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zaynascz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this trilogy so so much if i could give it 6 stars i would.
I think Bardugo perfectly balanced the morals of the characters and the idea that the more power Alina had, the more blurry her morals became.
For example, in book 1 (shadow and bone) we’re introduced to Alina, the main character, and her best friend mal. Alina works as a cartographer for the first army and mal is a talented tracker. After the incident in the fold Alina is found to be a very powerful type of Grisha called the sun summoner. Throughout the book we see Alina wishing her power away just to be back with mal in the first army again; and when the darkling, Alinas only match and the leader of the second army, is looking for something to amplify Alinas power, she ends up agreeing to it. She soon finds out that the darkling is doing it for the wrong reasons and runs away. Eventually she finds the stag from the help of mal but hesitates to kill it, from this we can see Alina has a strong moral compass at this point in the trilogy.
However, this heavily contrasts the end of book three when she finds out mal, her boyfriend at this point, is the third amplifier. Without much hesitation at all, certainly not as much hesitation as she had with Morozova’s stag, she puts a knife through him. She didn’t want to do it but eventually her greed for power took over, as we can see from the quote
“I would never know if it was greed or selfishness that moved my hand”.
We can also see that Alina is slowly turning into the darkling throughout the entirety of the trilogy, and if she would’ve kept the power of all three amplifiers and lived eternally, she definitely would’ve.
Another thing i loved about this trilogy is the way Bardugo portrayed the darkling, a morally grey character who’s heart is in the right place, but goes about it the wrong way. For example, throughout the series we start to see the reasons for why the darkling has done what he’s done, like taking control of Alina through the stags collar in order to enter and control the fold. At first, we’re completely against the darkling and what he’s doing but as the trilogy unravels we start to discover more and more of the Darkling’s character and with that, his reasons. It all started out as building a safe place for Grisha to live in peace, without the fear of others ; but then he got greedy. He started wanting more for Ravka, but he went about it the complete wrong way. He tried to invoke fear, and in that he did, but it only hurt Ravka in the end. His greed and hunger for power kept growing and although i will say he lost sight of his morals centuries ago, i wont say that he lost track of his end goal completely. He wanted a safe place for Ravka, and he wanted to do it using the fold. Right reason, terrible execution. I completely believe that if Alina would’ve lived as Long as Aleksander, she would’ve been just as bad, if not worse. Without her friends to ground her, especially Mal, Nikolai and Genya, she Would’ve lost track already.
Anyway Stan Nikolai he’s the loml 🤭🤭 and this book was so sad oml
I think Bardugo perfectly balanced the morals of the characters and the idea that the more power Alina had, the more blurry her morals became.
For example, in book 1 (shadow and bone) we’re introduced to Alina, the main character, and her best friend mal. Alina works as a cartographer for the first army and mal is a talented tracker. After the incident in the fold Alina is found to be a very powerful type of Grisha called the sun summoner. Throughout the book we see Alina wishing her power away just to be back with mal in the first army again; and when the darkling, Alinas only match and the leader of the second army, is looking for something to amplify Alinas power, she ends up agreeing to it. She soon finds out that the darkling is doing it for the wrong reasons and runs away. Eventually she finds the stag from the help of mal but hesitates to kill it, from this we can see Alina has a strong moral compass at this point in the trilogy.
However, this heavily contrasts the end of book three when she finds out mal, her boyfriend at this point, is the third amplifier. Without much hesitation at all, certainly not as much hesitation as she had with Morozova’s stag, she puts a knife through him. She didn’t want to do it but eventually her greed for power took over, as we can see from the quote
“I would never know if it was greed or selfishness that moved my hand”.
We can also see that Alina is slowly turning into the darkling throughout the entirety of the trilogy, and if she would’ve kept the power of all three amplifiers and lived eternally, she definitely would’ve.
