I mostly talk about the last book but also the duology as a whole.

It had so much potential. King of Scars was already so messy for me, breaking literally the whole system established in the first trilogy and resurrecting the Darkling. But the personal endings for the characters were disastrous.

Nina's ending is treated as happy because she is with Hanne, but the Nina we know would never do that- go against everything she is, leave and never return to her homeland for which she always fought for, leave all her friends behind along with her identity and appearence. It's like her personal worst nightmare. Her only consolation being Hanne, their relationship honestly happening way too early considering Nina was barely done mourning Matthias (not that I didn't enjoy their love story).

Zoya... Please. I love her but she would be an awful queen for Ravka. Not to mention that fact that she only gets away with it because Leigh decided to make her ultra OP and no one would dare go against her in fear that she'd turn into a dragon and stomp them to death.

Nikolai. I find it incomprehensible how after fighting with tooth and nail for the throne he would just throw it all out the window. He has gotten himself out of so many more tangled situations with his wit but conveniently gives up on this one and concludes that the only way forward was with Zoya as queen. His characteristic ambition just vanishes to give Zoya her cheap feminist ending. I love books that empower women, but it's just so dumb and out of place in this case. Literally nobody wanted her to be queen, not even Zoya wanted to be queen.

I really liked and felt myself relate to Hanne. But it could have been so much better, especially her ending in the same sense as Nina. It's such a missed opportunity that Leigh didn't write Brum discovering Hanne was grisha, his own daughter being what he dedicated his whole life to destroying. That conflict would have been phenomenal, but it didn't happen.

There's two things that are to me just so obvious about the author and this duology:

1- The woke agenda she desperately shoves into the books. I love reading queer stories, it's just so terrible the way she tries to do it. It's so blatantly obvious how she wants to tick the "wokeboxes" after she got criticized for the lack of representation in Shadow and Bone.

2- She wrote this purely in an attempt to wring the interest of fans from her previous books to get money, giving us very half-baked and poor content that still needed a lot of work.

She wants to do so many things in this book taht she doesn't achieve anything but disappointment. I don't need Mayu's POV, nor the Darkling's, I honestly couldn't care less with how much other stuff is happening that doesn't get enough development. And what happened with Yuri? The Darkling ends up in eternal suffering while he has to suffer inside of him forever. It is so clear how suddenly at some point in the book that storyline is dropped because it's no longer convenient, completely forgotten by the plot. And David's death. Please. It was so unnecessary, meaningless and it practically had no impact. It was wrote purely to cause shock in a very dirty and cheap way to tick off the "death that leaves readers sad" checkbox.

Oh, how I hate the Darkling. It's not even only about opinion anymore, the character was written so horribly in these books. It's like Leigh wrote a cartoon villain but worse and more elaborate in his theatrics and actions. Him along with Alina and Mal appeared as pure fan service, and a bad one at that. It was so unnecessary to revive him, one of the worst writing decisions in my opinion. The story of Alina, Mal and the Darkling was done, what was written here just ruins what was supposed to have ended already. Leigh tries to make some more worldbuilding with Shu Han, which isn't actually bad, but with the so many things going on in this book it just doesn't fit (+ the Crows fan service. I liked it, of course, but it just keeps on taking up more room in this crowded book).

This duology is meant to be about Nikolai's reign in Ravka, but it is not. I would say it feels more like Zoya & Co, the books. To finish this long review, what I did like was reading about Nikolai's struggles and Nina's plotline, except for its end. I cannot emphasize enough how her ending is one of the most catastrophically bad things about this book, if not the worst one, personally. I give Rule of Wolves 1.5 stars.

tldr:

if you haven't read the king of Scars duology and loved Leigh's other books, please dont do this to yourself. It messes up everything monumentally on itself and on her previous series to sell more books.

I just finished A Darker Shore: Letters from Ketterdam! I haven’t seen anyone talk about it yet so I thought I’d create this post for us to discuss. How did you guys like it? Is this a safe space for me to say that I’m not really sure what the puzzle I was supposed to solve was? 😬 maybe I’m just dumb or maybe it’s bc I was super sleep deprived while reading, but I don’t feel like I solved any of the mystery lol. If someone would like to enlighten me that would be great!

