Genre: Fantasy

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 

After a brutal civil war that shook his fragile nation, King Nikolai Lantsov was pushed onto the throne of Ravka and must attempt to pick up the pieces. However, just as his kingdom is still scarred by the actions of the tyrant and powerful Grisha (magic-user) known as the Darkling, Nikolai is similarly haunted by the past. Nikolai begins shapeshifting into a hideous flying monster at night, threatening not only the lives of people around him but his tenuous claim to the throne.  

Simultaneously, Ravka begins experiencing strange magical phenomena that some call the work of Grisha, while others attribute it to the work of the Saints. Nikolai and his trusted Grisha general, Zoya Nazyalensky, follow the trail of these phenomena to the Shadow Fold, the site of the Darkling’s abuses of Grisha power and his death. With the help of a Darkling-follower named Yuri Vedenen, Nikolai and Zoya hope to use this journey to rid Nikolai of his demon and secure the future of the kingdom. Their quest leads to discoveries about the worshipped Saints, the Grisha, and their world as they know it. 

Meanwhile, Grisha spy Nina Zenik is still reeling from the loss of her love, Matthias Helvar, and recovering from her addiction to the deadly jurda parem, a drug that makes Grisha incredibly powerful at the cost of their free will and, usually, their lives. Nina is on a mission to gather intel in the cold and closed-minded land of Fjerda, which hates Grisha like her. In addition to arranging safe passage away from Fjerda for any Grisha she can, Nina must also finally lay Matthias’ body to rest. When Nina and her fellow spies discover a river that has been poisoning a Fjerdan river city called Gäfvalle, they trace the source to a mysterious factory that piques their interest. Hiding in a convent, Nina’s mission to uncover the hidden truth causes her to uncover a larger scheme against the Grisha and Ravka.  

King of Scars switches third-person perspective every chapter, following Nikolai, Zoya, Nina, Isaak, the Ravkan soldier who takes Nikolai’s place during his quest, and Dima, a minor character in the beginning of the story. The focal point of each chapter is specified in the chapter’s title (i.e. “Nikolai” or “Zoya”). Nikolai, the “King of Scars,” is the primary focus of the story and duology, and most of the issues faced by the other characters are tied back to his country’s problems. Despite having multiple perspectives, the story remains easy to follow due to its pacing and the frequency of expositional dialogue. Each perspective takes on the unique personalities of the characters, and, although every persona has its flaws, all of them are relatable and entertaining. Each one is given a proper backstory and depth, which keeps this ensemble story engaging. 

This book contains numerous storylines and a multitude of characters. Nothing feels unimportant due to the author’s care in making the characters and their lives feel three-dimensional. Side characters usually get only a sentence of exposition, so it can be difficult to remember the relationships and connections between them. Many of the less significant characters, such as Adrik, David, and Leoni, play central roles in other stories within the Grishaverse, and the events they mention are often elaborated upon in other books. While much of the backstory is explained, King of Scars takes place after the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. Thus, King of Scars is not meant to be read first, and doing so would undoubtedly confuse.  

King of Scars is about determination, change, and hope. Ravka is a nation constantly plagued by war and despair, and the central characters are as well. Nevertheless, despite facing many challenges in the past, present, and future, none of the protagonists relinquish the fight. They grow stronger, learning new powers, abilities, and tactics to succeed. The overarching theme of resilience makes for a worthwhile read for audiences interested in the Grishaverse and its characters.  

