Second read: 
 I originally read this again cuz I was getting so impatient waiting for Crooked Kingdom. I tried it out on audiobook this time around and I love it a lot!! It wasn't all perfect of course, but I thought it was so entertaining listening to so many narrators tell the story. My favourite narrators were probably from the ones for Nina and Kaz's POVs but all of them were pretty great. 
 As for the book itself, it was still just as great as when I read it the first time. Even though I read it already last month, I felt like I was reacting to certain scenes almost the exact same way as I did the first time around and it was just so amazing to go on that journey again! 
 Now I'm ready for Crooked Kingdom. GIVE IT TO MEEEEE. 
 First read: 
 So this one came out sort of a surprise for me but at the same time not really. It was one of those books that was extremely hyped everywhere I went and I avoided picking it up for months and months because of it. I knew that I would eventually have to pick it up though, because I really love books that are very character driven and that's the one big thing I kept hearing about this one. I kind of knew that I would like the book but the reason I put it off for so long was because I didn't want the hype to influence my opinion so much when I read it. 
 I'm really glad I finally got to read this. 
 Leigh Bardugo basically thought of every single kind of great main character that's out there and just put them all together in one book, and it was amazing. I especially love how almost all of them knew each other prior to this story and had some sort of history together. It was very refreshing compared to the usual "main character goes on this adventure during the story and meets all the other significant characters along the way" structure that I've been reading a lot of lately. For the most part, I didn't even really care about what the plot was because I just kept reading for these awesome characters. 
 With that being said, the rest of this review I'm just going to talk about each of the characters and what I loved about all of them. And possibly just fangirl about the ships in between them and all that so yea......if you don't like that kind of thing then stop reading right here XD 
 So going from my most to least favourites (*technically, I have a 1st and 2nd fave that are 100% for sure my top faves and then afterwards everyone else is pretty much almost all equal but imma try my best): 
 1.Inej 
 Right from the very first moment she appeared in the book, I knew I was going to love her. For some reason she reminded me of Esmeralda from the Disney adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, who is basically my favourite Disney character ever. She was like an old soul trapped in a 16 year old teenager's body at times, and I freaking loved that about her. I just loved her determination and strength. She was always very observant of what was going on around her, and I love how she was constantly reflecting on herself and what she truly wanted out of her life. When she knew what she had to do or what she wanted to do, she fought for it. She's definitely going on my life of favourite female characters of all time. 
 2.Nina 
 Well DUH of course my top faves are the girls! Nina was very different from Inej but also really amazing. I loved how sassy she was and how she just said what she wanted to say and did what she wanted to do. And just like Inej she was so SO strong. I love how she was always protective of the Grisha community and how a lot of her actions were for her people. She knew who she was and knew what she had to do. At the same time, I really loved seeing her search for that balance between what she needed to do for her people and what she wanted for herself. Many of the characters went through this in some way as well but Nina's POVs definitely explored that a lot more with the type of situation she was in. Many times, she always put others before herself and it just made her so so admirable. I just love the girls in this book ok?!?! 
 3.Kaz 
 At this point it's so hard for me to rank everyone else but at the moment Kaz is my favourite guy. Though I got to be honest.......for most of the book he really really scares me XD He scares me in how ruthless he can be and how he's so ahead of the game with his plans. I don't even think I can describe how much he fits his role as the leader of the crew. You honestly just have to read the book. It is proven again and again through his dialogue and his overall character that he is THE leader. At the same time, we got to see that he does have a vulnerable side to him that he constantly hides from everyone through flashbacks, and it really helped to show what made him the way he is in the present time. Like a lot of the others, he carries his own baggage but he just hides it a lot more than the others do. I also love how he sort of acts like an old soul like Inej in a way.....and imma save the rest for AFTER I talk about the other three before I start just gushing about my OTP......XD 
 4.Matthias 
 Matthias was a very complicated character. He was very much stubborn and a bit confused throughout this book because of things that happened in the past, and I loved reading about his inner struggles and him trying to come up with his own conclusions about certain things. 
 5.Jesper 
 THIS is where things are really foggy for me. The only reason why Jesper is one of the ones that is so low compared to the rest is because I always felt like there wasn't enough of him in this story. I wanted a lot more chapters in his POV. I loved his character though and how he was the main comic relief. He never failed to pull out some lines to make me laugh. Again though, I wanted more from him!! 
 6.Wylan 
 Same thing goes over here with Wylan. It didn't help at all that there was no chapters in his POV, though I do kind of see why that never happened. We only really saw how he was mostly through Jesper's POV, but from what I've read I love him just as much as everyone else. 
 Now........OTP time............. 
 Let's be real: a bunch of my sticky note annotations were of my shipping feels. Mainly for Kaz and Inej. Dear. Lord. I rarely ever ship fictional couples so fast (the very few I did ship right away include Chloe and Derek from The Darkest Powers trilogy and Vin and Elend from the Mistborn trilogy), but OK I SHIPPED KAZ AND INEJ RIGHT FROM THE MOMENT OF THEIR FIRST INTERACTION IN THIS BOOK. 
 Their relationship between each other just progressed......so......slowly....................and I loved every single moment of it. They are my FAVE. /o\ 
 And I need to bring up Nina and Matthias too cuz YES I SHIP THEM TOO. 
 Both of these couples are so different from each other and GAHHHH I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. 
 So yup. I'm SO excited for next month for Crooked Kingdom! I'm SO glad I waited this long to read this cuz now I don't have to wait too long for the sequel! XD