Honestly the only thing that kept me going was knowing I can write this review after I finished. 
 I'm usually very easily pleased and I normally enjoy mainstream books but this time I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with the majority. 
 The good things: 
 The premise of this story is fascinating. A wizard who takes a local girl every ten years, an evil forest that kills, or worse, corrupts everyone who comes to close. That sounds amazing, right? I really loved the idea and concept of this book. It's unique and well-thought-out. 
 Agnieszka is a likeable character (although she suffers from "special snowflake" syndrome), Kasia even more. Their friendship is portrayed in such a loving way; it basically advances the plot throughout 2/3 of the book and I loved how much they cared about each other. 
 The bad things: 
 The way this was done and the writing style was just so not for me. I literally had to force myself to pick this up and continue reading. I wouldn't say I'm a slow reader but when I read this book every page felt like an eternity. I felt like I could either read a chapter or watch the whole LotR trilogy. 
 It doesn't help that I absolutely did not like the Dragon/Sarkan. In fact, the most entertaining part of the book for me was the one in which he's not present. That also probably caused me to hate the romance. There was absolutely no build up except for that one kiss and then suddenly there's an explicit sex scene (which btw I did not expect; I cringed so hard) when Agnieszka had more chemistry with Kasia than she could ever have with Sarkan. 
 Then there is the thing with the magic in this book. I still don't understand exactly how it works to be honest. When she's supposed to not have any magic left and needs to recharge she's suddenly able to cast an exhausting spell.. HOW?? 
 So there you have it: This definitely doesn't deserve a one star rating but I also couldn't give this more than 2 stars since my reading experience was rather dreadful.