This book was a damn rollercoaster!

Alina starts out the book by trading one form of imprisonment for another, then she escapes, hunts for the next amplifier, has mini escapades with the darkling etcetcetc...

I am sure we all can see the pattern going on. One thing I did not bank on was how emotionally attached I had become to the characters. The final few chapters I was broken - how is oncat going to survive without Harshaw....

Baghda finally faced her son and we learnt about why they hold such unique powers. We learnt The Darklings name - why do I like the darkling so much, he was a sociopath and yet...

In the final scene - at the funeral, when Alina said his name when no one else would, that just broke me....

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, despite it making me an emotional wreck

The beginning was actually really strong, and it felt like Leigh Bardugo had grown as a writer there was more tension, higher stakes, and better character development overall, which I appreciated. But the ending really didn’t work for me. It felt like a letdown after all that build-up, and it kind of took away from how good the middle of the book was.

Still, I’m glad I finished the trilogy. It makes me more curious about the rest of this universe. I’m planning to start Six of Crows next, and I really hope it lives up to the hype. I also found out there’s a Nikolai-focused book, and since he was my favorite character in the series, I’ll probably check that out after the duology.