Rule of Wolves

King of Scars Duology, Book 2

By: Leigh Bardugo

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Grishaverse will be coming to Netflix soon with Shadow and Bone, an original series!

The wolves are circling, and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant number-one New York Times best-selling 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.

©2021 Leigh Bardugo (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

All is forgiven, Ms. Bardugo

For those like me, who loved The Six of Crows duology but only liked Shadow and Bone as it moved away from Alina’s story and, towards, well, anyone else, this conclusion to King of Scars is fantastic. While there’s still not enough of Kaz’s crew, there’s at least more than before, and a small heist for old times sake. Also, finally the action, steam punk, and twists are on full display. Finally!

Were there some off points? Perhaps. Not sure I buy the way things ended with the Darkling. And it does feel like most of the characters’ endings were written to please the fans, rather than to provide a plausible endings to all three series in the “we always get the short end of the stick” Grishaverse. But, on the whole, I was a little wrecked, somewhat surprised and ultimately well satisfied with this ending.

Over it!

I’m so tired of authors deciding to be “trendy” and homosexualize their characters. Nina, who was heartbroken at the loss of her husband in previous books, is now a lesbian. The first book in the duology paved the way, and in the second book she went for it. I have no problems with who people chose to love and it’s sad that there has been so much hate. BUT the VAST majority (nearly all of the population) is not gay. So why do authors keep feeling like every new book they write has to have a gay character. I’m so freaking tired of it. It makes me super uncomfortable listening to gay romance! It especially makes me upset when I have been completely invested in this series, re-reading the ENTIRE Grishaverse collection, before starting this duology. I’m so disappointed in each author who does this. It’s okay to NOT be gay too!
Gay Nina aside, I’m over the series. The first Grishaverse book I read, years ago, was Six of Crows. I LOVED it & listened to everything after that. Upon re-reading everything, I don’t even know what my initial mesmerization was. When the Darkling came back in these books I was rolling my eyes. Really?! It seems like this book (these last 2) were just a regurgitation of the same story. I’m relieved to be done with it all so I can move on to some fun summer reads.
Previously I’d emphatically recommended the series. Not anymore.

Simply amazing

I’ve been waiting for about 6-7 months for this book to release and boy oh boy let me tell you that it did NOT disappoint me. I absolutely can’t wait for the next installment of this series! Amazing read with massive ups and downs on the roller coaster of emotions. I love this book.

Parts of it are amazing

The A plot of this book is absolutely incredible. Everything with Zoya and Nikolai is utterly perfect and amazing. The B plot with Nina and eventually the C plot with Tamar and D plot with the Darkling are incredibly boring and I spent every second of all three of them just waiting to get back to the A plot. Too many stories going on at once with almost nothing interesting in them to justify so many splits in the plot. You could cut out Tamar and Mayu’s perspective of the C plot and The Darkling’s perspective of the D plot from the book and the book would be literally no different 🤷🏻‍♂️.

disappointed

author had to get politically correct in a time period that would never had such controversy...

My favorite book of the entire Grishaverse…

Lauren Fortgang as the narrator is incredible . This book brings so many of our beloved character’s stories to riveting conclusions and others find their much deserved endings in poetic justice. Well done all the way around!

A WILD Ride

Love Lauren Fortgang and her voices! Some of the last bits of the story I wanted to see happen just nit that quickly and now I'm caught up/finished(?) with the Grishaverse... what now?

Wonderful conclusion!

I totally loved this Duology and even better, even though the ending is quite satisfying, the last sentence allows for future stories in this universe, which makes me happy! Although I never finished the first trilogy (which I am remedying as I type), I enjoyed the character development in this story so much that I now want to go back and read the trilogy from the beginning, if only so I can learn more about the back story of Nikolai, as well as Zoya and the rest of the Grisha who were enslaved by the Darkling. And yes, I want to learn more about the Darkling. Alina is probably one of the least interesting characters for me, but I definitely want to understand her more and figure out how she arrived at the position she is in this Duology. This is completely spoiler-free, so I don't want to include any specifics, but Zoya was probably my favorite character in this series and I loved the tone/accent that Lauren Fortgang did whenever she voiced Zoya's words. I found myself laughing, cheering her on, and crying for her throughout the book!

