Rule of Wolves

The cursed king of Ravka, Nikolai Lantsov, is preparing for war against Fjerda’s massive artillery and an army of Grisha (magic-users) addicted to the drug jurda parem. Disputing Nikolai’s right to the Lantsov throne, the Fjerdans seem to outmatch the Ravkans on all fronts. To make matters worse, Nikolai is holding hostages—a Shu Han princess, Ehri, and a member of her guard named Mayu Kir-Kaat. He plans to marry Ehri and forge an alliance between Shu Han and Ravka. But the princess’s sister, Queen Makhi, would prefer to see Nikolai dead. Trapped between Fjerdan bombers and Shu assassins, Nikolai wonders if his time as king is coming to an end. 

Recently gifted the powers of Sankt Juris, Zoya is struggling with the death of her mentor. As a blight of darkness threatens to engulf her world, Zoya turns to the newly resurrected Darkling for answers. When the Darkling escapes from her grasp, she must divert her attention to the war brewing between Ravka and Fjerda. Nikolai and Zoya make their final stand to protect Nikolai’s throne and the kingdom of Ravka. Can they protect their people and all they hold dear without sacrificing the relationship between them? 

Grisha Nina Zenik and her Fjerdan companion Hanne Brum are fighting a different kind of war—one of espionage and trickery. Still undercover as the Fjerdan widow Mila Jandersdat, Nina must use her powers over the dead to gain intel on Fjerda’s plans while protecting the persecuted Grisha of Fjerda. Because of Nina, followers of the “New Saints” (in reality, Grisha spies) have emerged throughout the country. She and Hanne form a relationship with Prince Rasmus, the heir to the Fjerdan throne. With him, they hope to sway the Fjerdan government towards peace, even if it means giving up the relationship that they have formed together. 

Like its predecessor, King of Scars, Rule of Wolves has a constantly changing perspective. Every chapter features a new third-person narrator, whose name is announced in the chapter’s title. Perspectives include Nikolai, Zoya, Nina, Mayu (a Shu soldier), Queen Makhi, and “The Monk.” Each narrator focuses on their plot thread, making it challenging to follow their stories, which are interrupted every time a new chapter begins. While Nikolai is perhaps the central figure of the book, the wide cast of narrators expands the already vast world of the “Grishaverse” and encourages the audience to understand previously dismissed perspectives. Bardugo’s writing treats both the commoner and the royal with the same level of respect, and every character feels important to the story. Rule of Wolves reintroduces many figures from previous “Grishaverse” series, such as Malyen Oretsev from Shadow and Bone and Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows. Ample exposition is offered, but audiences who have not read the previous books will miss much of their backstory and characterization. 

The duology’s message of resilience remains present in this sequel, and each character faces challenges that they must overcome, utilizing both mental and physical strength. With the overarching threat of war, Rule of Wolves shows the multi-faceted impact of international conflict. Innocents die, malicious parties go free, and the protagonists are repeatedly forced to decide between mercy and vengeance. These issues make Rule of Wolves an extremely pertinent book for our modern era, as it combines fantasy elements with universal lessons of compassion in the face of brutality and open-mindedness amidst chaos. 

Sexual Content  

• The Shu royal leader, Queen Makhi, remarks that her grandmother is free to “rusticate with a series of wildly handsome lovers.” 
• The Ravkan Count Kirgin is infatuated by Zoya, and she feels “his eagerness, his longing” and imagines that his goals for their relationship “involv[e] bodies entwined.” 
• Nina mentions having spent time in the “brothels of Ketterdam.” What occurs in the brothels is not described. 
• Nina notices Jarl Brum’s (a Fjerdan military commander) eyes looking “lower” than her neck. She later fakes an affair with him, and the Fjerdan guard Joran asks her, “You did not want to be his whore?” Nina and Joran’s conversation regarding her affair takes place over two pages. 
• Zoya “place[s] a kiss on [Nikolai’s] forehead” and expresses her desire to stay with him in his room. 
• David kisses his wife Genya’s knuckles, and “Genya’s cheeks flus[h] pink with pleasure.” They later kiss at the altar during their wedding. 
• Nikolai wonders if Zoya has “a lover,” and her romantic life is further alluded to. 
• Nikolai jokes that Zoya is trying to get him “into bed.” 
• Nikolai and Zoya’s romantic tension builds throughout the book. Nikolai’s guard, Tamar, tells him, “Your heart is in your eyes, Your Highness.” He thinks, “I am greedy for the sight of you [Zoya].” Later, Nikolai confesses to Zoya, “I would make you my queen because I want you. I want you all the time.” This confession scene lasts four pages. 
• The Fjerdan royal guard to Prince Rasmus, Joran, pretends to have “presumed upon” the Grisha spy Nina. Prince Rasmus remarks, “It’s not as if he put her up against the wall and lifted her skirts.” 
• The undercover Fjerdan Grisha, Hanne Brum, and Nina kiss in Nina’s bed. The scene picks up again, chapters later, when Hanne’s mother, Ylva, finds them, “gowns half on, a rumple of silk and mouths bruised from kissing.” 
• Nikolai and Zoya kiss after she admits her love for him. “And she did, drawing him up to her, feeling the stubble at his jaw, the soft curl of his hair behind his ear, and at last, after all these long days of wanting, his witty, brilliant, perfect mouth.” After this, they kiss again several times. 
• Nikolai says to Zoya regarding his alter-ego sending a message to Ketterdam, “If it involves you out of that dress, I have no doubt I can convince him.” 

