SO FUCKING DISAPPOINTED

Okay so let's start with what I liked and then let's talk about what I absolutely loathed.

After the first five chapters, I was convinced I would simply love this book. The story was progressing so well, Zoya and Nikolai are my new most favorite ship ever and Nina's POV was also interesting, even though it felt less exciting to read than Zoya's and Nikolai's POV.

When the story picked up with Yuri, I was equally furious (about the fact that there could be people worshipping the Darkling after everything he did) and excited, because the plot thickens and I knew something very awesome was coming our way, judging from my previous experience with Bardugo's books!

The second part of the book was the most exciting for me, loved Zoya's arc, I loved her as a character so so much and I wasn't expecting that! The ritual starts and I'm like reading at a breakneck pace, trying to finish the book as fast as I can.......and that's when I realized I wasn't going to like what was about to happen.

To be honest, Elizaveta's motives were understandable, but please, pleeeeeease how am I to believe she preserved Darkling's body??? How am I to believe she acted so fast when the Darkling was dying during the battle in the Fold??

Let's say I do believe that. Let's go with the flow for a minute. Also, side note: I hated Yuri with a passion, especially after those events. The ritual starts, Nikolai starts beating the demon and I'm cheering for him, Elizaveta attacks and Zoya does the whole thing where she becomes the dragon, which by the way was a badass move and my girl was fierce!

Then, we have Zoya about to burn the Darkling and we are led to believe she did kill him and Elizaveta and now Nikolai, Yuri and Zoya are about to return to Ravka.

Two things bothered me so so so much and I'll justify my 1 star rating in a bit.
Firstly, the fact that the demon inside Nikolai wasn't gone forever after everything he endured in the Thorn wood. Like, I don't know how you want us to go with this plotline, I just don't believe that the monster wasn't slayed. I am sorry but I truly am not convinced at this point.
Secondly, we are told that a shadow, A FUCKING SHADOW ESCAPED THE DARKLING WHILE ZOYA WAS BURNING HIM TO DEATH AND ENTERED YURI AND NOW YURI IS THE DARKLING!!!!!!

And that's when I lost it, that's when I rated the book with 1 star, because those last 3 pages of the book where more unnecessary than a chicken's wings!!! Everything was going smoothly and I was going to let the fact that the demon is still in Nikolai pass, and then the last three pages of the book happened and I wanted to scream.

You may think I'm overreacting but you know what? I felt cheated. The ending felt cheap, so so cheap. It's like she doesn't trust us to like and love the already existing characters and brings back the Darkling to do what exactly???

Let me tell you, without the Darkling, we still had an exciting story to tell in the next book. You want proof??
We have Nikolai with a demon inside him, a General Commander who's a dragon, an imminent war with Fjerda, Nina who's doing her own spy work, a supposedly engaged Nikolai with a princess, Nikolai and Zoya's unresolved feelings and the list can go on and on! Because this book gave so much without the Darkling, this book is so much without the Darkling, this book has wholesome and interesting characters without the Darkling!

And no, I don't hate the Darkling, actually in the Grisha Trilogy I thought he was one of the most intriguing characters and I loved every bit of information we got about his backstory. But his story, like Alina's, ended and I would be equally alienated if Mal and Alina made an unexpected appearance.

Any way, this book doesn't belong to me, I do not get to dictate how the story will go and of course, have no power over the author. This is Leigh Bardugo's work and I respect that, even though the previous ramblings might say the opposite. I just feel so sad and it's not the kind of sad you feel when a favorite characters dies, it's the kind of sad you feel when you've been waiting for something for so so long and it ends up not meeting your expectations.