I started reading this book yesterday afternoon, and oh boy, I read late into the night wanting to finish it. I devoured the entire thing and cannot wait till the 30th of March to get the last book of the two-book series!
Good, let's dive into it in more detail without really spoiling anything. ;)
The characters
I loved all three main characters. They're not good or bad, but very human in the way that you feel connected to them. They each deal with their own trauma and grieve which makes them to some extent very relatable. Although I liked all Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina; I have to say that the latter seemed sometimes a little bit off. I would have loved to see more development about her losing the love of her life and how she's dealing with it. But that didn't happen which, this may sound bad, was very off-putting in some way? I had the feeling she said goodbye and immediately moved on???As for Nikolai and Zoya's story, they both deal with their own demons (Nikolai LITERALLY) and slowly grow close together without it being overdramatic? I LIVE FOR THESE SLOW-BURNING ROMANCES! Anyways, they both have an interesting storyline on which I will indulge further later.
The writing
Leigh Bardugo does have a flair to write cocky dialogue, action scenes and loves to plant little seeds that will explode at the ending of the story. I enjoyed the pace of the book a lot! The style of always alternating between characters in the chapters was something I at first needed to get used to, but agree with now. There were moments in the book that I wasn't invested in certain side stories (sorry Nina, but I will elaborate on that further soon) so it was nice to think "God, I hope this chapter is over soon because I will see the world through Zoya's or Nikolai's eyes after this." It got me through reading these boring pages!
The story itself
Now, I might have dropped a little bit already how Nina's story did not interest me at all. I think the reason being is that I found her chapters offputting. in the beginning, I was very invested. She is grieving over her lost love (we're all still traumatized by that ourselves) and she just puts him in the ground and that's that? Like, we were all grieving along with her? There was no closure for the reader at all??? And then it immediately moved on to, again, some sort of heist; which I normally adore but couldn't take seriously because she started daydreaming about a new character who I, frankly, didn't really like... I am curious to see how it will develop further, but she's not the reason why I'll read the sequel.
Nikolai and Zoya had a way more interesting plot, had more 'real' dialogue, and was very genuine. Nikolai struggles with what the Darkling cursed him. For Zoya, it's her quest to protect him. At the same time, you get a background story of why they are this way. Despite being so different, they both fit perfectly well together. Them in the waste, the love for their country and kind??? It was incredible. Also, I mentioned before, the slow-burning love and affection they have for each other is great. It's not too overwhelming in this series which I think is awesome for people who hate sappy love stories.
All in all a good book, but no 5⭐️'s because of Nina unfortunately.
xoxo, peace out
Elke
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