Violence  

• Since the book contains a substantial amount of violence, not all of it is detailed below.  
• Queen Makhi planned to have her royal guards kill Nikolai: “Mayu’s task was to get close to King Nikolai, murder him, then take her own life.” The Queen also planned for her sister, Ehri, to be murdered by her royal guards in the ensuing Shu invasion that would cause many casualties. 
• A blight of darkness is engulfing the world and causing everything in its path to die. Queen Makhi’s niece, Akeni, dies after being caught in the path of the “shadow. . . spreading like a stain.” 
• Fjerda trains soldiers called drüskelle to “merrily go to murder Grisha.” 
• Nikolai reflects on how Mayu is “the girl who had driven a knife into Isaak’s heart,” killing him. 
• Nina has a nightmare that the wolf Trassel is “covered in blood . . . feasting on a corpse.” 
• Zoya recalls how she “murdered a Saint bent on destruction, driven a blade into the heart of a dragon . . .” These events occur in the previous novel. 
• Zoya and the Ravkan Count Kirgin’s meeting is interrupted by an assassination attempt. Zoya uses her powers to knock the first attacker into the wall “with a bone-breaking crunch” and kill him. The second assassin is knocked unconscious. 
• The first battle of the Ravkan-Fjerdan war takes place over eight pages. Ravka places mines in Fjerda’s path, causing tanks to “burst into flames” and burning many soldiers alive. Grisha and non-Grisha soldiers fight the Fjerdans on the ground, and Zemeni airships join to fight on the Ravkan side. 
• The previous king of Ravka was banished after being ousted for assaulting Genya Safin. 
• Following their queen’s orders, the Shu royal guard “burst into flame” and died in the self-inflicted fire. They severely burn Ehri in the process, but she survives. 
• Prince Rasmus hits his guard, Joran, with a riding crop. Joran is left with a bleeding cheek. This repeats for over a page. 
• Zoya and an army of Sun Summoners fight the Darkling and his shadow soldiers. Shadows grab hold of Ravkan flyers and cause them to “plumme[t] toward the earth.” Zoya saves her allies and slightly wounds the Darkling. This is described over two pages. 
• Ravka is bombed during David and Genya’s wedding. Nikolai sees “burning in the lower and upper towns” of the capital, and the castle is partially destroyed. Nikolai takes a flyer and uses his demon to attack the Fjerdan bomber. “Blood poured over the demon’s mouth—his mouth—hot and salty with iron.” The explosions kill David. This fight occurs over four pages. 
• The stories of the Saints are filled with bloodshed. For example, Sankt Ilya was “thrown to his death” from a bridge. 
• Mayu’s brainwashed twin, Reyem, “br[eaks] every bone in her hand” by crushing it. This scene evolves into a fight in which Tamar, a Shu Grisha loyal to Nikolai, and Mayu struggle against Reyem and the Tavgharad (the Shu Han royal guard). This battle spans two pages and concludes with Reyem joining his sister’s side. 
• Nina reflects on Matthias’ (her late Fjerdan lover) murder, saying that Joran “shot an unarmed man and left him . . . to die.” 
• The final fight between Ravka and Fjerda occurs over several chapters. It begins with the Fjerdans approaching by sea and Zoya and her fellow Grisha Squallers sending lightning into the water. “Nina could not hear the men in the shallows scream, but she could see their mouths open wide, their bodies shaking as current passed through them.” The result is a massive death toll. 
• Nikolai, with the help of Ravkan Grisha, fights the Fjerdans. Fjerda attacks with drugged Grisha and large bells that incapacitate the Ravkans with a “horrifying, paralyzing sound.” Nikolai uses his demon to destroy the bells. 
• Nina is sedated by the spiritual leader of Ravka, the Apparat, and kidnapped. He threatens to have a Heartrender “take the skin from her body inch by inch.” Zoya rescues her by “burning [the Apparat’s guards] from the inside,” creating corpses that Nina uses to escape. 
• The khergud, mechanically altered Shu soldiers, join the battle between Ravka and Fjerda, flying onto the battlefield and ripping the arms off of Fjerdan soldiers. 
• Zoya uses her dragon powers to scorch the Fjerdan tanks. She saves Nikolai and his soldiers from certain death. Nina is wounded by a bullet while riding on her back.  
• Nina finds a “broken body” bent and bleeding beneath the observation tower. Later, it’s discovered that this is Prince Rasmus’ body. After Prince Rasmus slapped her, Hanne accidentally crushed his heart with her powers. 
• Jarl Brum is shot after pointing a gun at Prince Rasmus. Joran shoots him thrice: “once in the leg, twice in the arm.” 
• The Darkling’s final martyrdom is violent. “The thorn pierced the Darkling’s chest and he screamed, his head thrown back, the sound pure, human, and terrible.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• Alcohol is used and referenced frequently. 
• Nina expresses a desire to drink wine, but she laments that “Fjerdan women weren’t permitted alcohol, certainly not in public.” 
• Jurda parem is a synthetic drug used to enhance a Grisha’s powers. It is highly addictive and usually deadly. Nina is a recovering parem addict, and she reflects on how the drug nearly ended her life. Fjerda weaponizes parem and bombs Ravkan armies with the substance. 
• Nikolai tells his guard, Tolya, that he has faith in “Good engineering and better whiskey.” Nikolai frequently drinks at political and social gatherings as well as before battle. Drinks mentioned include wine and brandy. 
• Count Kirgin pours Hiram Schenck, a Kerch member of the Merchant Council, an “extraordinary vintage that had come straight from Kirgin’s legendary cellars.” 
• While in the Brum parlor, Nina mentions “a bottle of brännvin.” 
• Vadik Demidov, a member of the Lantsov family who is vying for Nikolai’s throne, “does not partake of spirits” due to his religion. 
• Genya and David hold a wedding where alcohol is served. 
• “The Monk” finds his way to “a beer hall in Shura” and drinks “sour beer.” Later, while preparing for battle, he desires whiskey. 
• Nikolai reflects on how he and David did not spend any “raucous nights . . . singing dirty drinking songs.”

