Grishaverse - The Nikolai Duology Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Elf]

Sigh 

where to start 

Firstly, this is my opinion only, and if you feel a different way, then good! I'm glad somebody enjoyed these books. 

As i mentioned this will have major spoilers for king of scars and rule of wolves. And it will probably have spoilers for other books in the Grishaverse as well so here's another warning for ya

Ok these books are the worst books of the Grishaverse. Frist of all, i really don't like how Nikolai got sidelined in his own books. Secondly, the writing is just too generic. Thirdly, I hated the ending of King of Scars. The Darkling returning? Seriously???? Then what was the point of killing him off??? The moment in ruin and rising, at the end, where they burned his body, it was so poignant and sad and at the same time a relief cause this monster of a man is finally gone. And now here you are, telling me that no no, that wasn't his real body, it was a fake one made by Sankta Eliziveta. Oh yeah! The revelation that saints exist, only to kill three major ones off mere chapters later. 

Then in rule of wolves. I mean...the fold expanding, the Darkling returning. What exactly was the point of the original trilogy if you are gonna do this again? And in both the books, Nina's story was the most fleshed out and interesting and yet it felt like i was reading two seperate books becuase her story has almost no impact on Nikolai's. Rules of wolves, there's just too much happening in it. Like far, far too much. It doesn't make sense half of the time. 

And everybody, everybody is in this book.i dnfed it halfway, but if i am not mistaken the crows are here and also Alina and mal. 

This book has none of the charm of the six of crows duology and the plot is nowhere near as interesting as the shadow and bone trilogy  

And another thing. The Grishaverse is primarily dark fantasy. Shadow and bone was dark. Six of crows was definitely dark. But this...idk it doesn't feel dark to me. It feels like it's trying too hard to be dark and ends up just being kind of generic

Edited June 15, 2022 by Elf

[Morningtide]

I completely agree with everything you just said. The character development is the only highlight. It just feels like a sad excuse for the first trilogy, but without the originality and excitement. 

Also, my own personal pet peeve, I HATED Nina's character arc. It just felt like a betrayal of Matthias. The beginning, where she was hearing his voice, could have gone somewhere cool. But then they didn't do anything with it and instead decided to give her another love story. Despite the character chemistry there, it just doesn't feel the same as Nina/Matthias. It makes me sad.

There was my rant. They were still good, just not comparable to the others.

[Elf]

Oh same! Hanne is pretty good but she and Nina just don't have the same chemistry as Nina and Matthias

And honestly, with the fact that she can hear ghosts being established as canon, i do agree they could have done something cool with Matthias's voice in her head.

[Morningtide]

20 hours ago, Elf said:

Oh same! Hanne is pretty good but she and Nina just don't have the same chemistry as Nina and Matthias

And honestly, with the fact that she can hear ghosts being established as canon, i do agree they could have done something cool with Matthias's voice in her head.

Yeah it would have been so cool. The current plotline was fine I guess.