives and storylines shoved in. I think the book would have been stronger if it the plot were more contained, rather than trying to expand the politics and magic system in ways that didn’t make sense, and if it had focused on a smaller number of central characters to fully develop them. This was supposed to be Nikolai’s duology plus Zoya as the other main character, and it feels like we lost that focus by doing too many other characters and storylines for the sake of pleasing fans. I’m all for Leigh Bardugo getting her coin since the Grishaverse is definitely making her bank, but I would have much preferred starting over with a new set of characters and problems within this world, rather than trying to continue storylines for existing characters that don’t quite work.
Rating: really liked it
Mark my words, on May 6th, 2018, that I'm calling it now: the title of this book
needs to be...
Queen of Mourning. Page 455 of
Crooked Kingdom, y'all.
King of Scars?
Queen of Mourning? Doesn't it have such a good ring to it?!
AUGUST 22, 2020 UPDATE:... don't talk to me. 😑
Rating: really liked it
we have officially reached the point where i no longer
really know what constitutes a good or bad installment in the grishaverse. ngl, rule of wolves was a big long messy mess but i had fun??? definitely haven't screamed this much while reading in a loooooooong time (rip my poor vocal cords).....zoyalai endgame was excellent too, and totally worth the wait <3
Rating: really liked it
this book can slap me and i would still say thank you
Rating: really liked it
The girl of my dream is just me but she already has this book
Rating: really liked it
omg. stop it. LB did
NOT just make the final chapter a teaser for a third six of crows book. im screaming.
the entire book was worth it just for that alone.
↠ 5 stars
Rating: really liked it
Normal people: Rule of Wolves sound awesome
Me who read Crooked Kingdom & is still traumatized: Why does it have wolves in the title? :((((((
Rating: really liked it
3 ½ stars.
Rule of Wolves, the sequel to
King of Scars and the latest in the Grishaverse, is… all over the place. Containing both some boring elements and some fantastically compelling ones, I honestly didn’t love the first half. But after spending about half of this complaining, the last hundred pages had me on the FLOOR and also fixed at least 60% of my problems with it.
The plot is a bit scattered between different arenas.
As the book begins: ▷Queen Makhi of Shu Han attempts to protect neice Akini, while her sister princess Ehri is alive and missing. Last book, Makhi had her assassin, Mayu, try to assassinate Nikolai, in revenge for Fjerda’s killing of her sister. Meanwhile, Nikolai and Zoya must also deal with Shu Han’s KerGud program, which fuses things to the bones of Grisha and corrupts their humanity.
▷The Darkling, resurrected last year by Elizaveta, is still trapped by Nikolai and Zoya. They hope he can stop the Blight, the real enemy of the novel.
▷Nina is trying to make fake miracles at the ice court under Brum’s eyes while spending time with his heir, Hanne. Meanwhile, she’s going full Rasputin in trying to manipulate Prince Rasmus of Fjerda and his mother, the two of whom are currently protecting Demidov, pretender to the throne of Ravka.
Several plot threads exist here, and I find two of three of them hugely compelling. The
King of Scars duology focuses on the general beginnings of people believing in saints, falling into some interesting
cultural trend storywriting. The focus on international politics is really compelling to me. In
Shadow and Bone, there’s a tendency to focus on implication rather than genuine politic. The highlights of the novel tend to fall in its political machinations and power plays — [Spoiler] (view spoiler)
[Nikolai’s little girlboss move of manipulating Makhi into coming to David and Genya’s wedding while Ehri returns to Shu Han is fantastic. (hide spoiler)]While some wonderful work is done with the side characters especially towards the second half — [spoiler] (view spoiler)
[I particularly adored Mayu, the assassin, and her dynamic with her brother, and enjoyed her teamup with Tamar and Ehri (hide spoiler)] — something was often missing to me. Half these characters are just… interior monologues, and not as much interaction as I’ve come to crave from Bardugo’s writing. The main enemy of much of the novel is
an existential threat, a blight, rather than an actual character. This left me craving more with side characters such as Adric and Leoni and less with the Darkling.
I couldn’t shake the feeling through much of this book, actually, that I was reading the coattails of a past book. What worked so well about
King of Scars was that, though of course we’re working with characters from past books, the development of Nikolai and Zoya felt
new. They’d never had points of view, and thus could continue to grow and change.
