Book #137 of 2021:
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo (King of Scars #2)
This is a much busier volume than its predecessor in the King of Scars duology, but author Leigh Bardugo impressively manages to bring it all together in the end (which is a welcome change from how disconnected Nina’s storyline felt before). The narrative could certainly have been tightened up in places — there’s a fun but random excursion to Kerch for a quick Six of Crows cameo heist and a wholly unnecessary redemption plot for the Darkling of all people — but it generally zips around the warring realms with a confident touch and builds to a moving focus on setting vengeance aside to work on healing the strife of the world at last.
Nikolai also gets to be rather clever in terms of strategy for his beleaguered and outmatched nation, and the two main romantic threads each blossom nicely into mutual tender caring for folks who really deserve that after all they’ve been through. There’s even a lovely trans coming-out moment for a major character, joining the LGB representation that Bardugo has gradually been adding into this fantasy franchise. And we get our most significant look yet at Shu Han culture and politics too, a long-overdue exploration of the Chinese-analogue country on the borders of the Russian-inspired Ravka.
As Netflix viewers are now discovering, the ‘Grishaverse‘ is a wonderful setting brimming with story possibilities, and although the writer could maybe have trimmed back her ambitions of everything to cram into this seventh novel, it’s hard to argue with the overall effectiveness of the text.
[Content warning for racism, medical experimentation, and gore.]
This volume: ★★★★☆
Overall series: ★★★★☆
Volumes ranked: 1 > 2
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