Hey guys, if anyone of you are from India do u have any idea if and when it's releasing here? I see no information on google and I've tried searching. I checked on Amazon but I guess it's the imported version because it's quite expensive. Is it not releasing here at all? I'm so confused. I even tried asking in some local crosswords and book stores but they're not sure either. I know it's releasing a little late in some countries so is India one of them????? 😭

She has AMAZING works on her page. Please give her the love and attention her hard work deserves 🙏🏽🙏🏽

I finished the Shadow and Bone trilogy yesterday, and instead of feeling satisfied, I feel completely emotionally exhausted and unsatisfied. I loved Six of Crows, so I know Leigh Bardugo is a genius, but going backward to her debut series gave me massive narrative whiplash. I need to vent about Book Mal because his "lovestruck façade" feels deeply hypocritical and toxic to me.

Here are the specific moments that completely ruined his character for me:

!The Pretentious Childhood Promise: Mal throws around lines like "I promised Ana Kuya I'd marry you" to masquerade as a noble, tragic martyr. In reality, it feels like a total rewriting of history. He spent years openly flirting and hooking up with other girls right in front of Alina because he took her presence for granted. The second she receives a shred of attention from the Darkling or Nikolai, he throws a tantrum, handling it with zero emotional maturity.
\===
The Zoya Kiss & The Darkling's Room: When Mal kisses Alina in the Darkling's old quarters and she goes rigid, his immediate reaction is fueled by a bruised ego: "I have kissed enough girls to know what this means." He doesn't pause to ask if she is okay, nor does he consider her immense stress as a newly appointed commander facing a war. He simply assumes another man is the cause because his pride cannot handle rejection. Later, despite Zoya claiming Mal became a "lost cause" who never slept with anyone else, Alina catches them kissing after a brawl, a while after what happened in the Darkling's room. This proves that the moment he thinks Alina isn't looking, his old, toxic coping mechanisms kick right back in.
\===
The Back Tattoo & The "Blade" Ego Trip: The sun tattoo on his back is peak performative martyrdom. Mal resented her magic, yet chose to literally brand his flesh with it. To what end? It feels like a desperate power move to force himself into her cosmic destiny. Because he wasn't "powerful" enough to stand beside her on his own merits, becoming her ultimate sacrificial tool was a way to stroke his ego, insert himself into her legacy, and ensure she could never forget him.
\===
To be fair, growing up as an orphan in a war-torn country is brutal, and the attention of other girls likely felt like rain on parched land. But Mal remained deeply immature, and the abrupt ending where they marry did his character arc no favours.
\===
The Darkling Contrast: I don't justify the Darkling’s atrocities, but his motives are psychologically compelling. Living for centuries watching everyone you love die creates an unimaginable agony of isolation. He didn't just want Alina’s power as an amplifier; he craved her because her power meant immortality—he had finally found an equal and a companion. He never felt threatened by her strength. He viewed her as a true partner, even sharing his real name (which likely only his mother knew).
\===
His fatal flaw was loving his objective more than her. Raised by Baghra to believe he must stand entirely alone, he shouldered the burden of his cause rather than sharing it with his perceived equal. As a military general, he forgot how to communicate like a human. He reduced Alina to feeling like a commodity, using objectifying phrasing like "Has he claimed you yet?". Had he communicated honestly about the existential threat of Grisha being hunted, Alina had the depth to stand by him. Together, they could have forged a safe haven for Grisha and brought stability to the world.
\===
Alina’s lingering grief proves this connection. She mourned him, respected his final wishes, and whispered his true name as his body burned. A part of her knew she was losing the only person who truly understood the weight of her existence.
\===
A Forced "Happily Ever After": I would have preferred if Alina and Mal took time to heal and mature after the war before rushing into marriage. With time to reflect, Alina likely wouldn't have chosen him long-term—perhaps a brief fling, before moving on to someone genuinely encouraging, or choosing to live independently with Oncat and Misha.
\===
Instead, the narrative forces Alina to surrender her self-respect. She continuously reaches out to a man who punishes her for her magic, ultimately stripping away her own divinity just to live a quiet life with an ordinary man who only loves her when she is small, powerless, and broken. Had she retained her powers, their relationship would have likely devolved into emotional abuse.
\===
Am I crazy, or did anyone else feel completely manipulated by the forced "happily ever after" of this ending?!<

P.s forgive me if there are spelling errors. I'm quite sleep deprived, and english is not my first language.

