Probably more like a 2/2.5 but I'm being generous.

I've just finished reading this but I honestly couldn't tell you anything about the plot other than 'I guess this is a YA medusa retelling and there's something about demons in there?'

It's slow, it doesn't make sense at times, characters are referenced and I had absolutely no idea who they were and how they were meant to influence the plot. All in all this book is going to be completely forgettable to me in probably a week's time.

A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.

I can't believe I'd give it all up for these six kids even though they're a bunch of thieving criminals.

This read took me way longer than I wanted it to (yeah so it was two days but I could've happily read it in a few hours) which was surprising considering that I wasn't that keen on the Grisha trilogy. Fingers crossed Crooked Kingdom is just as good.

No mourners. No funerals.

Sigh. I think I'm just going to have to face the fact that me and Leigh Bardugo books just don't seem to really mix. Whilst I enjoyed the protagonists in the Six of Crows duology a lot more than the Grisha trilogy (like exponential amounts more), there just always seems to be something lacking for me. The pacing has seemed off in every single book I've read by her, but also there just seems to be a little bit of depth missing.

I know I'm definitely in the minority and everyone seems to rave about this universe, but there's just something that isn't quite clicking for me which is why I can't rate this any higher despite the atmospheric setting and protagonists I want to protect.