A review by jackacj
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book is a tremendous disappointment.
I began my Grishaverse journey with Six of Crows. The book was brilliant. It got me back into reading. The characters were absolutely amazing, they felt like real people. I liked the prose too, it was simple enough yet was able to evoke a rich atmosphere.
Crooked Kingdom was... good. Great, even. Helnik and Kanej's arcs were the highlights of the book. I liked CK, but I can't say I loved it, because Matthias was killed off for cheap shock value, Nina's plotline went unfinished, and Wylan's story arc felt incomplete, as did Inej's.
Then I read Shadow and Bone. They weren't the best books, I admit, but they were fun. I liked Alina, loved Nikolai, was interested in the Darkling and disappointment when it turned out hewas just another one-dimensional and flat villain. Overall, even though the themes of the books were an absolute slopfest, which is, in my opinion, why the ending of Ruin and Rising is so controversial, maligned and misunderstood, the SAB trilogy was nice and Leigh Bardugo's characters were still the books' highlight.
Then I read King of Scars. I loved the Ravka plotline. I loved Saints qad the expansion of Grisha powers, even if the Saints' Fold was a ridiculois idea. Again, Leigh Bardugo's character work shone and Zoya became my absolute favourite GV character. But not just because of the way she was written - no, it's because Nina Zenik, my previous favourite character, was boring in KOS. She didnt feel like Nina until her heist, and even then she was too reckless for Nian Zenik. I feel like the duology constantky tried to gaslight me into believing that Nina is some kind of a reckless risk-taker who never abides by a plan. Thats not who Nina is. Nina is brave individual with a patriotic heart of gold, who sometimes gets a little reckless, but she's not so insane to flood a village kn order to fake a miracle.
This only gets worse in ROW. Here, she takes risk after risk, each of her manuervers more ridiculous and dumber than the last, and somehow she gets away with it. And she doesnt feel like Nina anymore. She feels... tamed? Neutered? She feels like an extract of Nina. The personaloty doesnt fit, she's like a weak copy of Nina. And have I mentioned Hanne? No? Good. The less said about him, the better. He had such a great character concept - Brum's child who is secretly a Grisha and also a transman. I should love him, but I don't, because from the way he's written, he's such an uninteresring, bland, nothing-burger character it's unbelievable. And that ridiculous ending? Hanne's light-speed tailoring and Nina becoming the future queen of Fjerda, even though she longs to return to Ravka the whole book, no scratch that, since SOC, but is suddenly fine with b3ing Mila Jandersdat for the rest of her life because... Hanne? Ok.
Then there's Nikolai. Notice how I haven't mentioned him yet. This is because he gets sidelined in his own duology. I mean, it's fine in KOS, he gets a nice arc, but in ROW he essentialy becomes Zoya's trophy husband and accessory, because suddenly in the last cca. 130 pages he does a 180° and decides actually, I don't want to be king, undoes his whole arc and Zoya becomes queen.
Speaking of Zoya. I love her in KOS and in parts of ROW. But her finally turning into a dragon isn't impactful at all because her relationship with Nina is forced and artificial, they barely ingeract but suddenly Zoya is like a mother to her. And her being elected as queen is absolutely ridiculous and turns Ravka into a ridiculous theocracy. I feel like Leigh Bardugo saw the backlash to Ruin and Rising's ending and instead of doubling down on her creative vision like she should've, she decided 'course correct' the GV and made Zoya into this ridiculous girlboss dragon queen special Grisha Soldier Summoner Saint Alina 2.0 except not really character, which is a pity, because she was an extremely compellimg character in KOS. And she didnt fulfill the promise that Zoya would teach the other Grisha to abandon the orders either, I guess that plotline got shelved and Zoya will hoard all the power and knowledge.
Over all, I think that Rule of Wolves is a ridiculois, unbelievable excuse for a sequel to the amazing novel that was KOS. To be honest, I am not even really interested in the future of the GV or even really Leigh Bardugo's books anymore, it just sucks that hard and destroys almost all of the GV's compelling characters.
Oh also the Darkling, his plotline is forgettable sequel hook, its so stupid and worthless i forgot to write abt it at first 💀
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