What I liked most about this novel was how easy of a read it was. The language that Bardugo employed was incredibly simplistic, even for a YA novel, but it was also easy to get sucked into the world and its characters. I think this was the case because of the novel’s pacing. Bardugo did a good job at filling every page with action, doglessly progressing the story in order to keep her readers interested and guessing.

However, the pacing (a.k.a. how easy it was to get sucked into the novel) was all I really enjoyed about it. The pacing earned all the stars I gave the book. Again, I found the language so basic, so simplistic, even for a YA novel. While reading, I felt as if Bardugo didn’t believe in her reader’s intelligence enough to craft language that was, if not challenging and thought-provoking, at least clever. The reading level for this book was just too low for it to be truly engaging.