Yet some of this book felt like doubling back to the first series in a bad way. While I genuinely like what’s done with The Darkling here — [spoiler] (view spoiler)
[that he redeems some of his mistakes, yet characters such as Genya never receive apologies or forgive him, is nuanced in a way I enjoy (hide spoiler)] — I still think the Darkling being back is a lazy storyline. A new plot was needed. And [spoiler](view spoiler)
[killing off a major secondary character from the first series felt, to me, borderline emotionally manipulative. (hide spoiler)] Like much of the book, it’s riding the coattails of how beloved a character already was, rather than building something new.
But even with all of that, several points redeemed the novel for me.
Zoya and Nikolai as characters are deeply compelling. Zoya and Nikolai each suffer from a syndrome I would like to refer to as “the irredeemable monster complex” — when a character is utterly convinced they are an irredeemable monster, and they are ready to keep that locked inside them for the rest of their lives. Zoya’s arc is a particular standout; her [spoilers] (view spoiler)
[I can love you and let you go moment around pg.490s (hide spoiler)] is one of the highlights of the novel. And Zoya and Nina’s relationship, which appears as a throughline, is so important to me.
Perhaps more importantly, the ending is absolutely pitch-perfect. The ties between the Nina arc and the Zoya/Nikolai arc is unexpected, but perfect. The conclusion to Zoya and Nikolai’s arcs together is utterly perfect to me, something I would not have considered but absolutely love as an ending. And I enjoy the ending to Nina and Hanne’s arc quite a bit as well; it’s bittersweet, but deeply compelling. Also, [spoiler] (view spoiler)
[Matthias having been killed by Joran made me utterly crazy (hide spoiler)]. Overall, while this novel wasn't perfect, it left me with a good taste in my mouth that I don't think I see clearing anytime soon. I'm so glad to have gotten to spend more time with this world.
Blog | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | About |
Rating: really liked it
This book is my divine reward.
For years, I have been punished for being what many would call "stupid." I read books by authors I have never enjoyed. I continue series whose first book I two starred. I pick things up based on hype, when that has historically never worked for me.
And in return, I read disappointment after disappointment, book I don't like after book I don't like, synonym after synonym.
UNTIL NOW.
I should not have liked this book. I shouldn't have picked it up ever, let alone preorder it. And yet.
AND YET.
Look at that rating!!!
This book was extremely good, to me!
I did not like the first book in the original Grisha trilogy much, and yet I picked up the second. I did not like the second (to the extent that I had to DNF it, which has happened approximately 10 times out of 1200 opportunities), and yet I read the first book in this duology. And I did not care for that book AT ALL, and still I paid human money for this one before it even had a cover!
And for my faith and loyalty,
God Leigh Bardugo has seen fit to give me this present.
This was just so good.
Even though it had a million perspectives, and even though I historically didn't like any of the characters they followed, I enjoyed just about EVERY ONE this time. Even though in the last book, the pacing was off and nothing happened and even when it did I didn't care, this was NONSTOP FUN and ACTION. Even though the characters I hated in prior books appeared in this one, I WASN'T MAD.
Add in appearances from characters I actually did like, and a romance I was actually invested in, and politics that were compelling AND logical, and I'm a happy camper.
A happy camper who has no choice but to believe that the universe revolves around her, and that this book being specifically for me is the proof.
Bottom line: NEVER GIVE UP! Annoy everyone around you with your cynicism and grumpiness forever. You'll be duly repaid.
-----------------
pre-reviewin case it wasn't clear from the fact that i read a 600 page book in a day:
i liked this.
review to come / 4 stars?
-----------------
currently-reading updatesa readathon in to finish as many of my unread books as possible seemed like a good idea.
then i remembered i own 80 of them and most of them are either extremely long or impenetrable classics. or both.
clear ur shit prompt 7: read a book with gold or silver on the cover
follow my progress here-----------------
tbr reviewi did not like the grisha trilogy. i did not like the first book in this duology. but i did preorder this, because i'm LOYAL.