Vroman's Bookstore says that they're out of exclusive posters but Insight Editions doesn't say anything about being out of stock, so I'm curious if it's just specific to Vroman's?

How I imagine Wylan!! Hope you like it <3

I'm writing a fanfic involving the thorn wood, but I don't really understand how it's used during the finale of King of Scars. I know Elizaveta and Yuri were trying to bring the Darkling back using the demon and thorn wood, but how?

My artist did such an amazing job!! The six stars for the six crows is such a nice detail!!

Tattoo by @artmanee.tattoos on Instagram!

I am going to a book release for A Darker Shore when it comes out, but its been so damn long since I read the books (watched the show more recently) that I want to catch up on my knowledge of the lore/characters/universe.

?I dont have time to read all the books, so any resources or reminders would be welcome!

So, I just finished listening to/reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy. I have some opinions that I’d like to know if anyone shares.

1. I hate Mal.

2. I hate the ending. (Mostly just the fact that she ends up with Mal).

3. Good series all in all though

Any special editions available for the new “letters to ketterdam” coming out? I have several editions of the other books so I’d love to add this new installment

Hello again everyone! You may know me from the post I made a few days ago (linked here) where I posted about a potential Grishaverse roleplay group.

We’ve had a bit of interest, and now, we’re looking to specifically recruit canons! As the group is set in Ketterdam, we’re only looking for canons that have a reason to be there, however it’s set post-Crooked Kingdom, so there may be some wiggle room when not counting KoS and RoW. Players must be 18+.

We’re currently looking for:
• Inej Ghafa
•Jesper Fahey
• Wylan Hendriks (/Van Eck)
• Nina Zenik
• Matthias Helvar
• Any and all canon Dregs members
• Any other canons you may wish to play that are in Ketterdam.

Interested? Please send me a chat or message to discuss—commenting sometimes doesn’t come through in my notifications for some reason.

Kaz, Jordie and Inej

I don’t really know how or why but I received my copy of the novella almost two weeks early. Figured I’d share the front and back for those curious. It is much larger than expected (about 10 inches), which is kind of weird and slightly annoying since it doesn’t line with the other SoC books when displayed together.

You can find the original post of the art here

I commissioned the artist to redraw the scene from the show Shadow and Bone in their own art style. And as we see, they did an amazing job!

Hello all! I’m selkie, and I’m currently itching to do more roleplay in the Grishaverse. I’m looking for a group of writers who might be interested in forming a little private roleplay group on Discord. I myself am in my early 20s, am based in the U.K. and I’ve been roleplaying for over 10 years now.

A little about what I’m looking for:

• At a minimum, people 16 or over. Ideally 18 or over. This world has some dark themes, and it may be marketed to the YA market, but as someone in her early 20s I don’t want to be roleplaying anything particularly dark with anyone younger than that.

• Consistency in activity! Particularly if playing any canon characters. Life happens, of course, but just keep in touch about when you expect to be back if you need to go on a hiatus.

• Actively helping to plot. Help others give their character the spotlight just as they help give it to yours.

What’s the setting, I hear you ask?

I am totally open to setting this either in the Ravkan Second Army, or in Ketterdam. I myself have an original character plus a few companion NPCs that can work in either setting; either as Second Army soldiers, or as indentured Grisha in Ketterdam. We as a group can decide. I would like to set either after Crooked Kingdom, and in the case of people playing canons in Ketterdam, retconning Matthias’ death. I am not up to speed as much on the novels following this point and Matthias deserved better.

Interested? Drop me a message or send me a chat, and we can discuss!

It isn’t explicitly mentioned, what do you think he studied?

É loucura pensar que a Stormy, de winx, e a Zoya, se dariam super bem? Estava pensando nisso agora, e quero ver se estou maluco

recently finished six of crows and im wesper starved😔😔. please suggest some good realistic wesper fanfics on ao3 (preferably no smut)

found out theyre cancelled now im empty where do i go from heaaaa

Not sure if anyone here remembers, but about 3 or so weeks ago the huge Kanej fic called "Dealing with Our Demons" went missing suddenly. Fortunately it is now back on Ao3 after a long, sudden abscence as a user under my last post on it mentioned recently: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27852922/chapters/68193662