Language  

• Profanity is rarely used. Profanity includes bastard, damn, hell, ass, shat, and whore. 
• Nikolai is repeatedly called the “bastard king.” One Ravkan says to him, “I said you are a bastard and not fit to sit that fancy horse.” 
• Damn is used most frequently. Nikolai lists his enemies, thinking, “the Darkling, the Fjerdans, the Shu, jurda parem, the damned demon living inside him.” 
• In Fjerda, “Djel” is used in place of “god”. Hanne says to Nina, “Sweet Djel, put a robe on.” 
• Ravkans substitute “oh my god” with “All Saints” and similar phrases. During a meeting, Zoya thinks, “All Saints, how did [Nikolai] meet with these spineless, self-satisfied toads without committing murder once a day?” 
• Nikolai thanks the Zemeni Kalem Kerko for his help in battle, saying, “You just saved our asses.” 
• The Fjerdan soldier Redvin says of Prince Rasmus, “Only Djel knows how they shat out a weakling like that.” 
• Jarl Brum calls someone a “whore mother” and another person a “Grisha whore.” 

Supernatural  

• The Grisha are individuals born with special powers. There are three categories of Grisha: Corporalki, Etherealki, and Materialki. Ravkan Grisha are recruited into the Second Army, using their abilities in battle. David explains that Grisha’s power is linked to “the making at the heart of the world.” 
• Nina is a Corporalnik whose powers over the living were altered after an experience with jurda parem. She now has control over the dead, and she uses her powers to hear the voices of the deceased while in the presence of the Fjerdan queen. “Kings and queens and favored retainers had been buried on the White Island since before the Ice Court had been built around it, and Nina could hear their whispers. An army awaiting her command.” 
• Adrik Zhabin is a Grisha Squaller (order Etherealki) who can control wind. Zoya has similar abilities. 
• Leoni Hilli is a Grisha Alkemi (order Materialki) who can control poisons. 
• Nina’s appearance was altered by Genya, a Grisha Tailor. Nina is now “in Mila Jandersdat’s body, her face and form tailored to keep her true identity secret.” 
• Hanne is a Corporalnik who can tailor appearances and manipulate the living. She repeatedly uses her powers to ease Prince Rasmus’ ailments, but she eventually accidentally kills him by crushing his heart. She later alters his corpse to look like her and changes her own appearance to mimic his. 
• A vendor in Fjerda is a Grisha Tidemaker who creates “a wall of seething water” that drenches Brum’s soldiers. 
• Nikolai is “host to a demon,” a winged creature linked to the Darkling’s power. It is attached to his soul, but he learns to control its powers. He uses the demon during a heist: “He was seeing through the demon’s eyes. He felt its arms—his arms—extend, muscles flexing, claws reaching.” 
• The Darkling was resurrected in King of Scars, and he now inhabits the body of the monk Yuri Vedenen. He later regains his powers by driving a “piece of the thorn wood” through the hands of Alina and Mal and summons “nichevo’ya,” shadow soldiers, to defend himself. 
• The blight of darkness comes from the Fold, a magic wasteland created by the Darkling’s abuse of Grisha power. People call the blight “Kilyklava. . . vampire, after a creature from myth.” 
• After slaying a dragon, Zoya gains the power to see into other people’s minds and feel their emotions. She calls this a “sudden drop into someone else’s pain or joy.” 
