** spoiler alert ** 
 This book was okay. I feel like it could have been better, but that's just my opinion. I opened this book, expecting to be blown away by the storyline. I did like the beginning of the book. It started off amazing me...up until the part when she gets to The Little Palace. Then boredom overtook. Nothing really goes on. I found it unbelievable that a girl who spent her whole life living like a peasant easily adapted to her new life. She claimed she missed Mal, but I didn't really believe her. She only wrote him letters and when he didn't reply, she automatically supposed that he didn't like her. You'd think she would remember how hard life was for them. I liked the Darkling, but when he started to kiss her I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling. She fell for him so easily and he hasn't really done anything for her other than move her to the Little Palace and show her off. 
 As if that wasn't enough to turn me off. Barely any dialogue and too much explaining. Things went by so fast. Days would go by and weeks. This bore me. I was happy when she ran away because I finally believed some action or something was going to happen. I liked the twist. I liked that the Darkling was an evil character. It suit him more better. Oh gosh...and then her and Mal started to track the deer. Days and weeks went by and then they finally found the deer. The Darkling found them and then...finally things happened! Finally! The ending saved the rest of the novel. It was interesting. 
 These characters weren't even remotely interesting to read. Alina was dull in my opinion. Mal was okay, I liked him in the beginning and near the end. The Darkling was better when he was being evil. The good act wasn't very convincing in my opinion. Genya... she was okay. I can't tell if she's good or bad. Zoya.... I don't know what the hell she was doing in this novel. Why did she even exist? 
 All in all...this book was "okay". I'll read the second one only because I'm curious to see what becomes of the Darkling.