Sexual Content  

• After Nikolai has a particularly brutal transformation, he says to Zoya, “When you purse your lips like that, you look like you’ve made love to a lemon.” 
• Zoya tries to find Nikolai a wife. Zoya argues that the precautions they take to prevent his nightly transformations into the winged monster should not inhibit a strategic marriage, remarking, “She can lock you in at night and kiss you sweetly in the morning, and Ravka will be secure.” 
• To cover up the fact that Nikolai’s curse makes him disappear, he and Zoya pretend to have spent the night together. Nikolai jokes, “Kiss me sweetly as a new bride would.” To be more convincing, Zoya makes their clothing appear more disheveled. A guard who encounters them asks, “She only play with royals?. . .She looks like fun.” While Nikolai and Zoya’s affair is a ruse, Zoya does admit that she would have “possibly taken him to bed for a few hours” under other circumstances. This scene lasts for about two pages. 
• Lazlayon, aka The Gilded Bog, is a compound in Ravka that the rakish Count Kirigin runs. It is a “pleasure compound” that Nikolai designs to serve as a front for secret technological experiments and innovation that will help Ravka compete on a global scale. During his first visit, Nikolai sees a “man wearing nothing but an admiral’s hat.” The Gilded Bog is a recurring setting with a reputation for being steamy. 
• In a meeting with Ravkan officials, Zoya and Nikolai compare international alliances to nighttime companionship. Zoya asks, “Who do we want to go home with when the music stops?” Nikolai adds, “Pick the wrong partner and we could be in for a disappointing night.” 
• The previous king, Nikolai’s father, had a reputation for having many affairs. Nikolai admits that those who claim “to be a by-blow of [his] father” may be telling the truth. Genya Safin, a Grisha tailor whose beautiful face was mutilated by the Darkling, was essentially the king’s concubine. Zoya says that Genya was “tossed into the old king’s bed” by the Darkling. 
• There are also rumors that Nikolai’s mother cheated with a “Fjerdan shipping magnate” named Magnus Opjer, who is Nikolai’s true biological father. This is explained over three pages. 
• Brothels exist in multiple locations. Zoya mentions them, and Nina worked in one during the events of Six of Crows. The activities inside the brothels are not described. 
• Isaak admits to “falling a bit in love” with Genya while she is altering his appearance. A few pages later, Genya excitedly kisses Isaak’s cheek in response to his effective impersonation of Nikolai, and Isaak blushes. 
• Zoya is not sexually active, but her dalliances are mentioned. She refuses to tell Nikolai where she goes at night, and the narration later says, “Zoya did not desire; she was desired.” Zoya later says, “Every lover [she’s] taken” has asked about her scars. 
• The tension between Nikolai and Zoya is palpable. Zoya thinks before their journey to the Shadow Fold that Nikolai looked like “a boy in need of kissing.” Nikolai briefly kisses her knuckles later, and Zoya admits to herself that she “long[s] to try” to make Nikolai fall in love with her.  
• One night, Zoya takes off her kefta and shows Nikolai the scars on her back, and Nikolai stamps down “an unwelcome bolt of desire.” 
• Nina often uses flirtation as a tactic in her covert operations. The Wellmother, the leader of the Fjerdan convent, accuses Nina of wanting to “become a rich man’s mistress” after seeing her interact with the fearsome Fjerdan officer Jarl Brum. 

