"There is nothing wrong with my teeth."
"Not at all," said Genya soothingly. "You're the prettiest walrus I know. I'm just amazed you haven't sawed through your lower lip."

"I love it when you quote me."

This was pretty great i have to say.


I LOVE Nikolai.

I think he is one of the greatest characters ever!
Hes smart and sarcastic ans snarky!
He thinks on his feet and always has at least three back-up plans and he fights with everything he got... and i love him!
In my option he has some of the best lines, and i love how he handles things and i just... i really enjoy him and kind of wish he would have played and even bigger role in the entire trilogy because ... yes thats right i love that guy!


I did have a few problems with Alina -not surprising really i always have problems with her. She is just a problematic character!
She does so many things where i just want to .. shake her and scream at her!


But at the same time i also kind of always love her because of how flawed she is, how many bad choices she makes, how long she takes to see what is freaking right in front of her!
I think that what makes her such a great character in many ways, because she is utterly human!
She has no idea what to do in most situations, she has no clue how to behave or what she should say, or do or think!
She tries, she clearly does, but most of the time something doesn't go as she hopes or plans for and than she just has to improvise and lets just all agree that thats just real life, because if there something i personally can relate to is no matter how much i plan and hope and dream something to go how ever many ways i can imagine... it always finds that one way i was NOT able to think of and do exactly that so that i am utterly unprepared for it.
And thats just Alina's life!

So while she is certainly not the character i would vote for as most lovable, she is certainly the character that is most Real, humane and clearly well crafted!


The writing was fan-freaking-tastic as always!
So thats wonderful.

I also really enjoyed all the side characters and how they behaved in this one.
Everyone had their specific personality, and some worked great together and some had those natural clashes that just happen if you throw together a group of people that have to work together even if they don't naturally work together normally and under different circumstances.


Also there are so many great lines in this book, its just hilarious!
In many ways a lot of those moments between characters really reminded me of the quick back and forth and wit of Gilmore girls, especially the quirky side characters in stars hollow.

Which was great, i loved that!


The overall plot itself was good.
I did expect a bit more...

So lets now continue on to the portion of the review - that we all knew was coming because come, on when can i write a review specially about books that i really enjoy without also complaining about little things a lot? so lets do- complain about the little things A LOT!

I just felt like Bardugo took ride on the easy train with a lot of things:
- the beginning
- the the romance
- and the "Big final battle"
- and the big reveal of the last magical relic they had to find
- and the ending


So lets go through those moments in a bit more detail, shall we?

- I mean the beginning was very slow, and honestly i could have done without all the Saint stuff because that was just a tiny bit boring in my eyes. And since overall the entire first 70 to 90 pages didn't really play that big of a role to/for the rest of the story it made no real sense to me why they where written as they were... ? Beside the team/group building.

- I didn't love the romance pairing. Wasn't a fan from the second it was introduced and it didn't grow on me at all.
I think there were better options and ways to end the book that would still round the entire trilogy up very beautifully. But i am guessing that i am not necessary on the most popular train with that since a lot of people seemed to enjoy the pairings i am always the least happy with.
But for me it was one of those "yuck really?" moments.



- the "Big final battle" ist honestly the biggest disappointment for me personally.
Because we had those pretty epic fights -literary fights or even just those verbal ones because lets face it those where pretty spectacular in the book!- and that we get served with that... as the big thing.
After all that build up.
And the honestly unnecessary struggling beginnings i had to read through in that white chapel thing without any reason.
And then i get that "epic" battle?
I MEAN COME ON!!!!


It wasn't horrible, but Bardugo showed us that she can do so much better. The big fight in book two as more epic! So why do we get the "not the worst i ever read!" in the last book?
Did i miss something?
I always thought the big finale came at the end?


Did i mention i am picky? NO? Mhm....


- And lastly... that big reveal about where that last magical relic thing-y was...
did anyone else see that coming from miles ways... i mean that was not a surprise was it?

I kind of wished it would have been something like the walking stick Baghra always hit people with. that would have been EPIC -in my option. And unpredictable. And kind of funny. Because having it right under their noses the entire time and the old woman just not wanting to give it up until she felt ready for it or found someone she thought worthy... or think something up for yourself!

Again Bardugos choice wasn't bad.
It was okay. It was nicely written.
I just wish she would have given the entire thing a bit more an ... "whoa!" effect i guess?

- the ending was overall good.
It wasn't a bad ending at all and it was an ending. which i appreciate. Because clearly she can write more after it if she wants. even with characters out of this book series if she wants, even with and about the characters from the trilogy. BUT its a good ending.
Its also one that everyone and their pet rat could predict.
So there is that.
Not saying its a bad thing necessarily... but also at the same time those books are mostly fantastically done and i think the entire grisha verse itself was very unique and just... why take such an uninspired road with the ending?
Might just be me again. I am very picky about endings.
And as i said at least this book has actual one, instead of one of those open ones, where the last sentence is one of those "or are they... dum-dum-DUMMMMMMM!" kind of things which i HATE with a fire passion.
So thanks for NOT doing that. Highly appreciated.
So not really complaining... but at the same time a little bit complaining?


And after i just complained rather endlessly about this book and basically made it sound like i didn't enjoy it at all... lets wrap up this up!

I really enjoyed this even if it might not sound like i did.



I love some sections of it completely.
I really at a few moments where i struggled because i didn't know where it was going and what would happen with the characters.
Its superbly written.
And i did really enjoy how it all wrapped up and ending.

So all in all it was a great read just slightly disappointing in some sections.

Still highly recommend this trilogy as a whole and the individual books as well!