lit.erally.love
If the 200 pages in the middle wouldn't have been soo boring, I would give this book 4 stars! unfortunately, I really disliked Alinas time in the palace, even though the start and the end got me on the edge of my seat. I can't stand Alina & Maljen as a couple. Their story was told in the first book and I was fine with it but now they annoy the f*ck out of me. If there is only ONE scene in book 3 with Maljen getting jealous because Alina talks with a man/Alina angrily starring at Zoya, I will scream. I really liked Alinas development though! She's an asshole, but she's MY asshole and she gets worse with every page and I don't know, she isn't even that interesting but I'm emotionally attached to her, please send help. Nikolaj carried this book ON HIS BACK. I adore him and I don't even want to think how this book would have been without him. one thing I really liked was how well-developed the world and the politics are! It takes my breath everytime they travel through the Grishaverse tbh. The atmosphere gives me chills. Also, I love the cult around Alina! There is one thing which bothered me A LOT and I don't know if it's true but I told a russish-speaking person from my family about the book and he just laughed and said that Grisha is translated with Greg... I don't know what to do with this information but I pray everyday that I got pranked or that my family member just speaks russish very bad. kudos to the German translator, it's really beautiful and I think I will check out more books translated by him just because of this book!!! bottom line: nice. won't remember it a long time, but had fun reading this, even though it's very boring sometimes. the atmosphere and the worldbuilding is 10/10, would recommend.
