book.dreamblog’s Book Reviews!

  King of Scars ( Full Duology) by Leigh Bardugo *This review contains spoilers*  Book One: King of Scars  The final installment in Leigh Bardugo’s grishaverse, the King of Scars duology, comes across to me as the quintessential “love it or hate it” edition to her universe. Die hard fans if the Grishaverse are going to love it. More casual fans might feel more like I did jumping into this duology, which is that it’s pretty much a mixed bag of things I really liked and things I really, really did not like.  Starting with things I liked:  The actual mechanics of the writing. Bardugo’s skills in writing prose have improved exponentially since the original Shadow and Bone trilogy. The actual writing of King of Scars is just much more practiced and mature. It’s less bumpy, more likely to appeal to an older demographic than the Shadow and Bone trilogy.  I also really enjoy that this duology takes both existing pieces of the established Grishaverse, Shadow and Bo...

  Six of Crows Duology Book Two:  Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo *This review contains spoilers* Introduction  The second book in the Six of Crows duology was absolutely everything that I hoped it would be. It has all of the same charms that the first book had. It took an already trippy story and filled it with even more twists and turns. Needless to say, I absolutely devoured Crooked Kingdom.  Summary & Review  After the prologue, Crooked Kingdom starts with Wylan finally getting his first POV chapter, which is something I feel was missing from the first book. We finally get to learn everything about what happened between Wylan and his father to pit them against one another, and how Kaz found Wylan to recruit him to the Dregs in the first place. It's because Wylan is dyslexic, and he was never able to read as a result. Van Eck felt that meant Wylan wasn't qualified to inherit his merchant empire, so he tried (and failed) to have Wylan killed. This is anot...

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo  *This review contains spoilers* Content Warning  This review mentions slavery and sexual abuse.   Introduction  The Six of Crows duology is definitely going to go down as an all-time favorite read for me. After feeling that the predecessor series, Shadow and Bone, was (though enjoyable) just average, I was blown away by how much I loved this duology. It was the perfect blend of action, comedy, romance, mystery, twists and turns, and magic and mayhem! On top of that, it all comes with an amazing (and diverse) cast of characters.  Summary & Review  I will admit that in the earliest few chapters, I wasn't as hooked as I was hoping to be right off the bat with Six of Crows, given how hyped up the book was. While, retrospectively, I understand why starting with the introduction of jurda parem into the story was the best way to start, the prologue left me a bit uneasy about the overall aesthetic of the novel. The opening "Joos...

  Shadow and Bone Book Three:  Ruin and Rising  by Leigh Bardugo   *This review contains spoilers* Introduction   The third and final installment of the  Shadow and Bone  trilogy is about on par with me as  Siege and Storm  was in my level of enjoyment. It picks up with Alina and her friends and allies hidden beneath the ground amongst The Apparat's sun soldiers, where Alina cannot use her powers because she has no access to the light, and she's growing physically weaker because of this. We start to get a full understanding here that The Apparat is not a friend, and not explicitly a foe, but really a man with his own political agenda. I enjoyed these early chapters and the way that the Soldat Sol and the sway that Alina holds over them were being explored. However, like with both previous books, the novel's action starts right away and these chapters are over way too quickly. Summary & Review  We spend a lot of time getting Alina's ...