It took longer for me to get sucked into Nina's story for this series, but once I did, I was totally cheering her on. My heart broke every time she talked about Matthais, but it was also interesting to find out more about why he was so unusual for his country. I absolutely loved how things ended up for her, but as I got sucked into her part of the story, there were quite a few times when I waited for the other shoe to drop. There were so many other "supporting" characters that I loved, including Hanne, Mayu Kir-Kaat, Genya, David, Tolya, and Tamar. Even Kaz and Inez make an appearance. This duology absolutely renewed my interest in this Universe, so as I said, I'm starting Shadow and Bone shortly and will reread the Six of Crows Duology when I finish. Perhaps I did this out of order (Grisha purists might yell at me), but when I found myself getting kind of bored with Alina, I just stopped reading the first trilogy. And although I obviously missed some of the backstories in this duology, I didn't feel like I missed anything and it ended up renewing my interest. My favorite thing about Bardugo is how well she connects the multiple threads and the interesting characters that she creates and it is obvious to me that she is continuing to grow and improve as an author. I am crossing my fingers that at some point she writes more stories for this universe, but for now, I'm hoping she'll continue with the Ninth House series because I loved that one as well!

OP but not as OP as you should wish for.

This story is definitely twisty. In the good way, feels like a very traditional plot line, but it does have a lot of redeeming qualities. Zoya and Nikolai side of the story was awesome. the darkling plot is pretty me. The cameos you do get in this story set up for a much anticipated sequel for a birdy crew. ;)

My only complaints is that Nina story felt short and feels like her and Hana's journey set thier character development to a flatline after awhile.

The romance feels a bit angsty at times, but is definitely better than king of scars.

Definitely recommend though.

Disappointing

Far too much going on, far too many viewpoints, and a lot of loose ends trying to be covered up by very pretty bows

hmmmm

A little too childish in the personal exchanges, with constant threats of extreme violence by women on men, highly woke too, in that it's amazing how all the woman are super strong and confident, whilst the men are bumbling stuttering fools. Maybe that was the way the narrator interpreted the script, but it still grates. If it was reversed, ie men on women, I would feel the same, it got quite boring very quickly. Not up to previous standards, by a long shot. Realy struggled to finish it. It's a fantasy novel granted, but some reality needs to adhered to for the sake of a captivating read.

disappointed

could not follow the story. narrators voice did not probably do justice to the book. could not finish. disappointed as is a topic I enjoy

Great listen.

Although Leigh Bardugo has said this is the end for now, there are enough doors left open for a return at a later date. I won't post any spoilers.

Once again Lauren Fortgang has done an amazing job with her performance.

An epic end to the grishaverse

This book was everything I needed it to be. I laughed and cried the whole way through as I said goodbye to all my favourite characters. Bravo Leigh, you really made a masterpiece.

As always a great Narrator

I always Lauren Fortgang totally slays this. Leigh Bardugo is a genius and this book is awesome. Love it!!!

a fitting cliff to leave this on

wow, loved it, though it could have been about 100 pages shorter. I hope we get another Crows series to carry this on. Only disappointment were the Alina scenes, felt like the author needed to put them there to make people happy. Still the best set of the grishaverse books IMHO.

great story!

A GREAT continuation to king of scars. i love how all the characters keep their own voices and sound decidedly Russian. I applaud the narrator for the skill of keeping the voices the same as in the first part. Though it is a dualigy, it doesnt sound finished at the end at all... i will keep my eye out for more

It was ok

All very predictable but enjoyable. Although sometimes I wonder what Genya ever did to Leigh 😅

just brilliant

Well written. Well performed. twisty turns and highs and lows. I've loved the whole series of the grishaverse. and will continue to consume as much as Leigh Bardugo provides absolutely astounding

Leigh Bardugo, author extraordinaire

This lady the most incredible imagination.
To pen books with characters and storylines the way she does is pure genius.
I cannot put her books down once started then long for the next episode.
I've listened to the audio books and the ability of Lauren Fortgang to give the characters their voice as well as superb narration has to be given credit as well.
Thank you to both ladies and please write some more soon, Leigh.