Okay I can officially say, no matter how good the third book is, that this will be one of my new all-time favourite series. I actually adore these characters; they are so incredibly complex and feel so real, each with completely individual personalities, goals, motivations and history, and yet you somehow root for all of them. There are so many different politics and opinions about how the city should be ran and who is in the right, and you can somehow see where each side is coming from, and yet isn't completely right or wrong. Nahri is one of the most amazing female main characters I've had the pleasure of reading, and Ali might have the most complex personality and motivations of any character I've read from. And don't even get me started on Muntadhir; the way this book had me changing opinions on him was crazy, he was so layered and his character arc was amazing in this. Ghassan was an amazing 'villain' as well; he was clearly in the wrong but every so often I could see where he was coming from, and there was more to his character than being a tyrannical ruler. I think Jamshid might take my number one spot, though; I loved seeing his friendship with Nahri grow throughout the book and I hated seeing him suffer in this. I literally just want good things for him. I loved the third person, multiple POV perspective in this; there was no POV I was disappointed to read from and I adored how it let us know things before certain characters did, it meant the plot was all that more exciting. The plot in question was definitely less action-filled than the first book - the characters seemed to mostly be preparing - but I literally didn't care because I was just loving spending time with them and letting the tension build up. The time skips are some of the most seamless I've ever read as well. 
My only, very minor gripe, was that I would have loved to see a little more of Lubayd and Aqisa. I think they and Ali could have made a really strong found family if they were given a little more page time, and Lubayd had the potential to be another one of my favourite characters if I had seen him a little more. But needless to say, that didn't stop this book from being a five stars from me. I don't want this series to end!