Satisfying is probably the best way to describe my overall impression of this book. It brought closure to all of the main plotlines, set a hook for continuing adventures if Bardugo decides she wants to come back to the Grishaverse, had some really damned cool elements and some not so cool elements but I was in general satisfied with the conclusion. Bardugo's had a lot of growth as a writer since Shadow & Bone and I will continue to be excited about new books coming out by her.

Things I loved:
1. Best thing hands down was

DRAGON!ZOYA

. Totally saw it coming but it was still soooo damned cool. 
 2. Definitely did not see

Queen!Zoya

coming but I'm not mad about it.
3. I will go down with all these ships. You cannot take them from me. They are all my precious babies.
4. The different plotlines tied together much better in this book. What Nina was doing and what Nicolai/Zoya were doing did not feel as disconnected so there wasn't that jarring feeling like you were reading two different books at once this time.
5. Alina, Mal, and the Darkling were still characterized as I remembered them. I've seen so many fan interpretations since I read that trilogy that had made me start doubting how I recollected the characters, especially since I only read the series once, but I was pleased that this book pretty much did confirm the things I already thought about them. Not getting on a soapbox here but yo. Sometimes I genuinely wonder if I read the same books as everyone else when I see some of the stuff put out there. 
6.

I was crazy worried at the end of King of Scars that this was going to end up being a the Darkling redemption story. I don't feel like it really swung in that direction. I could see how interpretation is going to try and paint that picture because of what the Darkling did on the battlefield and his sacrifice at the end of the book, but I think Bardugo did a pretty decent job showing that his motivations were still always inherently selfish. He wants to be the savior, no matter what the cost, but for once that cost is to himself instead of others. He's still willing to pay it but I think if he thought he could make himself MORE appreciated by the populace by sacrificing someone else to that weird tree, he would've done that instead. He's still a shit terrible person who has done and probably would continue to do shit terrible things for his own desires, but it just so happened that to work out in everyone else's favor this time around.

 Things I was ambivalent about:
1. The Darkling. I still hate him. I will probably always hate him. But I didn't hate how he was characterized or developed in this story.
2. Hanna. I loved what Bardugo was trying to do with the character and I love the trans rep, but I just wish we'd gotten more from Hanna's perspective. More development, more time spent on it... just something so they felt as developed as the other characters. They just felt... underutilized and underdeveloped, especially when character work is where Bardugo excels as a writer.
3. The stuff with Shu Han. It did shed more light on the Grishaverse as a whole, expanding the world and it did so while still remaining plot relevant, but there was a LOT going on in this book and it kind of blurred into "just another event" instead of being interesting and intriguing in it's own right.
4. This still doesn't feel like Nicolai's story. He's an important piece to the story, of course, and he is having his own journey and development but Zoya's is still weightier than his. It isn't a bad thing, it's still really well written, but it's just a touch jarring when everything outside of the book wants me to see this as Nicolai's story and it is, but Zoya still overshadows him. YMMV on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. 

 

Things I didn't like:
1. The cameos. Gods, I wanted to. I LOVE the SoC characters. I wanted to be happy to see them. It's just that all of their appearances felt so forced. I kind of wish they hadn't happened. I would've been fine if they hadn't happened, especially not like that.
2. Leigh. Leigh Bardugo. Why did you have to do Genya like that? Like, I get that you like to make characters suffer, but that was so awful. Thumbs down. Do not like.