Violence  

• Since the book contains an excessive amount of violence, not all of it is included below. 
• The book opens with Nikolai turning into a winged demon and attacking a farm. Dima, a young boy who fears the creatures of the dark, is threatened by a demon that has “dark stains around its mouth and on its chest,” which Dina realizes are blood. Zoya chains the snapping monster before it can harm any humans. This scene is described in two pages. 
• Nikolai has scars that are “a reminder of the torture he had endured at the hands of the Darkling” during the Ravkan civil war. This torture is what led to his demon curse. 
• Adrik Zhabin, a Grisha Squaller remarks, “I’ve been shot, stabbed, bayoneted, and had my arm torn off by a shadow demon.” All of these events take place in the previous series. 
• Zoya reflects on “the Darkling’s slaughter of Novokribirsk,” which resulted in the death of her aunt Liliyana. 
• Nina prepares fish for the market. “She drove her blade into the fish’s belly, yanked up toward its head, seized the wet pink mess of its innards, and tossed them onto the filthy slats where they would be hosed away.” 
• Captain Birgir is a violent inspector who tortures and murders Grisha. Nina reflects on multiple instances of his brutality: “She’d seen Birgir and one of his favorite thugs, Casper, drag a mother and daughter off a whaler bound for Novyi Zem and beat them bloody . . . Then he’d doused them in a slurry of waste and fish guts from the canneries and bound them outside the harbor station in the blazing sun.”  
• Nina keeps shards of bone that she uses like darts. She first uses them on the Casper: “The darts lodged in Casper’s windpipe, and a sharp wheeze squeaked from his mouth. Nina twisted her fingers, and the bone shards rotated. The guard dropped to the dock, clawing at his neck.” 
• Nina kills Captain Birgir to protect Grisha refugees. Nina drives “a shard of bone through his heart,” and the fearsome captain dies. 
• Nina and her fellow spies save a girl who was thrown from her horse and nearly trampled to death: “All it would take was a single heavy strike and the [girl’s] skull would be crushed.” This incident occurs over three pages. 
• The Ravkan Triumverate council talks about “the Lantsov pretender,” Dunyasha Lazareva, who was found “splattered on the cobblestones outside the Church of Barter . . .” 
• Zoya has an altercation with Nikolai’s monster form. Her shoulder “crack[s] against the edge of a column,” and her arm is dislocated. The demon and the Grisha battle for three pages before the Shu soldier siblings Tamar and Tolya arrive as reinforcements and save Zoya’s life. 
• Wolves attack Nina while she is burying Matthias. First, Nina uses her bone shards and “pierc[es] the animals’ bodies,” but the remaining wolf bites her arm. Another wolf emerges and fights the remaining wolf off. The fight occurs over two pages. 
• The Saints trapped in the Shadow Fold—Elizaveta, Grigori, and Juris—fight Nikolai and Zoya upon their arrival. Elizaveta swarms them with bees, and Grigori fights in the shapeshifting form of various animals. Juris takes on the form of a dragon, and he and Zoya fight one-on-one: “The dragon unleashed its fire and Zoya let loose the storm…then the flames collapsed. The dragon reared back, a choked wheeze emerging from its throat. Zoya had stolen its breath…” The battle spans five pages and concludes in a tense truce. 
• In an act of betrayal, Elizaveta impales Nikolai’s palms and legs with thorns to prevent him from slaying the shadow demon. This action initiates a multi-chapter battle between those on the side of the Darkling and those who are not. 
• Zoya is encased in amber for the final battle, but she escapes and runs to Juris for backup. She finds him dying. Juris says, “My flames burned me from the inside.” To take on his power, Juris urges her to kill him, and she does so by stabbing a broadsword into his heart. He, in turn, pierces her chest with his dragon claw, solidifying the sacrificial bond. 
• Elizaveta kills Grigori with her insects: “Tiny holes and furrows began to appear on his flesh as burrowing insects consumed him.” 
• Zoya is the one who ultimately defeats Elizaveta in the Shadow Fold. She turns the Saint’s powers against her, reversing the path of Elizaveta’s vicious thorns and impaling her “on the claws of her own creation.” 
• Nina uses her power to manipulate the dead and summon an army of corpses. As the corpses claw through the Earth, the dead speak through Nina and recount their tragic endings at the hands of the Wellmother and the Fjerdan guards. One woman says, “You cut me open and took the child from my womb. You let me bleed to death as I pleaded for help.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• Nikolai uses a tonic “to keep [him] tucked into bed and the monster at bay.” Later, the tonic is enhanced to knock him out completely. He needs a separate wake-up elixir to emerge from sleep. 
• Nina is a recovering addict and survivor of the drug Jurda Parem, a synthetic substance created to enhance Grisha’s powers. “The drug was the product of experimentation in a Shu lab. It could take a Grisha’s power and transform it into something wholly new and wholly dangerous, but the price for that brief bit of glory was addiction and eventually death.”  
• Nikolai has commissioned a man to “develop both an antidote to jurda parem and a strain of the drug that might allow Grisha to heighten their powers without making them addicts.”  
• A river is poisoned by runoff from a factory. After testing the water, the Grisha spy, Leoni, falls ill. A version of jurda parem is infecting the water, resulting in the “orange eyes and rangy bodies” of the wolves that Nina encounters. 
• Absinthe is a drink that “tastes like sugar dipped in kerosene.” 
• The Fjerdans have been dosing pregnant Grisha women with jurda parem. Nina sneaks into their facility and finds, “Women and girls . . . in narrow beds . . . addicted to parem.” Their children would be born addicted to the substance, making for “perfect Grisha slaves.” 
• Characters drink alcohol frequently at social and political gatherings. For example, The Gilded Bog reportedly has “a wine cellar said to stretch for a mile underground. . .”  
• Zoya and Nikolai share a bottle of brandy. 
• While impersonating the king, Isaak is nearly poisoned by arsenic gas.  

