1. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (re-read)
This one’s a re-read so I’ll keep it short: I loved it just as much. I yelled/screamed/cried (delete as applicable) in all the usual places and then in some places I hadn’t last time round. This duology has my heart. These Crows are EVERYTHING.
2. Hollowpox (Nevermoor Book 3) by Jessica Townsend
I absolutely love the world of Nevermoor, and have been excited to get to the third instalment in this series! Morrigan Crow continues to study at the Wundrous Society, but a mysterious illness is plaguing the Wunimals.
I don’t know how much more I can say without spoiling this book or earlier ones in the series, but I did love the way that this, in the best way, tackled current issues through the lens of a middle-grade book. At no point did I feel I was being ‘taught’ about current events, but the sort of divisive attitudes and challenges that Morrigan faces in this book are definitely borne of world events from the last five years. I read this thinking how pleased I was that young people will be reading this and, I’m sure, be feeling just as Morrigan feels - I certainly did!
It also has its usual amount of adventure, peril, sarcasm, friendship, and fun. And Jupiter North is cemented as one of my favourite characters. I challenge you not to be utterly delighted by him.
4 stars.
3. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
I read King of Scars and Rule of Wolves back-to-back, so I’m not sure how distinct they are in my head! Set after the events of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology picks up with some of our fave characters back in Ravka, as well as abroad in Fjerda.
I loved this because essentially, this duology returns to the S&B world but with the quality of writing we had in Six of Crows. Bardugo’s writing is just next level compared to the original trilogy, and so I felt exploring Ravka and the chaos / impending disasters / etc that were going on in this book was what I’d hoped the original trilogy would have been like. But, of course, that was Bardugo’s debut! This is her sixth Grishaverse book, and you can see every time how she steps it up.
I particularly loved this book because it made me love characters I already did even more, but also it made characters I’d previously not been a huge fan of ten times more interesting - so much so that they are now one of my favourite characters! I wasn’t sure about the ending of this book - but then I picked up Rule of Wolves, and my concerns were quickly dismissed as I realised Bardugo wasn’t taking it in the direction I worried she might.
4.5 stars.
4. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
THIS. BOOK. Oh my goodness. I read it in one sitting (five hours? six?) of me reading, stopping, yelling out loud, reading more, crying my eyes out, reading more, gasping aloud, crying some more, and so on. When I finished this book I just STARED at the last page.
I really can’t review this book without spoiling it or King of Scars, so I shan’t go in to detail, but the way the plot and the characters were woven together was masterful. Things happened that I had just presumed wouldn’t, and they were done in such a wonderful way that I felt absolutely did justice to the characters and the world and all the books that had come before this one.
I know Leigh has said that she’ll probably return to the Grishaverse in future. Part of me is desperate for her to, given the events of Rule of Wolves - but if she doesn’t, I think Rule of Wolves gave me everything I could possibly want for the final book in this world.
5 stars. Beyond 5 stars. Next level.
5. Crier’s War by Nina Varela
I felt quite sorry for Crier’s War, because any book I read after Rule of Wolves would be destined to be at least a bit underwhelming. But there was lots I really liked about this book! It’s set in a world where there are Automae (basically robot-like humans) and Humans and… the two ‘Kinds’ do not get on. Crier is an Automae, heir to the kingdom, and generally having a rubbish time of it. Ayla is a Human and is likewise having a terrible time, mostly because the Automae have an iron grip on the country and will happily kill the humans given half a chance.
This was a slow-paced book with the SLOWEST of slow-burn queer romances and, for me, it was the slow-burn romance that made me keep reading this book. I found I didn’t hugely care about the conflict in the world - it seemed to be going through the paces and doing all the right things, but not grabbing me. However, that is also likely to be at least in part because of what I read before it. And the slow-burn romance was just *chef’s kiss* and I adored that part of it.
Overall, I’d definitely read the sequel to this book, but I hope the non-romance elements step it up in the sequel. 3.5 stars.
So there’s a (slightly longer than intended!) wrap-up of all the books I read for Easter Readathon. My Grishaverse read-through is done in time for the tv series (insert S&B yelling here) and I’ve got the rest of the school holidays to keep ploughing through my TBR stacks. I’m going to really lean in to my mood reading, and I’m looking forward to whatever it is I pick up next!
