Hello world! It’s me, April.
It’s been a hot second since I’ve posted, or interacted with the blogosphere for that matter. The end of the school year is coming to a close (one. more. week) and you know, life stuff happened. Tests, projects, nationals for speech, the musical, the whole shebang. I’ve been reading up a storm (read: stress reading rom-coms) and haven’t really had the energy to do the little finger-tap-dance required to sit down and type out a post.
But I finished King of Scars the other day, and let me tell you, I have thoughts. So I decided to do another Thoughts I Had While Reading post. Yay team!
Please note, there are potential spoilers for Crooked Kingdom, but nothing overtly spoil-y about King of Scars. Everything is out of context and I chopped out parts that spoiled major plot points, so you should be in the clear.


Book: King of Scars
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Format: ebook
Published January 29th 2019 by Imprint
Trigger Warnings
Sexual assault (implied), Death of a loved one, Torture, Captivity, War themes, Bullying, Violence

- the banter! it’s literally chapter two and I’m already loving the snark
- the way i thought nina was decapitating a body and not a fish…
- omg waffle scrubs! i want that
- i thought i was emotionally ok after CK, but KoS is driving that poisoned knife further into my heart ow
- hold the phone— kirigan???
- ok so nina is just casually chit chatting with the dead?? cool cool
- respected?? pfft, sure buddy, you keep telling yourself that
- good god
- 9?!?!
- y’all. was the cult really necessary??
- that’s not good
- The fact that I’m not even halfway through this book and I would straight up kill for any of these characters… I think this is a sign that I am far too emotionally invested
- Ok but why is the Darkling lowkey smart in the scariest way possible. I mean, if you ignore the sheer idiocy that is his name (seriously, could be be any less subtle??) and think about the motivation behind a lot of his actions. Like he knew that Genya valued her beauty, so he targeted it. Similar to how he knew that Nikolai valued his mind so he targeted that as well.
- the dialogue in this book is pure gold
- ok but what is the point of breaking into the ice court if you can’t brag about it??
- I love how the Darkling stans in the book also manage to completely misinterpret his character even within the fictional universe
- “Great men are often the victims of lies told by their enemies.” I— I don’t even know where to start, but I do know that I want to punch this kid
- Please Zoya, verablly shred this man
- or physcially shred him. i’d be ok with that too
- that is very much not good
- yea that is very very not good
- who is isaak?????? *confusion*
- oh wait… i figured it out
- NO HE DIDN’t
- Nikolai is giving Kaz a run for his money with their utterly ridicious plans that always, miraculously, work out
- now there is a talking dragon???
- WAIT A DAMN SECOND
- noooo, not this man again
- I’m calling trickery right now. There is no way that this dragon-dreamscape-disaster will end nicely
- they are so not giving up their power
- I have a bad feeling about this
- Welp it is offical, Kaz’s greed quote applies to everyone
- I have the re-alived trope with a burning passion ugh
- y’all are going down so fast
- that is very much not good

Hands down my favorite book of the Grishaverse. The characters, the storytelling, the sheer choas of the terrible plans actually working. I’m here for all of it. I thought Six of Crows was amazing (which it is) but somehow Miss Bardugo kept going with these 10/10 books. Wow wow wow

Have you read King of Scars?? What did you think? Who was your favorite character??

