“No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.”

Phew, holy WOW. I did it! One of my goals this year was to finish this book before 2020 got here. I have had it since the beginning of the year but with moving, wedding organising, house decorating and making sure everything is to our taste, then moving and wedding, I just didn’t have it in me to read this book. But I decided it was now the time. And boy oh boy. This was an amazing read. 0.5 stars higher than the first book as this book had that pull. You wanted to know how it would all end, you wanted to know where the characters end up, who would get a happy end, who wouldn’t? Would Jan van Eck be defeated? Pekka Rollins? What kind of schemes would Kaz do in this one? What crazy stunts would our crew do?

Good, bear with me as I try to write a review. 😛

In this book we get all the strings connected and the last puzzle pieces get clicked together. It is time for the biggest plan of the century. And Kaz is planning to go all out. It was all very exciting and see what our crew was up to. Kaz has some amazing plans in this one, and at times it was a bit over the top, but then again, that is Kaz for you. Their final plan, wow. That was so over the top that I was eager to see if it would truly work… I just couldn’t imagine it.

Of course, things aren’t always going to plan… and things got more and more exciting with each chapter, each new part of the book. I just couldn’t stop reading and I wanted to know how everything would end.

We find out tons of things about various characters. Everyone gets a bit of a spotlight. We find out more about Wylan’s mom and what happened between him and his dad. We meet Jesper’s dad and he gets involved in a big big way. We learn more about our Wraith (and my favourite girl) Inej. I was just delighted to see my cast of people get more backstory. Though it did mean I didn’t want the story to end as I got more invested in the characters due to this.

The addiction parts and seeing Nina try to fight the addiction, the withdrawal were pretty well written. I felt so sorry for Nina, and then comes the even harder kick. Her powers are changing. Her powers do something that I am not sure you would ever want to do. You can imagine how she feels, you can imagine how disgusting she feels given the nature of what she can do now.

The ending was just all the feels, I cried, I laughed, I was on the edge of my seat. Holy wow Leigh Bardugo!

Delighted to see Zoya and Genya and my dear Sturmhond again! Eep!

I loved all our couples and seeing them together. Matthias and Nina (who should just kiss more and get on to it already :P) are still one of my favourite couples. I just love how protective Matthias is, and how Nina is always flirting with him one way or another. Then there is Jesper and Wylan, oh my goodness they are so adorable together and while mostly it is them casting furtive glances and tons of flirting, there is also a few sweet moments. And oh God Kaz and Inej. These two should be locked in a room and be forced to just do something as it was at times highly frustrating to see these two go around each other. Kaz wanting to be with Inej, but also at the same time pushing her away. Inej who wants Kaz but wonders if he feels the same.. and then there is how broken she is underneath due to the prostitution she went through when she just got in Ketterdam. I was delighted that Leigh put so much moments in this book, and how it all fitted so well with the adventure, the scheming, the action, and everything else.

There was actually two things I didn’t like at all. I will put those under spoiler tags as well… spoilers. 1) That Kuwei had the fucking guts to kiss Jesper making him think he was Wylan. I get you two look alike but don’t fucking abuse the fact that Jesper loves Wylan to get him to kiss you. Boo, boo, go away. Shoo.
2) That Leigh Bardugo killed off Matthias at the end of the book. What the actual fuck? Really, what the fuck. Everyone gets a fucking happy ending but oh no not Matthias or Nina. Nope. It felt really out of nowhere and frankly it felt too convenient, too much a setting for the next books about King Nicolai and how Nina probably will go back to being a Grisha and working for him. You can’t have Matthias around then… UGH.

I do have a big laugh at the pronunciation guide at the end. There were a few things that had me shaking my head. Ninuh? No, Ni-NA. Jes-pur? No Jes PER. Hou-tuhn? Hou-DEN. And there were more that I was kind of doubting about.

I could probably talk more and more about this book, it made me have all the feels and I couldn’t stop reading. Once again, Leigh Bardugo wonderful job on yet another amazing Grishaverse book!
I would highly recommend this one.