Another disappointment I'm afraid. This should've been perfect for me given that I'm such a sucker for Russian folklore and fairytales and I genuinely was enjoying the book for the most part.

Although this is a very slow book in the sense that this even feels prequel-ly I did not mind it because it was a quick read, my problem were the last few chapters and how everything evolved from there. The climax scenes are lackluster and kind of unbelievable in a way that they felt elusive and convenient.
The writing is beautiful in my opinion but it did not mesh well with the action scenes that the author was trying to convey.
I liked the characters well enough but more often than not they didn't stir in me any strong emotion, which is unusual for me as I tend to love the characters in pretty much every book that I stumble across.

In conclusion, I think this series might not be for me after all and I'm sad to say so :(