** spoiler alert ** 
 Such a great read, I really enjoyed this book. 
 The thing I didn't like, though, was the fact that Mal comes back to life. Just why? Why couldn't they just bring the Darkling back as well then? I actually cried when the Darkling died. I also cried when Nikolai became "possessed". When Mal died I couldn't care less, honetly. I mean, Mal is an okay character, but I just didn't really care about him, not even in Shadow and Bone. 
 Also can we just please talk about all the times the Darkling asked Alina to call him Aleksander? Ahh I think I died each time. Honestly, I am so upset the Darkling and Alina didn't get together. I just feel really sad when I think of the Darkling, and how all he wanted was to not be alone. Yeah, he was a bad person, but he was just so lonely. #darklinaforever 
 I still really loved this book. It was so much better than Siege and Storm, which I didn't really like and was the reason I put off reading Ruin and Rising for so long.