Wow. Wow wow WOW. What a FINALE. What a SERIES. I'm in awe.

After reading Six of Crows last summer, I knew I did something wrong. I did something backward. These were meant to be read first and I can see so clearly why that's the case now. They're the backbone of this world and they create such vivid imagery for the reader. They suck you in and give you everything you need to know about the Grisha, about Ravka, about all of it.

These characters are everything. The ones you think might be good actually could be bad and the ones that you assume are bad could be fantastic. You laugh at the awkward encounters and cry over the deaths and destruction. Everyone is an onion, with tons of layers to peel away.

While this particular book took a bit of time to build, the climax was incredible. There was SO much that happened in the last few chapters that blew my mind. And the epilogue? It made my heart soar. I usually hate epilogues, but this one gave us such a beautiful look into what transpired for these characters later on. My friend described it as a "sweet and bold" ending and I love that so much that I have to use it myself here (thanks, Kait) because it's so accurate. The fact that they lived such ordinary lives after walking through extraordinary circumstances is just stunning to me.

I don't like Mal. I never found myself changing my mind on that. I disliked him up til the final moments. However, I did love that he and Alina created a life of peace and happiness together. Despite the fact that they missed their powers, they were able to turn to one another and find joy in even the mundane.

Truthfully, I could word vomit about this trilogy for ages because I really did love it SO much, but I'm going to leave it at this: FIVE STARS for the whole series. Yep. It did THAT.