Written by Brooklyn Saliba
When Leigh Bardugo announced King of Scars, a duology that will focus on Nikolai from The Grisha Trilogy, but also focus on one of my favourite fictional females, Nina from Six of Crows, I knew I had to at least reread Shadow and Bone, especially with it being announced that Netflix had gained the rights to produce a TV series focusing on BOTH Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows!
I absolutely loved every moment of my reread. During my first read in 2016, I instantly thought that it was one of the most unique, detailed, and awe-inspiring book worlds. It felt like the book was just as addictive the second time around as I found myself utterly in awe of the world of Ravka once more!
Alina, our narrator, is such a fabulous character, she has such stellar growth throughout. Leigh Bardugo creates such amazing female characters, including Nina and Inej in Six of Crows. It was a joy to experience what happened to her and explore her emotions again as the reader first meets her as a young orphan before she gets plucked away from everything she knew and the one friend she’s held dear for as long as she can remember.
She’s thrust into the world of the Grish, where Alina faces a destiny she never though possible, especially with a special power that she never knew how to wield. She must navigate her way through brutal training and finds an ally in Genya (whose friendship I adored early on) and finds herself being favoured by The Darkling—I promise you will not find a more devilishly handsome villain! Looking back at my first read through in 2016, I never knew if I should instinctively trust him and when I met him again after all this time, even knowing how the series ends, I was faced with the same dilemma again. Is The Darkling all he seems? Does he really want to free Ravka from The Fold and all its devastating darkness?
Speaking of one of my favourite book villains, initially and throughout the story, he is embedded in this wicked aura of intrigue and mystery. Just like Alina, we want to instinctively trust him right away, and believe that he only wanted good things for his people. It’s interesting how he was so drawn in by Alina and how he knew of her potential whilst other Grisha would sneer and look down at her. But is The Darkling right? Will Alina be able to bring light to such darkness? You’ll have to read to find out!
What I will say is that Alina’s sun summoning is absolutely magical and chill-inducing—in a good way! While The Darkling plunges everything into complete and utter darkness, Alina truly has to reach inside herself and channel her light so she can hopefully shroud the people of Ravka with her gift and prove that the Sun Summoner is definitely no myth.
What makes Alina so relatable to many is that she truly believes that she’s nothing. She could never envision that she holds the potential to save an entire kingdom in her hand and that these newly found powers of hers are considered a blessing to some in Ravka, while others are not so sure. One character in particular will go to brutal lengths to ensure Alina can control these powers, then there’s the fact that The Darkling wants her to have her own power strengthener, something which was a complete twist on the meaning towards the end of the book. At the end of the book, the characters come incredibly far and to also see the true colours of certain colours and what they really want.
Mal, a character I’ve often had mixed feelings about, initially infuriated me when we think he’s intentionally not answering Alina’s letters and cast aside his best friend. The pair exchange some heated banter and passionate pleas throughout, but their friendship has always been them against everyone else. Their friendship will give you all of the feelings, especially when things become more dangerous and deadly than either of them would have envisioned. This time around, I found myself appreciating Mal more in my reread. We don’t know until the very end of the book as Leigh Bardugo being the goddess that she is gives us a bonus scene in the end of this book where Mal is writing to Alina and expressing his despair at them being separated. It really just made me feel for them both, I mean imagine losing the one person who you’ve always divulged every thing to, who knows every inch of your heart!
Leigh Bardugo weaves a tale of magic, power, and definitely intrigue and wonder in the first brilliant instalment of her Grisha trilogy. She’s truly amazing how she can create such an epic cast of characters and have the reader fall in love with them and then twist their story on their head. In saying that though, I will always have an undying love for The Darkling. I cannot wait to dive into King of Scars!