Rating: really liked it
This is what love does. In stories , love healed your wounds , fixed what was broken , allowed you to go on. But love wasn't a spell , some kind of benediction to be whispered, a balm or a cure-all. It was a single , fragile thread, which grew stronger trough connection , trough shared hardship and honored trust.....'' But maybe that was the trick of it; ; too survive , to dare to stay alive , to forge your own hope when all hope had run out. '' summary/opinion , no spoilers off the previous books. 5 starsss✨✨✨✨✨👀
This book was such a journey once again created my the brilliant Leigh Bardugo. This book was everything i hoped for after finishing king of scars. It is a journey of people who fight four their country , the dream of a better world , a world where grisha will be free and where Ravka will be whole again , a journey of hope for the country and for the charracters own wounds. The story is about fighting for that hope and the dream and it is about healing your wounds mentally and accepting yourself the way you are with your past included. This book brilliantly got all the grisha books together and made all the individual stories connect as a whole in a brilliant way.
This revieuw contains spoilers for all the previous grisha verse books including king of scars. It also contains spoiler for rule of wolves itself but those are at the very last of this revieuw marked with bold spoiler tags ! Rule of wolves starts off right where king of scars ended. The darkling has returned like aloa bitches here i am again and he is now in a special cell in Ravka. It follows the povs we also had in the last book of ;
Nikolai Lantsov who we need too protect at all cost who is now one with the demon inside of him and batteling for a better Ravka for the upcoming war against our lovely Fjerda ,
Zoya Nazalensky who is now one with the dragon and the spirit of Juris and who is fighting with her past and the acceptance of it while also batteling with nikolai against Fjerda and
Nina Zenik who is still in the lovely Fjerda with Hanne and our lovely * cough * Brum trying too get information from the inside of fjerda too get too Nikolai. We also have some more povs in this book that i wont tell you about but which where intresting too the overall story.
The plot , world The plot of this book was so freaking intense and just AMAZING. it is super fast paced and the stakes are high troughout the whole book , we have plently of plottwistst too keep us on our toes and makes us want too scream intoo the void very loud. We have multiple povs that show different sides of the story. The book is definitly charracter driven and driven on the struggles of the charracters and the orad towards fighting for a better future and accepting themselves but it is also very much plot driven , its just the perfect mix between these two elements that makes you connect somuch. The plot is just so intense and has lots of twistst and such a great plot/charracter driven combination that i live for.
Charracters Nikolai Lantsov , the person who looks like a cinnamon roll and actually is a cinnamon roll Nikolai is officially my number one favorite male charracter. I love this male so much. Leigh created a very sarcastic charracter who has somuch hope in his heart and gives that hope too others and is willing too do anything for that better world and no matter how dark the days get he makes a new sarcastic comment and holds on too this hope and drives Ravka trough all the bad. But Leigh also really shows with his charracter that even if someone is on the outside very outgoing and cheerfull inside they can be struggeling and this is so important , Preach Leigh. My bby deserves nothing but happiness and this duology gave him somany more layers of depht. also he gives us amazing banter ,we stan him here on this page.
'' Is it the shadow inside you that makes you brave ? ''
'' I should hope not. i was making bad decisions long befor that thing showed up. '' '' was that what drew him to this life as king ? He longed for peace for his country , but did some part of him fear it aswell ? Who was he without someone to appose him , without a problem to solve ? '' Zoya Nazyalensky , the general who looks like like she could kill you and actually would DAMN. what a female charracter. Zoya is so complex and her story really came too life in this duology. We have somuch more depht too her and her story really came together in this finale book. Zoya is brave and fights for the things she believes in and she is slowly going too the journey of accepting herself and her past , of letting love in instead of pushing it away because she is scared of getting hurt. I love watching her development somuch. Zoya chose mercy when it was so easy too chose vegance. this is what i call charracter development pREACH. This girl is amazing.
You are strong enough to survive the fall. But that was an old voice , the voice of a hurt child who had no one to trust , who feared there would always be someone more powerful and cruel then her. She would forever be a bloodthirsty , furious girl , but she might allow herself too be something else too. If she had helped to earn piece for Ravka , then maybe she could grant her own heart a bit of piece aswell. Nina Zenik , looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you Nina Zenik , my queen of waffles. This girl will forever be one of my favorite female charracters. She is brave , can be impulsive , loves waffles , is stubborn and wants her way , is passionate and loves very deeply and is sassy , Krizzie is that you ?? i relate too her a lot and i love her story in this duology , the story of grieve but about finding happiness again and about accepting the things that have happend and give it a place.
Also all the side charracters i still love , they all have their own personality and add something too the story and all the banter the charracters have together is too live for.
