King of Scars
Face your demons... or feed them.
The dashing young king, 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, Nikolai 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 general, 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.
Locus Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Book (2020), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2019)
About the King of Scars Duology Series
Books in series order
- 1.King of Scars(2019)
- 2.Rule of Wolves(2021)
Reading age: 14+ years
This series should be read in order.
Discover or re-enter the richly developed fantasy world of the Grishaverse. In this duolgoyy, author Leigh Bardugo reunites us with Grisha and many of her riveting characters to explore the complex personality of Nikolai.
Young King Nikolai Lantsov confronts the dark magic within him that threatens to consume his very soul. To vanquish his inner demons, he will undertake a journey through the realm to where the deepest magic survives—and risk everything to save his country and himself.
"[Bardugo] touches on religion, class, family, love — all organically, all effortlessly, all cloaked in the weight of a post-war reckoning with the cost (literal and figurative) of surviving the events that shape both people and nations." —NPR
"The story exists at an intersection of past and future selves, and in the dawning understanding that what you most fear may be what you most need." —Washington Post