War engulfs the country as a cursed king and a grieving general fight for a throne — and the loves they can't quite claim.
- Score
- 81.5
- Spice
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Sweet
- POV
- multi
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
Tropes
Content warnings
Curated signals, not an exhaustive guarantee.
If you liked this, read
What readers think
Readers broadly praise the Nikolai/Zoya romance payoff as one of the most emotionally satisfying slow-burns in the Grishaverse, with Zoya's character arc — her grief, her power, and her ascension — singled out as the book's undisputed highlight. The return of Six of Crows characters (particularly Kaz) is widely celebrated, and the large-scale war plot delivers genuine stakes and surprise. The most consistent criticisms target an overstuffed structure: too many POVs (including the Darkling's return, which many felt served little narrative purpose) dilute the focus from Nikolai and Zoya; Nina and Hanne's romance is praised individually but seen as rushed toward the end. Pacing is uneven, with the book's near-600-page length feeling excessive to some. Goodreads rates it at approximately 4.33 stars across 138,000+ ratings — a strong response, though many rank it below Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.
Read it if
- · Readers who invested in King of Scars and want the Nikolai/Zoya slow-burn to pay off
- · Grishaverse fans who want all threads — Ravka, Fjerda, the Crows — converging in one epic finale
- · Anyone who loves political war fantasy with a morally complex ensemble and an emotionally devastating heroine arc
Skip it if
- · You haven't read the prior Grishaverse books — this is book seven and relies heavily on accumulated backstory
- · You want a tight, focused duology conclusion — the sprawling POV count and cameos make it feel overstuffed
- · You expect the physical romance to deliver after the long slow-burn — the intimacy remains very restrained even at the end
If you liked this
- · For fans of King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo — the direct sequel, essential reading to see the arc resolved
- · For fans of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo — same ensemble energy, high-stakes convergence, and emotional gut-punches
- · For fans of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas — morally grey royals navigating war and a slow-burn romance with a fierce female general at the centre
- · For fans of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir — dual-POV epic with political intrigue, war, slow-burn romance, and characters forged under impossible pressure
In this series
Part of King of Scars Duology — read in order:
Full series profile & spice/trope breakdown →Which dark romantasy heroine are you? Five choices in a forest that wants you dead.
Take the quiz →