Rating: 6/10
I'm not sure what it is about these books, I see people all over bookstagram that just adore them and I don't understand. I wasn't even very compelled to read this book. I only read it because I had a poll on my Instagram story and this is the book that won (kinda wish that Queen of Air and Darkness had won, honestly). I'll watch the show, I might actually enjoy it, but the books just haven't been for me. Let's get into the review.
So, I don't have much to say technically or regarding the lore or the story itself. It usually feels this way with sequels, usually things like that tend to stay similar. If you're interested in my opinions regarding that, then check out my review of the first book Shadow and Bone from July.
Here's the link to my Shadow and Bone review:
In short, the world building was good, and the lore of the story was interesting. We got more information in this book that further elaborated on how things work within the Grisha universe. Though, things that were previously established have gotten somewhat muddied. The powers that the Grisha have are referred to as the "small science" but what the Darkling is doing throughout this book with his shadow army goes against the fundamental basis of the small science. They're referring to it as magic instead, and I'm not really sure where the line is drawn there. Not a big deal, but you know, it's a tad confusing. Alina is still boring and I'm not attached to her at all. The tendency that she has to constantly need the last word is also annoying. She pretty much constantly has the last word and then storms off.
Moreover, the biggest problem that I had with this book was the relationship. I know that it isn't the point of the story, but I really hate the relationship between Mal and Alina. This isn't for superficial reasons. This book is in the young adult age range; therefore, teenagers are the primary audience. The relationship in this book is so toxic and it is setting such a bad example for young people. Like, plenty of YA book have less than savory relationships, it often exists within the tropes that are just commonplace at this point, but this is just aggressively bad. At a certain point Alina and Mal are arguing because they are really just holding each other back. Mal copes in a toxic way, by getting into bare-knuckle boxing matches, kissing other girls, and drinking himself half to death. Then at some point, Alina is visited in the middle of the night by someone she assumes is Mal (we all know it isn't), and obviously they start making out (because this is a YA book). Her inner monologue is something along the lines of hoping that making out with him will fix their relationship, that physical intimacy will fix all their problems. The exact quote is, "This was what I wanted, wasn't it? To find some way to heal the breach between us?" This is such a toxic mindset! Why would you tell young people that physical intimacy is the way to fix your relationships?? Something about this one just didn't read right and all of their coping mechanisms are healthy at all. Most of the awful things that Mal is doing to cope aren't really glorified, but that little scene right there felt like it was. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I should at least point out that it read poorly.
That's really the most that I have to say about the book. The action has really picked up, and that has really pushed the story along quickly. This isn't a bad thing, you really don't have much opportunity to get bored. Even if the main characters kind of suck (except for Nikolai, I like Nikolai even if he is a tricky, liar). There's some pretty grisly violence, there is a war going on after all. I think that Bardugo is really good at writing the action scenes, she has a grasp on how to keep people rooted in the moment. Eventually I'll get around to the last book, even if I'm not very excited for it. I'm mostly reading these so I can get a firm baseline established prior to reading both of the duologues, i.e. Six of Crows and King of Scars. If I haven't heard so many good things about the duologies I'd probably just abondon the Bardugo ship, but I like Nikolai and I'm interested in Six of Crows. I hope that Ruin and Rising is able to bring it back some, because I've been pretty unimpressed so far.