Re-read: September '16:
I really enjoyed this book the second time around.
I noticed small little details i missed the first time -one of the MANY reasons I love re-reading books!- and i still loved the writing, the world and the characters.

I also might have fallen completely and utterly -not that i wasn't before this re-read but it certainly cemented the love!- with the layout and cover art of this book! I love the chapter art, i love the little art around the page numbers and i love the different writing style used at start of new sections! It all fits so perfectly with the story, it really sets the tone while at the same time just underlining what the story tells.

This book is a beauty, i loved it! And everything else is said in my original review right here:




Original Review: October '15

I really loved this book! I loved the world, and the writing and the characters!
I loved the darkling and Alina and i loved Mal!

I loved the world building that doesn't remind me of any other fantasy book but is very much unique to this one.

I really enjoy the magic system, i love that you have to learn and perfect it and understand it before you can master it, which just makes so much sense!

I love that this book makes sense!

I love that the main character learns to appreciate and understand herself throughout this book and that she does it in a very organic and natural way.

Alina isn't perfect, she makes big mistakes, she has to learn very hard lessons that cost a lot of people -including herself- a LOT, but she learns, and she tries to do better. And there is really nothing that i love quite as much as characters that LEARN!

I really enjoy the rather unexpected sides that characters show in this book and i am not talking about the Darkling, people!

Honestly, the only thing that i did not LOVE about this book was the "romance" aspect of it.

i didn't enjoy that the Darkling couldn't have been just the teacher, the person that leads Alina into her powers and helps her and be a good friend to her and the betray her. Having a good -best, maybe even- friend betray you is not any less hurtful then a person you thought might be a lover. It can be even worse! You trusted that person, you confided in them! That person was supposed to be your friend and have your back! Having that betrayed would have worked better for me, in this book.

Mostly because i just didn't see the need for any romance in it.

Not between Alina and the Darkling -however fleeting that was- and not between her and Mal.

I would have LOVED it if this would have been one of the only -if not the only book- that actually manages to write a non-romantic friendship relationship between a female and male main character!

Sadly i didn't get that. But since the book didn't promise me that, i will not moan about it anymore!

And really the "romance" parts were small anyways so lets just move on and go back to gushing!


This book was fantastically wonderfully magnificently amazing and i loved it!

If you have not yet read this book, go do it! What are you waiting for?



Why are you still here?
Didn't i just tell you to go read this book?