King of Scars

A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST!

See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now!

Discover what comes next for daring rogue Nikolai in King of Scars, the start of this captivating new duology from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo.

"[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

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.

Read all the books in the Grishaverse!

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy
(previously published as The Grisha Trilogy)
Shadow and Bone
Siege and Storm
Ruin and Rising

The Six of Crows Duology
Six of Crows
Crooked Kingdom

The King of Scars Duology
King of Scars
Rule of Wolves

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic
The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic
The Lives of Saints
Demon in the Wood Graphic Novel

Praise for the Grishaverse

"A master of fantasy." --The Huffington Post
"Utterly, extremely bewitching." --The Guardian
"This is what fantasy is for." --The New York Times Book Review
"A world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp." --NPR
"The darker it gets for the good guys, the better." --Entertainment Weekly
"Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down." --USA Today
"There's a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo's original epic fantasy that sets it apart." --Vanity Fair
"Unlike anything I've ever read." --Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent
"Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!" --Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Imprint
Published: 01/29/2019
Pages: 528
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.50w x 1.80d
ISBN: 9781250142283
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.7
Point Value: 23
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 500274 / King of Scars


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
Publishers Weekly 01/31/2019 pg. 99
School Library Journal 02/01/2019 pg. 72
Booklist 02/01/2019 pg. 75
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2019
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2019 pg. 123
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2019 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Alex Stern series and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology--and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.