Ok, where to begin with this one …

Disclaimer: Depending on where you draw the line, there might be a mild spoiler in here.

This was definitely the best one out of the three and the ending made sure that it would be a four-star-review.

Also, this third book really packs some punches. For instance, Nikolai’s storyline almost made me cry, and it was this and two other actions by the Darkling that have me flabbergasted at the fact that the dark Grisha is so well loved. He is cruel, and in my eyes nothing could have excused his actions.

It’s interesting, because I think that if he was a better person he wouldn’t be too different to Nikolai. The prince is driven too, knows what he wants, talks smooth and is great at strategising. But he’s also respectfull, listens to people around him and takes their opinion into account if they’re valuable. He’s no angel but he’s ten times the man the Darlkling is.

I’m glad that Mal got back his place. It was necessary to pay more attention to him in the third book again, I know, but I think the author wrote him well.

Alina and I, on the other hand, probably won’t ever be best friends. I don’t like her. I know she has quite the burden to carry and it couldn’t have been easy but she was just more a child in my mind than a young adult. The way she gambled her and mostly the safety of others at points in the story was mind-boggling.

It also portrayed that the author often let drama and bad things happen whenever the characters made a dumb decision. That was very prevalent in the second book but carried on in the third one. Sometimes it seemed like the characters had forgotten who and where they were and instead acted as if nothing could harm them.
I see that this can be authentic but it happened just a few times too many for me to believe that it was only them being a bit careless.

Ultimately, I think I could’ve not read this series and be a-ok just the same. But that might well be because I’m not a teenager anymore. I can imagine that my younger self would have enjoyed these books a lot more.