This is my first foray into the Grishaverse. I'm late to the party, I know!

I feel like this book got off to a slow start. I wanted more world building. I like how the world is Russia-inspired, but I felt that it still needed more building for me to understand exactly what Alina understood.

I wasn't terribly impressed with Alina. She thinks she's plain and boring, so she really comes across as sullen. I do like her sass and sarcasm, but I'm a bit over the "oh, I'm so plain" trope that all brown-haired girls in YA literature seem to feel at the moment. She also doesn't seem very smart. She doesn't realize anything deeper going on for the first 2/3rds or so of the book. As someone who worked with the military, I would expect better from her.

The two love interests in this book are presented as either fully good or fully evil. I don't like that as far as characterization goes. It's sloppy. I feel like this sort of representation doesn't give us a full view of either Mal or the Darkling.

Maybe this book was a victim of high expectations. Everyone I've talked to (or read) seems to be IN LOVE with this series. For me, this one was okay. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either.