The ox feels the yoke, but does the bird feel the weight of its wings?

i was really disappointed reading shadow and bone a while back, mostly because of how hyped up it was to me and how much i felt it was unworthy of that hype. but honestly, the sequel is much better.

alina will always annoy me in some way or another, but i definitely felt more drawn to her character in this book as she explored her dark side. i love how she came to realize that her hunger for so much power was changing her and i love the way it was written. she definitely wasn’t as bland as she was in the first book which i appreciated.

a huge part of my decision not to rate this lower was nikolai. any scenes with him were SO entertaining and i genuinely think he’s my favorite character in the grishaverse so far (yes, i know, very popular opinion).

this book also had a lot of suspense (and, might i add, quite a few plot twists) which was an element i felt was missing from shadow and bone. i also remember critizing s&b for the writing, which i can easily say has improved in this one. (props to you leigh!!)

but along with the positives came quite a few negatives.

first of all, what in the world is going on with malina??? i was never a hardcore shipper but i thought they were cute in the first book. here, though? a hot freaking mess. don’t know what that’s about. moving on.

with the suspense came quite a lot of… nothing. it took quite some time to get to a part where stuff actually happens. (also, the lack of the darkling scenes kinda broke my heart but whatever it’s fine 3)

anyway, this book was pretty good. definitely better than the first, but still had quite a few flaws. i’m excited to see how the next one will go :)