Another thing i loved about this trilogy is the way Bardugo portrayed the darkling, a morally grey character who’s heart is in the right place, but goes about it the wrong way. For example, throughout the series we start to see the reasons for why the darkling has done what he’s done, like taking control of Alina through the stags collar in order to enter and control the fold. At first, we’re completely against the darkling and what he’s doing but as the trilogy unravels we start to discover more and more of the Darkling’s character and with that, his reasons. It all started out as building a safe place for Grisha to live in peace, without the fear of others ; but then he got greedy. He started wanting more for Ravka, but he went about it the complete wrong way. He tried to invoke fear, and in that he did, but it only hurt Ravka in the end. His greed and hunger for power kept growing and although i will say he lost sight of his morals centuries ago, i wont say that he lost track of his end goal completely. He wanted a safe place for Ravka, and he wanted to do it using the fold. Right reason, terrible execution. I completely believe that if Alina would’ve lived as Long as Aleksander, she would’ve been just as bad, if not worse. Without her friends to ground her, especially Mal, Nikolai and Genya, she Would’ve lost track already.
Anyway Stan Nikolai he’s the loml 🤭🤭 and this book was so sad oml
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Grief, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
thebookaddict's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In the beginning I thought this book was a bit boring just like the second book. But I take it back! Later on this book caught my full attention! And the ending is AMAZING it is worth the hype!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Gun violence, Physical abuse, War, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Gore, and Violence
effy's review against another edition
3.5
Whilst I still don't really like Mal and Alina as endgame (I would have loved Nikolai and Alina as the eventual pairing), the ending of this series did not bother me, I think maybe because it felt as though they had earned their peace. In a lot of ways, it was quite bittersweet because Alina had loved being Grisha but the epilogue did paint a beautiful picture of life where their friends still visited.
I am frustrated that this book featured the resurrection trope - even if the reasoning seemed pretty solid - and the fact that the price of war wasn't very severe felt like a missed opportunity but I guess overall this series has not shied away from character death so minimal deaths in the final battle was okay, I guess.
My review seemed to have mostly been griping but those were my only real issues with a book that was actually a pretty compulsive listen and kept me guessing for most of the story.
I also loved how much Nikolai and Genya we got!
Favourite quote:
I am frustrated that this book featured
My review seemed to have mostly been griping but those were my only real issues with a book that was actually a pretty compulsive listen and kept me guessing for most of the story.
I also loved how much Nikolai and Genya we got!
Favourite quote:
I am not ruined, I am ruination.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Rape, and Grief
noxygens's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death, Murder, Gore, War, and Blood
jordynreads_33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Rape
prettynerdy3's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War
readwithsophsx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
neko_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Option 1
Alina saves the Darkling and falls in love with him. listen I found the Darkling's past interesting and he's a great villain but as a love interest? I hate him. if this happened I would have hated the books so much I would have liked to burn them.
Option 2
Alina marries Nickolai and goes into a political marriage. now I love Nickolai, his character, everything about it but there is absolutely nothing between him and Alina. this would just end up being more misery and fighting with mal.
Option 3
Alina kills mal to kill the darkling. Hurray, now she's miserable for the rest of her life.
Option 4
the plan worked out and mal and Alina go off together to get an alliance and work out the rest of the story. this would basically just be a repeat of siege and storm, and that was all-around terrible.
option 5 (what actually happened)
well, I certainly did not expect that. this honestly just feels like a way to end the series with a nice happy ending without really having to go to any work. this is the best ending out of the possibilities but that doesn't mean I like it. I wish Alina hadn't lost her powers and mal hadn't lost his own abilities in the most confusing, convoluted ending ever. I hate that they became completely different people and left behind literally all of their development, but I do love how they ended up at Keramzin.
Now the rest of the characters were actually amazing. The twins, Nickolai, Genya and David, Zoya, Nadia, Adrik, Baghra, Misha, and even Harshaw and Sergei were terrific characters. they are the reviving factor of this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Rape, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
michaelat21's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was by far the best in the series. I could NOT put it down it was so engaging and had so many twist and turns that kept it exciting and interesting. The characters somehow become even more developed and lovable. The world building also grows so much more (something I didn’t think possible). It’s so deeply human and relatable despite being fantasy. Each character has something you find likable even if they are the bad guy. Even the hero’s are not perfect it’s so deep and incredible. I was crying my eyes out for the last 30 pages of the book it was just that good.
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Death of parent, and Murder
ashleylawrence's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Suicide