I love these kind of posts! They make me laugh so much 😂
Even I was kinda pissed at the whole resurrection trope thing. I seriously hate when that happens. Also I can’t wait for you to read Rule of Wolves!! It’s SO GOOD (and we have an amazing cameo which I’m assuming you already know about).
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ahaha thank you!!! SAME!!! like there were so many directions the story could have gone in, but instead we had to go THAT PATH ARGGG??? i’m so excited to read it!! i have a hold on the library so it’s just waiting to come in. sadly i have so many spoilers for that book (i know who dies, who shows up, far too much information arggg)(thanks book twitter *glares*)
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argh ikr?? spoilers are the worst 😦
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ugh, truly
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I love your reviews 😂👏
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thank you so much : )
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Great post April! I’ve been on the fence as to whether or not I want to read KoS, so I’m really glad to hear you loved it!! The Nina content in here seems to be a tragic kind of precious and I might have to pick up this book just to have my feels obliterated 🥺 And at this point I’m pretty sure I know who gets resurrected, and it irks me just thinking about it 🤦♀️😂
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thank you so much Abby! I was debating for a while too to be honest (i mean how could it possibly live up to six of crows and crooked kingdom???) but it definitely did! there was some scheming, amazing sass, and of course some of our favorite characters!! omg all of the nina content simultaneously made me want to cry, laugh, and give nina a hug. it definitely is some closure for the last book which i for one appreciated. argggg it was SO ANNOYING! i hope you decide to read it!! happy reading 🤗
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I hated it when the Darkling was brought back from the dead!! Other than that, and the feeling that Nina’s POV never really ‘fit in’ with the rest of the story, KoS was awesome. I’m glad you enjoyed reading this!!
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ugh me either! the Darkling didn’t need to come back for any reasons. That’s very true! I was expecting them to connect, but I liked both of the storylines so much I didn’t actually hate it!!! me too! my expectations were sky high after six of crows so I’m glad I enjoyed it too!!
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I love this type of post! And I cannot wait to read this duology! I love me some Nikolai 😂
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ahhh thank you so much!! omg it’s SO GOOD! the characters are literally everything!! and you really can’t go wrong with Nikolai haha
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You’ve got me so pumped to read this now!!
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Ooh I love reading your thoughts and reactions!! King Of Scars has been on my TBR ever since I finished the SoC duology.
And since we’re talking about this, could you give me your opinion – do you think I can read (and comprehend 😅) King Of Scars without having read the Shadow & Bone trilogy? I know the basics from the TV show, but nothing else beyond that…
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ahhh thank you so much!!
hmm, well I was confused about Six of Crows without reading Shadow and Bone. So maybe a good starter question is how good were you able to understand Six of Crows without reading Shadow and Bone??
And then, only if you have no interest in reading the og trilogy, I’d probably look up some spoilers. Or maybe just read Ruin and Rising because that’s the important one. It would be hard to understand and care about the characters without reading the original trilogy. But it could probably be done if you only read Ruin and Rising (info on Alina, Nikolai, the Darkling, Zoya, Genya +++)?? I don’t know if that is helpful or not, but hopefully lol….
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Ah well I understood Six Of Crows just fine though it was a little difficult at the very beginning.
Huh thats actually good advice, I’ll probably look up plot summaries of the first two books and then read just Ruin and Rising (you know why I don’t want to read the s&b books? Because I already know I am going to hate being stuck in Alina’s head based on all the reviews I’ve read)
That was really helpful, thank you so much April!
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ahaha yea that could just been the generic fantasy confusion! I’m lowkey impressed, I was SO confused by the magic system basically the whole time lol
Ayyy glad to help! That is a very valid reason. I honestly think I would’ve liked s&b a whole lot more had they been in 3rd rather than 1st. Being in Alina’s head drove me nuts and really took away from my enjoyment of the story ugh
Glad to help Rachel!! do tell me what you think as you start reading : )
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Ahh I loved reading this ❤️I haven’t read King of Scars but I loved Six of Crows. But I’m glad you enjoyed it! Great post, April!
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ahhh thank you so much Ritz!! I didn’t think Six of Crows could be topped, but here we are lol. Happy reading : )
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I love these!! They are so hilarious, and I haven’t even read this book and I’m still entertained!!
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ahaha thank you so much!! I’m glad to hear it!! happy reading : )
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I loved King of Scars so much, and Rule of Wolves was phenomenal. Your post was so funny and a thrill to read ❤ hope you enjoy the next one just as much.
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ahh yes, the whole duology is 10/10. thank you so much, I’m glad to hear that!!! yesss I finished Rule of Wolves and it was everything I could have hoped for!!! the cameos from other characters, the character development, the open ending??? LOVE IT
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