Reviews

so basically genya is the new taryn, and vasily is probably the most stupid character ever, how i loathe that imbecile. also, if nikolai didn't survive the nichevo'ya attack, i'll stop reading the third book, i mean it.
and of course : what the fuck does it mean that alina can't summon the sun anymore ? did her power pass to the darkling ? his to her ?

lizziestudieshistory's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 - it's better than Shadow and Bone but mainly because of Nikolai... I missed the Darkling!

Alina FINALLY got a character! Thank you. She's mainly sad, angry, or sarcastic but it was better than the weird attempt at a character that fell flat in S&B. She's making to worlds worst relationship choices though... I've seen SO MANY people say she fucked up the easiest game of fuck, marry, kill ever and they're SO RIGHT (and I haven't even reached the end yet...) What is the appeal of Mal?

Let's talk about Mal - he's a complete and utter bastard that's, somehow, presented as the male protagonist and best choice for Alina? Do you know what he does throughout this book? 1. Controls Alina and makes decisions for her, 2. Make Alina feel bad because he's not the centre of her world while she's running an army, 3. Ignores her the minute he's upset, 4. He never trusts her, especially around other men, despite the fact she clearly (and inexplicably) fancies him, 5. Cheats on her, 6. Slut shames her, 7. Expects her to be the good little housewife and sacrifice everything for him... I could go on with how Mal is an absolute bastard.

Now I can already hear the shrieks of Mal fans who are going to attack my love for the Darkling. But here's the thing... the Darkling is the villain and quite clearly NOT the morally good choice (I say morally because I 100% think the Darkling would be the better partner in other areas.) Mal is rhe male lead, the morally right and good choice for Alina, apparently... The issue is around narrative framing! We KNOW the Darkling is manipulative, controlling, has a tendency to lie, threaten, murder people, etc. Mal is TECHNICALLY not evil (he's incredibly boring because of it!) But I'm never going to meet a Darkling. He's an unrealistic dark lord who isn't going to walk off the page.

I have met people like Mal, they're teenaged boys who make girls lives MISERABLE. Everything is about them and their fragile egos, they grow up to be abusive husbands who may never put a finger on his wife, but WILL control her life, especially socially. He's a nasty piece of work and I don't appreciate him as the main love interest who Alina is OBVIOUSLY going to end up with. It's not an issue for me per se, but in a book aimed at teenaged girls who are going to admire Alina and her choices, I think Bardugo should have made better choices when it comes to Mal's character, or killed him off in book one and saved us all the pain of his temper tantrums.

Anyway... Nikolai is great? Don't we love a dashing prince who is a roguish pirate (sorry privateer) AS WELL?! He held up this entire book, without Nikolai it wouldn't have been nearly as good. If it wasn't for him and the Darkling this series would have literally nothing going for it. And yes I probably will be reading the Nikolai duology now...

Still a really slow plot, a lot happens but it's mainly around Alina's toxic relationships (seriously girl, pick the Prince? He's literally right there being dashing?!) It's entertaining though so I'm just here for the wild ride...