2.5 stars, maybe.

Honestly, I was just so bored trying to get through this book. It may be a truth universally acknowledged that important things come in threes, but I really don’t think that should apply to love interests — which seemed to be Alina’s primary focus, followed by continued resentment of Zoya for being beautiful and charismatic towards Mal and the Darkling (“even though she realized this shouldn’t be her priority right now, but she couldn’t help it”), and I guess figuring out the limits of her special power and struggling with her new status in the eyes of the people. With Mal it’s nonstop miscommunication and apparent inability/unwillingness (?) to meet each other halfway, which was also tiresome; their growing apart is a valid obstacle, but it’s just so dragged out and upstages the actual plot.

Lots of repetition from the first book; there were really only two new developments —

Spoiler

Nikolai/Sturmhond and the firebird

— neither of which really seemed to change the general trajectory of the narrative. (The superficial plot, yes; the tone and Alina’s endgame of stopping the Darkling, not at all.) Nikolai was a definite highlight, though, and possibly the only element I genuinely enjoyed.

As a fan of SoC it pains me not to finish all the Grisha books, so maybe I’ll come back to read the last installment after a break. Maybe after a reread of CK to remember what I love about this ‘verse.