Language  

• Profanity is rarely used. Profanity includes damn, ass, shit, and hell. For example, Nina says to the deceased Matthias, “Matthias, your country can kiss my fat Grisha ass.” 
• Bastard is used a few times. Nikolai ponders how, “The rumors of his bastardy had circulated since well before birth.” 
• Instead of saying “oh my God” or similar phrases, characters fill in the word “Saints” or “Djel” (a term for god in Fjerdan culture). For example, some say, “For Djel’s sake.” 

Supernatural  

• As detailed in the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, the Grisha are individuals with various magical abilities, categorized into three broad groups, each with smaller subcategories. This is called “The Small Science.” 
• The Corporalki are “The Order of the Living and the Dead” (Heartrenders and Healers). Nina was a Heartrender who could control the living before the drug jurda parem changed her powers and gave her control over the dead. 
• The Etherealki are “The Order of Summoners” (Squallers, Inferni, and Tidemakers). Zoya is a Squaller with power over wind and air. “The wind did what she willed it, had since she was a child.” 
• The Materialki are “The Order of Fabrikators” (Durasts and Aklemi). Leoni is an Alkemi who can control and study poisons. 
• The deceased Matthias Helvar’s voice speaks to Nina until she finally buries his body. Upon laying him to rest, Nina finally admits that “Matthias’ voice was not [real]. It never had been.” 
• The Shadow Fold was created by “merzost,” also known as “abomination” or the corruption of Grisha power. The Darkling had aimed to create more amplifiers, magical artifacts that enhance Grisha magic, but instead created abominations.  
• Zoya explains to Nikolai that amplifiers are “tied to the making at the heart of the world, the source of all creation.” Grisha’s magic is intrinsically connected to the world itself and the powerful forces that created it. 
• Three “Saints,” Elizaveta, Juris, and Grigori, are all trapped by the Shadow Fold. Nikolai, Zoya, and Yuri are all transported there, where time is immeasurable. Elizaveta can control natural organisms like bees, other insects, and plants. Grigori is a shapeshifter whose form constantly morphs between human, bear, and amalgamated forms. Juris is a less chaotic shapeshifter who can take on the form and powers of a dragon. 

Spiritual Content  

• People in Ravka pray to the Saints, all-powerful beings of old who performed miracles and were revered for their martyrdom. There are “churches” dedicated to the Saints. 
• Tolya and Tamar are both very religious. When Tolya recites “liturgical Ravkan,” Tolya explains, “It’s from the Book of Alyosha, which you might know if you ever went to church.” 
• Zoya admits that she isn’t “much for praying” to the Saints, and it is later revealed that her faith was destroyed by past unfulfilled prayers. 
• In the country of Fjerda, Djel is worshipped as an all-powerful god. The people believe the river’s poisoning was “a sign of Djel’s disfavor,” requiring “a priest to say prayers.” 
• “The great ash” is a sacred tree to Djel.  
• People in Fjerda sometimes make signs in the air, “meant to wash away evil thoughts with the strength of Djel’s waters.” Water is also sacred in Fjerdan culture. 
• One of Nina’s main goals is to lay Matthias to rest so that “he could find his way to his god.” 
• The Apparat is the Ravkan “spiritual counselor to the king,” but the current one is considered self-serving and a traitor. He is followed by the “Priestguard,” holy soldiers who supposedly originated from shapeshifters who survived the obisbaya ritual. 
• Yuri is a young monk who follows the “Cult of the Starless Saint.” He urges Nikolai during a large demonstration, “Tell your false priest [the Apparat] to do what is right and recognize the Starless One as a Saint.” He believes that the Starless One deserves Sainthood because of the “good” he did for Ravka, despite the horrors that he committed. 
• The line between the Grisha and the Saints is consistently blurred, and multiple characters imply that the martyred Saints, whom many civilians worship, were actually powerful Grisha, not otherworldly beings.  
• Grigori says that creation “belongs to the First Maker alone,” implying the presence of an all-powerful creator figure.