Romance I live for the slowburn between Nikolai and Zoya , they developt even more together in Rule of Wolves and i just screamed at all the scenes they have together. In my opinion they have somuch chemistry and the scene where nikolai follows her too the garden is cheff kiss. I also love their banter , no what i live for it. And the way they accept eachother for who they are with their flaws and how they can be themselves with eachother but OH THE SLOWBURN , the angst HELP.
Overall this is such a good sequel in this duology and i loved it even more then King of scars , the plot is constant full of action and high stakes and tension , the romance is slowburn and full of chemistry , there is great banter and amazingly worked out charracters OH AND emotional pain i warn you. i cried my eyeballs out at 1 am.
SPOILER PART , SPOILERS OF INSIDE RULE OF WOLVES CONTENT. - THE CROWS OHMYLORD the crows appeared. i honestly screamed when kaz showed up and then Jesper bby and Wylieeee. AND THEN AT THE END INEJ. YES !!!! i loved how this book connected all the stories together. The story of the crows , the story of alina and mal [ yes they also appear and i actually liked it even tho i died a little when i heard mal speak ew. ] , the darkling and the charracters from this duology like this is just masterpiece work connecting all these pieces. AND THE BANTER OF THE CROWS. i wheezed so hard and my heart is happy.
'' because unlike Kaz , i have a conscience. ''
'' I have a conscience, '' said Kaz. '' It just knows when to keep its mouth shut. ''
Jesper snorted. '' If you have a conscience , its gagged and tied to a chair somewhere. '' - Zoya becoming the dragon OHMYLORD I SCREAMED. this is just ugh. i sobbed and screamed.
- i loved having a darkling pov , it makes him even more complex and it was intresting too me too look inside his mind and it shows us that he is indeed just so afraid of being forgotten and being unremembered , alexander.
- THIS LINE I SOBBED ;
'' Nikolai followed his queen trough the mountains and knew hope would leat them home. '' ZOYA BEING QUEEN YES.
- the transgender rep of Hanne !!! i love this and saw it coming. i love how leigh includes this without it being forced.
- i still dont like Nina with Hanne a lot but i am glad they are happy. i just dont stan but the romance is good. But i just want matthias bby oops. i am biased.
- this line from Nikolai too zoya. goosbumps everytime ;
I will always seek to make it summer for you. '' fuck i am so happy they are endgame and happy together now. they deserve it somuch. Thier chemistry is just +++++++
- THE KISS WE ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR , THE SLOWBURN.
- THE PAIn , david his death fucking broke me and i am still a mess. on the fucking wedding day Leigh is a monster. i hate her yet i love her.
last quote i swear ;
'' Then i would gladly be your prince , your demon consort , your demon fool.'' '' you will grow to hate me. Im too sharp , too angry , too spitfeful. ''
'' You are all of those things , but you are so much more , Zoya. Our people will come to love you not despite your ferocity , but because of it. Because you showed mercy in our darkerst hour. Because we know that if daqnger comes again , You will never falter. give us that chance. '' ''Get a message to the crow Club'' she said '' Tell Kaz Brekker the queen of Ravka has a job for him. '' FUCK WHAT A WAY TOO END THE BOOK , I AM 100 % SURE NOW WE ARE GETTING ANOTHER SIX OF CROWS BOOK AND I AM SCREAMING STILL.
SPOILER HAVE ENDED read this book , be in pain and be happy. NOW
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars.
Leigh deserves the world.
I deserve an ambulance.
Rating: really liked it
SO MANY SHIPS
SO LITTLE TIME!!!!
Rating: really liked it
"Maybe that was the trick to it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out."This all started in Shadow and Bone, and seeing how far we have come, all that these characters have gone through to get here is just
I honestly don't understand how people skip that series and think they can fully grasp the impact of what goes down in the SoC and N duologies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Some non-spoilery thoughts for you:
-How I went from hating Zoya to her being my favorite character in the series is just... Hats off Ms. Bardugo.
-I thought I couldn't despise the Darkling more than I already did?? But then Zoya's POV, and Genya's reflections on their time at the Little Palace and the stuff that went down during TGT just doubled that. So there's that. Fuck the genocidal gaslighting asshat.
-I will never hear the word 'Privateer' and not giggle.
-The way this is relevant and relatable. The diversity. The impact. Wowww.
