Blurb:
Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.
Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.
My review:
Leigh bardugo’s books never fail to amaze me and so this book is no such exception. Even though I find the story was a bit slow at the beginning I did enjoy it. There was not a lot of magic in this book like Grisha Trilogy(GT) as it mainly focuses on protecting Ravka from the neighbouring nations.
Being a King was not an easy job but was there anything that Nikolai couldn’t do? Absolutely not. His character was expressed as same as in the GT the same charming, funny, handsome and the one who you can’t stop loving. I love the other two main characters Nina and Zoya. I felt sorry for Nina and it just breaks my heart to see her broken. At the same time, I am happy that she fulfilled Matthias last wish.
I have already loved Nina from the “Six of Crows” but Zoya was a character who I don’t love because of her rudeness. But I did love her in this book, that doesn’t mean she had stopped being rude, the reason is that she had a hard past and that really justifies her rudeness in the present. All our past justifies who we are in our present, Isn’t?
Coming to the author’s writing styles, I love the way she handles the characters from start to the end without losing their unique personality. The twist in the middle was something I didn’t even imagined coming. And not only the characters but I was shocked by the climax too. Overall I loved this book so very much and can’t wait to read the upcoming book in the series. So definitely recommending this book to everyone out there but do read this after reading Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows duology.
Deepireads 