4.5 stars.

Super late to the hype train on this one, but totally getting it now. The world is super intriguing and Bardugo's writing is just fantastic. There are a lot of complexities to the world that I'm sure I'll start to understand better as I continue to read books in this and adjacent series, but I can say that I now understand why everyone is so enamored with the Grishaverse and how it is that Bardugo could write so many books set in the same world without things getting stale.

The intersection of light and dark and the blurring of those lines is awesome. I love the moral struggles of the characters and the temptations they face. I really liked how the characters weren't just drawn out of a box and stuck being "good" or "bad"; there are a lot of layers and it had my head mildly spinning.

Some of the strengths of this book/series have been diluted since it is admittedly older and many books that have followed have taken inspiration from its construction, but it must be recognized that this was totally groundbreaking YA when it was first published. And I appreciate that. Looking forward to reading more of this world and getting myself "caught up".