I got about 250 pages into the book until I was struck by multiple warnings from acquaintances that the graphic nature of the novel would be deeply unsettling and destabilizing for anyone who struggles with mental illness and

suicide

. I decided to put it down until I'm mentally stable enough to handle the sadness that will surely accompany this novel, potentially for many years. It was not by any fault of the writing, simply because of the content.

Upon second reading: This book simply slaps. Miss Bardugo knows how to write an original, rich, compelling story, that’s for sure. I’m glad I had spent a lot of time away from this book (so that I could figure it out alongside Alex all over again), and I’m especially glad I re-read this before jumping into Hell Bent because boy is the detail part of the fun. My only critique is that the plot ends up with three or four cycles of

Alex gets into trouble, gets attacked, needs to retreat to a safe house, is healed with some magical trick, and then sets out again

— so much so that the plot starts to run together in the middle. Otherwise, this is a modern classic in the fantasy dark academia canon!!!