YMMV / The Nikolai Duology

• Die for Our Ship: Some Zoyalai shippers do not like Alina.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Isaak Andreyev as well as Leoni and Adrik.
• Esoteric Happy Ending:
  • The duology ends with Zoya becoming queen of Ravka...a country that still discriminates against Grisha, and likely isn't going to accept an outright Grisha ruler, although on the other hand she did save the country from conquest and seems to be considered a saint. However, she becomes queen at Nikolai's expense, who never overcomes his demon; and she'll live for a very long time, something we were taught earlier is bound to lead to corruption with the amount of power she has, and which also means she'll outlive Nikolai. Plus a more permanent monarchy doesn't seem like the natural solution to Ravka's ills, just as it wasn't in its real life counterpart.
  • In addition, Nina Becomes the Mask, agreeing to continue living as Mila Jandersdat to marry the prince of Fjerda (who is Hanne). It's hard to accept Nina abandoning both Ravka and her identity for the stuffy and oppressive Fjerda of all places as a happy ending.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Due to dissatisfaction, particularly with Rule of Wolves (as explained under Sequelitis), some sections of the fandom just choose to ignore this duology.
• Improved Second Attempt: One of the most widespread initial complaints about the original trilogy and the worldbuilding was that "Grisha" is a diminutive for Grigori, so it sounds a little silly for mages to be called that; it's essentially calling them "Greg". This duology reveals that the first Corporalki were taught their arts by the legendary Sankt Grigori and people nicknamed them the Grisha after him (sort of like how the first British police were called "Bobbies" after Robert Peel), thus bringing the name in line with its real-world meaning.
• Sequelitis: This duology receives mixed to negative responses from fans, especially Rule of Wolves, for a number of reasons. It is considered by many to be some of Bardugo's weakest work; at least the original trilogy had a coherent story even if it was a bit basic and a product of its time.
  • The duology breaks a lot of the rules established in earlier instalments, such as acceptable magic being science-based (magic that goes beyond is called merzost and is taboo), or there being a limit to Grisha power and a heavy cost for anyone attempting to acquire more, thus turning some fans off Zoya, who ostensibly faces no consequences for becoming the Grishaverse equivalent of the Avatar who can also shapeshift into a dragon.
  • It also undermines Ruin and Rising's emotional and neatly tied up ending by bringing back characters like the Darkling and then hardly doing anything with them, making for a considerably weaker second ending.
  • Even Nikolai fans walked away disappointed that much of his duology wasn't even about him, with significant portions dedicated to Zoya, Nina (whose chapters, some feel, did not tie in well with the rest of the story), Mayu, and the Darkling.

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