The first half of this book had me commiserating with Sisyphus.

It wasn't the book's fault - in my personal experience, rebuilding a country after a magical war doesn't really make for the most riveting read at the best of times, and the slow build at the beginning of this book really felt like I was pushing a boulder up a hill with no real hope that I'd ever reach the top. But my God, the instant we hit The With In The Wood, that boulder just went careening down that hill at full fucken throttle. I really enjoyed it. Gimme the next one.

ALSO, side note:

I know there are some naysayers here, but I genuinely like the Zoya/Nikolai pairing. They work well. Feel like Nina met her potential LI a little too soon after burying Matthias but that's none of my business I guess.