This review was originally posted on my new blog, Sav Scribbles. 
 (4.75 stars) 
 Whoa. 
 Whooooooa. 
 My immediate thoughts on finishing this book: I am so glad the next book is within my reach because if I don't start it within the next 24 hours I will go insane. 
 This book was crazy. I had minor(ish) problems with it, so let's get into those. 
 (as my thoughts are disorganized, this review will be disorganized) 
 sO. The main problems I had with DoB&S are that it started out slow- nothing was really happening- and I couldn't really feel anything/connect to the characters, even though all the characters are absolutely wonderful (and if they aren't absolutely wonderful, they're written very well). Whenever something happened to any of the characters, I would just be like oh no, that's not good; I wouldn't be scared or excited or anything. I could recognize that hey, this is bad or hey, this is good, but I just couldn't feel that emotion. 
 ONTO THE THINGS I LIKED... which was basically everything else. 
 I wish I would've taken notes throughout this novel because SO MANY THINGS HAPPENED. The first half of the novel was just setting up for the second, and boy, the second was crazy. (Still sad about Hazael.) Everything was happening and I was just constantly confused-in-a-good-way. SO MANY TWISTS AND TURNS. 
 Also, I read the first book in this series a while ago, so I was nervous about reading this with only a couple not-so-good refreshers, but Laini Taylor does such a good job of reintroducing you to this world without blatantly being like "hey, here are the names and stuff". Once I was comfortable again in the world, too, I could remember all the names and all the places and all the events and that almost never happens. 
 We're not even going to discuss Laini Taylor's writing because everyone knows by now how wonderful and elegant it is. 
 If I had to choose one book that has the best developed setting, it would be this one. Again, hats off to Laini Taylor's writing. It is absolutely faaaantastic. (Basically everything about this book is faaaaaaaantastic.) 
 In conclusion, I love this series with all my heart already and I'm SO ready for the next book. 10/10 would recommend.