This is the first book I've read by Leigh Bardugo and this was quite the ride. The world building in this world is super cool. It's also so rare, at least in my experience, to see women represented in any form of military anything and the main character in this book is an orphaned soldier. The exposition in the story is done very well in the story and immediately lets you see what a militarized world this is. You're just kind of thrust into the world and given just enough context to figure things out. It's honestly my preferred form of exposition because it gives the author more time to focus on characters and plot points rather than giving me an info dump because they thought I couldn't use context clues. 

The Darkling and Alina were definitely my favorite characters. She develops well throughout the story from someone who doesn't really feel like she belongs anywhere to someone who realizes that she has a responsibility to save others. The Darkling was also an interesting antagonist. I really liked his stern demeanor that had an obvious sense of humor and lack of respect for authority underneath it all. His remarks about how useless the king is were my favorites. Initially the relationship he had with Alina seemed to be based on attraction more than romance of any sort, which I was all right with because I hate any form of insta-love.

I wasn't a huge fan of Mal and Alina becoming an item because we didn't get to know Mal quite well enough for me to want to ship it. I was actually disappointed that the Darkling turned out to be an antagonist solely because I like him and Alina better. I'm interested in seeing where the story goes from here on. I want to like Mal more but I need more time to get to know him better for that to happen. I'm hoping book 2 will give me that. I'm indifferent to him for now.