The Demon King. As Fjerda's massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lanstov 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.
*To write what I feel to be the strongest review possible, I will be including spoilers in the review below. This way, I can analyze the entire text. Spoiler moments are not individually marked. Please read at your own risk!*
After the end of King of Scars, Nikolai definitely better understood what it means to be a king. All of the responsibilities her juggles, all the lives he holds in his hands—if he didn't know that before he arrived with the Darkling in tow and Isaak under a burial cloth, then he knows it now. But even though he's aware of the sacrifices and the risks, Nikolai is still a young man, running away scared from the princess he's supposedly got to be engaged to because he's obviously in love with someone else. But even the too-clever fox can get himself out of that one—and quite possibly all the excitement from Rule of Wolves comes from the ways in which Nikolai gets himself out of the highest of situations—one of which takes him to the heart of Ketterdam. Nikolai's scheming as a king both on the battlefield and off, his witty jokes and bright energy fill this book, as does his fierce determination to do whatever he has to. Nikolai undergoes some character growth in this finale, too; while he understood what it meant to be king in King of Scars, he finally got to understand exactly what his purpose is in Rule of Wolves. In a way, his story is equally as powerful and moving as Zoya's. And like Zoya, he got the ending he deserved and wrote for himself—not one foisted upon himself based on his birth or rank.
Leigh Bardugo has said that Zoya has been her favorite character to write, and it really shows in this explosive sequel. Not only must Zoya be a fun character to write, but she's an incredible character to follow. Her character growth is off the charts in Rule of Wolves, and it's truly inspiring to see the ways in which she's brought to life. We learned about Zoya's complicated and grief-filled past in King of Scars, and now it's just a matter of her opening up to the ones who love her. She is simultaneous a tougher warrior, with the help of Juris, and becoming a more vulnerable person, also with the help of Juris and her closest friends Nikolai and Genya. Zoya's story felt the most raw, and took centerstage. It's absolutely marvelous watching Zoya on the page: she's both the ruthless general we know her to be, but once she starts allowing herself intimate moments with Nikolai, it's like she's fully understanding who she can be and what kind of power she does have. The themes of love and vulnerability that Zoya's character brings to this book honestly make the book. This is absolutely the ending Zoya has deserved.
We left off with Nina and Hanne deciding to work together. Nina has finally found purpose, and a partner in crime for all her whims. Nina is the one who starts us off, in Fjerda and in Fjerdan court no less. The stakes are high for her position: a spy right under the infamous Jarl Brum's nose. In King of Scars, Nina's story seemed to split from Zoya's and Nikolai's as she underwent her own transformation. Now, her schemes are tied more closely to home as she helps the Ravkan war effort from afar. And Hanne, who we haven't yet had a chance to get to know, is playing a big part. By essentially sacrificing herself to the Fjerdan marriage market, Hanne has become the same kind of spy Nina has: deep undercover, and willing to do anything that will be best for her country. In King of Scars, Nina's healing and grief process was very linear. However, we learn that the opposite is true, not just for Nina but in general. There are moments of grief and lost hope for Nina, and in fact the most amazing moment of that is when she finds out exactly who Matthias's murderer is. We see Nina really fight to understand what mercy means and how to best practice it, while also keeping her own interests at heart. Like with Zoya, Nina got the ending she deserved with this book, and I'm so glad we left her where she is. After all the heartbreak and scheming, she deserves some peace, love, and waffles.
Bardugo does a lot of work at the beginning of Rule of Wolves to introduce many, many moving pieces on this chess board. We have the war with Fjerda, a pretender in Fjerda seeking the throne, the love interest building between Nikolai and Zoya, the Shu to the south with Ehri as a marriage prospect for Nikolai while the Shu Queen remains an enemy, the Zemeni and Kerch interactions as allies and foes, the Apparat and his unknowable schemes, and the Darkling of course casting his lovely shadow over the whole thing, along with the blight that is doing the same thing. At first, it can feel almost overwhelming, getting acquainted with all of these issues and then just hoping against hope that Nina, Zoya, and Nikolai will somehow be able to solve it all. In fact, Bardugo is the mastermind of all these pieces, and all of them get nice, neat, tied up endings. This is no small feat, because in the meantime, we watch battles, deaths, excitements, hopes all come to life before our eyes, which no doubt makes this the most explosive of the Grishaverse books.
The way Bardugo opens Rule of Wolves is a total deviation from the way she usually opens her trilogies. Rather than a male impoverished figure (in Six of Crows, Joost opens; in Crooked Kingdom, Retvenko opens; and in King of Scars, the young Dima opens), Bardugo chooses the fearsome monarch of Shu Han, Queen Makhi to shed light on the powers of the blight. Getting this opening is certainly foreshadowing for all the content we're about to receive in Rule of Wolves: blights, dangers, queens, kings, death, more of Shu Han and their politics, for starters. The Shu are big players in this sequel, so it's wonderful to get an opening that sheds light on their monarch's motivations and sorrows, even though we won't have another chapter in her point of view.
However, this deviation of the style of the Prologue isn't the only exciting point of view change Bardugo has made in this book. She also introduces two new characters as chapter leaders in the second part of the novel. Mayu and the Monk as additional point of view characters is interesting, because the choice is not shocking in the least. We need to know what's going on in Shu Han after the first half of the novel, and we need to know what's happening with Yuri and the Darkling once he escapes. This book is war-heavy, and Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina can't (and don't) have eyes everywhere. It doesn't make much sense to cast both of these areas in the dark and to have the other Ravka- and Fjerda-based characters reveal what they're doing. Especially since there's no way spy networks would reveal the entire truth of what's happening in the Shu palaces or Starless Saint tents. And honestly, why validate an expansion of spy networks when you can include two more point of view characters, enliven the story, and work with two new (new?) characters? Introducing Mayu will have readers sympathize with her plight and her choices, even though they weren't the best choices. Seeing Shu Han from her eyes and learning her grief and motivations was really powerful for this story of war and grief and brief joys. Seeing the Darkling in a reincarnated body was fun, if only to see the new horrors he has to face. All I will say here is that he got the ending he deserved, and good riddance (maybe?).
The pacing of this novel is immaculate. The further I got into the book, the more I felt like I was actually going to war. The quick marches towards battles, the sudden shocks of reveals and surprise attacks, the slow drag when grief pulls you under—all of this was there. And it all makes a book about war feel paced exactly how I believe war would unfold.
The cameos were beyond fun! If this were the absolute last book of the Grishaverse universe (which I honestly highly doubt, but I'm trying not to get too hopeful), then every single fan will be sated, as they get one more glimpse of their favorite characters. We see the Crows, which was both heartwarming and heartwrenching. Leigh does tie Inej in, and her safety is pivotal in a bargain struck between the Bastard of the Barrel and the King of Scars. After Nikolai handed over the blueprints to his infamous underwater ships, Inej also became susceptible to danger, which I'm glad Leigh remembered and remedied to "fix" in a sense, with Nikolai's trip to Ketterdam. It gave that trip a greater feeling of depth and purpose, which wouldn't have existed had Kaz only wanted money payment.
Leigh left that ending wide open for another Six of Crows book, or even another King of Scars books. Based on this and her printed and published bio, I will be remaining very, very hopeful for the Grishaverse's future. And even if Leigh doesn't walk through that open door, we still have the Shadow and Bone Netflix TV Series coming April 23rd! We are definitely not going through a shortage of content, but stay tuned either way by following Leigh on Instagram or keeping up to date at her website leighbardugo.com.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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