5 Words: Magic, revenge, surprises, death, life. 
 Well. This book. 
 It's taken me a while to piece together my thoughts. I had a bit more than usual to think about as I attended an author event and heard Leigh Bardugo talk about her writing and characters and all sorts of other things. 
 I really enjoy The Grisha books. They're books that I know I'll be able to pick up again and again. And they're books I'm currently letting all of my friends borrow and read (and then buy, because they love them too). 
 I love the characters and I love how nothing is straight forward. And I absolutely adored every scene with Strumhond, I could read his character all day long and not get bored. And I never liked Mal. Not at all. I kinda wish there was even less of him in this book than there is! 
 It didn't bother me much that the Darkling wasn't in this book so much. There was so much going on that it didn't really matter. He was a presence that was always there, lurking in the shadows, anyway. 
 I like how this story has been left so open that it could go anywhere in the next books. Desperate to get stuck into the next one now! 
 Dear Leigh Bardugo, 
 Please write a series of novellas about Strumhond's time at sea before he meets Alina. It would be awesome.