⚠️ TW: arranged marriage, suicidal thoughts, brief mentions of miscarriage and stillbirth ⚠️ Wow, Leigh Bardugo has created absolute perfection with this one!! 😍 This is the second book in the King of Scars duology and follows Nikolai, Zoya and Nina as they all fight to forge a future in the darkness or risk watching their nation fall. As a King, a General and a spy they all have battles to fight both for themselves and their nation, but as everything becomes treacherous can they manage to find a balance and still come out victorious. This book was mind blowingly gripping, so fast paced and such a rollercoaster. So much goes on within this book that it's hard to review without spoilers but omg if I could give this more stars then I absolutely would. It is the perfect finale (potentially) to the Grishaverse books and I loved it so much! However it also broke me. I thought KOS was bad for making me cry but this one took it to a whole different level. Despite it giving me emotional damage, it also gave so much more by making me smile until my cheeks hurt, swoon like a lovestruck teenager and have my heart beating out of my chest with suspense. As well as providing some amazing representation for the LGBTQ+ community 👏🏼 Honestly everything about this book was perfection for me and I cannot recommend it highly enough!