REVIEW: Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo wrote an expansive and thrilling series of books, all under the same universe – Grishaverse. Recently released on Netflix, the first season has received positive reviews, and after much needling by a friend, I started to read them.
And proceeded to read all seven main books in just over a week. For reference, my reading order (not the recommended one) was: Six of Crows Duology, Shadow and Bone Trilogy, King of Scars Duology.
Spoiler-Free Thoughts:
Shadow and Bone
Now, I did not enjoy every book. Did it come from reading YA in my twenties? Perhaps. Shadow and Bone, the first books in Grishaverse, were definitely underwhelming. I found the characters boring, the plot cookie-cutter. Girl discovers magic powers. Girl is in love triangle (square?). Girl tries to save the world. Very YA, very typical.
Until book 2, I rooted for no one, and even then, I was only reading for the side characters and the world at large. However, two of my favorite characters in the universe have their start in this trilogy, so I will have some fondness for it, even if I never reread it.
Six of Crows
Now, Six of Crows was actually the first book I’d read. With absolutely no knowledge on what Grishas were, how their powers worked, and what the world even looked like past the map provided at the beginning, I jumped right in with taking down enemies with the Crows. And did I adore it! It’s easy to see Bardugo’s writing improve from the first series to this. The characters were each much more developed, more unique, much more nuanced. The plot, full of heist goodies, kept me on my toes. I ate up everyone’s POVs, even the characters I didn’t like.
Certain character arcs still fall flat here. Things felt unfinished, and not in a needs-a-sequel way. Plot twists felt more impactful when they first landed, and then sometimes went nowhere. But it was a fun, engaging read that I will certainly come back to. (And the Crows in the show? My favorite!)
King of Scars
And, we have King of Scars. A direct continuation of the first two series. While you could read Six of Crows without the original trilogy, as I did, King of Scars will only make a lot of sense with both priors. We follow two of my favorite characters in the world as they deal with aftermath of all that’s happened. Magical training sequences, ancient rituals mixed in with modern technology, political intrigue? It really had it all. And for the most part, I loved it. Minus one character arc. But still, definitely a book I could reread.
Since I’ve finished the books, I have encouraged many a friend to read them. Engaging, intriguing plots mixed in with the deep and fantastic magical system Bardugo’s created has ensured Six of Crows will be on my favorites list for a long time.
The World Building
Now this could take a whole post of its own. As a SF/Fantasy writer myself, I always peruse the world building in books in more detail than any other part. And Bardugo does a fantastic job of it! There’s a history to the world, written in the conflicts between nations, in the political and governmental structure of each country that allows me to be fully immersed in the book. Everything makes sense within the world, and still leaves plenty of room for questions and further development. There’s lore and myths, traditions and diversity. All in all, a wonderful read!
Spoilery Thoughts:
Focusing on Six of Crows and King of Scars here.
Six of Crows – Jesper
The reveals in Six of Crows helped the book maintain its page-turner standing. The minute I found out Jesper was Grisha? I sent a string of probably incomprehensible text to my friend. Jesper and Inej were my favorite characters in the duology, and I had actually expected Inej to be Grisha, not Jesper. At the reveal, I was thrilled to see how Bardugo uses it. Because it must have been imperative to their mission, past the lock picks right?
Wrong. It will remain one of my greatest disappointments in this specific duology. We see Jesper use it a couple times throughout Crooked Kingdom, in helping Matthias and Kuwei, and then at the end to control a bullet. But I’d looked forward to a greater philosophical conflict between him and Nina, someone who’s devoted their life to helping Ravka. There were some mentions, some conflict. But I wanted to know more about non-Ravkan Grishas. We know that the Zemeni term is zowa, and Aditi Hilli disliked the name Grisha. But what else? Ravka can’t be the only place where Grisha use their power openly.
King of Scars – Nina’s Arc
The religion in Grishaverse is something I will always chafe at. The Ravkan Saints seem to be the most prevailing one, and while that in itself isn’t problematic, the way Nina harnesses it to frighten and turn the Fjerdans to her side left me very uncomfortable. As a member of a minority religion in a country, I’ve faced my share of snide comments, including being told I’d go to hell in middle school. Now, honestly, these things never really bothered me, because it never came from someone I cared about. But reading Nina, a character I did like despite her interest in Matthias (I don’t understand it), using her Saints to convert the Fjerdians to her side, as though they were all barbarians who needed to be shown the “civilized” religion? That, I had a problem with.
There’s no question that the Fjerdians leaders are genocidal. They’re killing Grisha for having the powers they were born with. Jarl Brum? Bad dude, good riddance. But there must have been ways to stop the war without having them believe in Saints. Without implying that they’re backwards or lesser than Ravkans. Is it the worst thing I’ve seen in a book? No, not by far. It did certainly make me wanna skip Nina’s sections, though, but for Hanne, I stayed.