I loved this book and I'm excited to read the rest of the series. The story telling was really well done; especially the third person point of view in the 'before' and 'after'. It was such a nice, familiar, and comforting way to end the novel. Also, I absolutely adored the moral and symbolism of Morozova's stag. Thta was something I was worried about in the narrative and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I'm excited to see what Bardugo comes up with in the next instalment.

This book is by no means perfect, in my opinion, but that does not mean it isn't incredibly enjoyable. I wasn't a huge fan of the 'I-am-not-as-pretty-as-other-girls-so-there-is-no-way-I-am-the-chosen-one' cliche, but I like Alina as a protagonist once I ignored that part. Another thing is that I didn't even realise Mal or the Darkling were love interests! The hints were barely there and I didn't clock on until the middle of the novel. Neither of them are people I would root for in a book, though. Both are aggressive and secretive, just one is more stereotypically villainous than the other.