I was so close to giving this book five stars! It just lost it at the end, in my opinion. Despite that, this book really kept me on my toes! It had me exclaiming and reacting more then the first two did. And the twists were not something I predicted!

The themes were really interesting in this book: sacrifice, manipulation, solace, to name a few. Also, the characters continued to be really interesting and well fleshed out! The opinion that changed the most for me was the Apparat. I had sympathy for him in the first novel, but that completley changed in this book.

Despite my grievances, I did enjoy the ending. I found solace in the Darkling's end, but I hated what happened to Alina. Also, as much as I thought Mal's love and loyalty for Alina was adorable, I thought his ending was a bit cheap. In some instances, I kind of wished Alina and Nikolai ended up together. I really enjoyed their rapport and friendship.

I absolutely adored the 'before' and 'after' in each of the books and this was no different. I think they gave the novel a really nice introduction and conclusion. It was a different writing style from the main story, but it fit perfectly and felt like the perfect way to end the books.