• Grisha infantry divisions use their powers to fight off the Fjerdans: “The Squallers drove back the Fjerdan tanks as the Heartrenders gave them cover. A squad of Inferni used the burning remnants of the tanks to create a wall of flame, another barrier the Fjerdan troops would have to breach.” 
• The Sun Soldiers are special Grisha, who are “heirs to Alina Starkov’s power.” They control light and are able to defeat the Darkling’s shadows. 
• After being burned, Ehri is saved by Grisha healers, “who had restored her body and kept her pain in check as they did it.” 
• Zoya learns to harness the talents of other Grisha orders, using not only her abilities as a Squallor but also manipulating water as a Tidemaker. 
• The Darkling, Aleksander, uses his powers on the statue of a Saint to gather followers. “Slowly, shadows curled from Sankt Ilya’s open hands; they began to bleed from his mouth.” 
• Zoya unlocks the ability to shapeshift into a dragon. She is bulletproof with the power to breathe “silver lightning.” 
• The Darkling is sealed into Sankt Felix’s thorn wood with a branch piercing his heart, sacrificing himself in a magic ritual that stops the blight of darkness and reverses its impact. 

Spiritual Content  

• The royalty of Shu Han is referred to as “born of heaven.” 
• The god of Fjerda is called Djel. Fjerdan soldiers are said to “hea[r] the words of Djel” at their initiation ceremony. Some Fjerdans claim that the Grisha are “the favored children of Djel. That their powers are actually a sign of his blessing.” 
• People outside Fjerda worship the Saints, martyred figures who supposedly had otherworldly abilities. Saints have their own fables, temples, and monks. 
• Cult followings of “the Sun Saint” and “Leoni of the Waters” appear in Fjerda, and Jarl Brum calls Saint worship “Corruption. Heresy.” 
• Living Grisha also have religious followers. Zoya is worshiped as “Sankta Zoya” (Saint Zoya), and she gains a significant following after using her dragon form to save the Ravkans from Fjerda. 
• The Apparat is the spiritual leader of Ravka. He defects to Fjerda, and, according to Brum, “He says the Ravkan king is possessed by demons, that Vadik Demidov was anointed by the Saints themselves to rule.” The Wellmother, leader of a Fjerdan convent to Djel, calls him “a heathen priest.” 
• The Darkling is worshipped as “The Starless Saint” by a cult referred to as “The Starless.” After his “martyrdom,” he is recognized as a Saint by the Ravkan government. 
• Nikolai calls the Tula Valley “the site of some of the holiest land in Ravka.” 
• Nikolai is not religious but prays for help: “Right now, though, he hoped that each Ravkan Saint, Kaelish sprite, and all-powerful deity was looking down with some fondness in their hearts for his country.” 
• The Lantsov family is considered “divinely chosen to lead Ravka.” 
• Nina claims to have been “blessed by Djel” and pretends to be his prophet.  
• The Darkling explains the history of the Grisha and Saints: “You know as well as I that the line between Saint and Grisha was once blurred. It was a time of miracles.” 
• Genya says in her speech at David’s funeral, “May the Saints receive him on a brighter shore.” The Ravkan belief in an afterlife is never explained further. 

by Gabrielle Barke