Maybe if I hadn't read Red Queen, or Shatter Me series, or any of Kristine Cashore books for a matter of fact, I wouldn't have felt as if I had already read this story. The characters seemed very familiar... too familiar. 
 Though Alina stood apart from most YA heroines at the start, as I found her very encharming and weirdly relatable, once she became 'The Choosen' and a 'pawn in court' she became another YA heroine who has to fight her feeling while feeling pitiful and wanting more. Hey, it is what I would do! but I'm just burnt with these types of plotline and feelings, as most of this books are written in first person and I already can know what they will say, how they will react and how everything will unfold in their heads. My favorite was Mal but once we saw him again I find him anodyne and too PTSD for my amusement. The Darkling instead was the boring one until he proved otherwise and now I'm excited about him. 
 If I'm sincere, the plot left me unsatisfied, though it read well, I knew most of the plot twists, it was easy to see because I wasn't as blind as Alina. What I most liked was the Russian inspired world-building (though I know there are some weak links and flaw there and about - yes, I study Russian history and language). I also liked the secondary characters (weird for me!) like Feydor or Geyna, or Ivan (even Mal's two buddies). I want to see more in the next installment. 
 Maybe my problem is that I've read too many fantasy YA with the same tropes and the same characters, maybe I arrived too late to get in the Grisha bandwagon. 
 However, even with its flaws, with the YA repetitions, I am excited to keep reading the trilogy as I have genuinely enjoyed the book. It's a nice and light fantasy read, and I know I will binge-read it this week. I'm excited to know what Bardugo brings to the table, I've heard wonderful reviews (in Booktube at least) and hey, this is the first part, there's plenty of room for surprise, to make me go from 3 stars to four or five.