Hi everyone! I was originally going to review these all separately, but I read through these books so fast that 1) it felt like one really long book and 2) because of that, I have thoughts on the overall series than just one book at a time. Shall we just jump in? Yes, because this might get long.
First of all, I LOVED these books. Absolutely adored them. I've heard many say that this series is not as good as Six of Crows, and if that's the case, then I am super excited to read that one because this series has me in love. I gave all three of these books a five-star rating.
Let's start with our characters. Alina. She annoyed me at first, and then she got SO badass. So she starts as this poor, skinny, sort of ugly orphan girl who is in love with her best friend. We'll talk about that guy later. Then she discovers she's Grisha and she gets carted off to learn how to use her power. She starts off really humble and not wanting much attention and all that. Then she gets a taste of the power. And here's what I really love about this series. She's the Sun Summoner, right? And typically the "light" side is the good side that doesn't want too much power and they're holy and pure and blah blah blah. Not Alina. I love these books because she's HUMAN in them. She gets a taste of power, of her sun power, and she wants more. She's the good guy, but that doesn't mean she only wants enough power to defeat the bad guys. She has a hunger for these amplifiers that will make her all powerful and I really loved that. It shows that real human beings aren't ALL good or ALL bad. They're a mix of both, and they showed that very well through Alina. Another thing I liked is that she doesn't necessarily enjoy being seen as a Saint, but she uses it to her advantage. She uses that to get help and to inspire people to not give up. She might be inwardly cringing, but she uses her image of Sankta Alina to help her cause.
The Darkling. Ughhh I'm going to be like tons of other people and say that I LOVE the Darkling. New favorite villain, hands down. Tall, dark, and handsome - check. I have a weak spot for those types of characters. I wish we had seen more of him. I know that he only really liked Alina because of her power and what she could give him, but I still ship them. I know it would have been bad for Ravka and all that stuff... but I wish Alina hadn't found out what he was planning and that she had just been with him. I'm awful, I know. It would have been fun to see what they would have done together. But I digress. I wanted to see more of an arc for this guy, to see how much more he could have developed.
Mal. Ugh. A different kind of ugh than I gave for the Darkling. I didn't like Mal! He was SO needy and insecure. And of course, he was buff and beautiful and every woman wanted him and blah blah blah. I just didn't like him. I know, I know. He didn't understand what Alina was going through or understand how Alina and the Darkling were connected, but he didn't try to! He was way too huffy puffy and pouty about the whole thing and I just wanted him to go away. He made Alina feel like crap for something she couldn't really control and instead of listening to her, he would just stomp off and drink and fight and be immature. Granted, Alina could have told him more, but I doubt he would have listened. Actually, she did tell him, and he just walked away!
Anyway. I'm moving on. Something I thought of that might have been a cool spin was at the very end. If you haven't read through all of these, spoilers are coming! When Alina got all three amplifiers and destroyed the darkness, what if she hadn't killed the Darkling? Would the darkness have vanished in him, and he would have become like Alina? I would have loved to see that. What would he have done at that point? That could have been a sweet spin-off series.
I will admit that it wasn't all action and badassery, a lot of it was kind of boring. There was a ton of travel involved and a lot of world building. As a writer myself, I loved the world building but I know a lot of people found it boring. Here's another thought - a lot of people have criticized Leigh Bardugo for her imperfect Russian influence. That's the thing though, it's just influence. It wasn't actually Russia where this took place. She made her own world, with Russian-esque themes. That said, it's not going to be 100% spot on with how our real Russia actually is. The beauty of writing is that you can write about whatever you want to and you can create worlds that don't actually exist. People need to chill.
One more thought train and then I'll wrap this up. Nikolai. I looove him! I wanted more of him, and he was probably one of my favorite characters. Part of me wanted Alina to be like "Mal? The Darkling? Nah, let's just ghost 'em and go for Nikolai." He was smart, funny, calculating, and someone who's going to make a great king. I really appreciated when he was talking to Alina about a possible marriage alliance, and he said that he knows they aren't in love, but maybe they could be one day. He didn't push it, he just offered it as an option. I'm excited to read more about him in King of Scars.
Okay, this has been a super long post. Let me leave it at this: This was a great series, and I couldn't put it down. I read through these books in a very short time and I am in love with this world. It's a fun read, but it gets a little dark too. The characters were awesome, and I want more!
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