Blurb:
Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.
The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her–or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.
My Thoughts:
This is the second book in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy and when I saw that the series was on Netflix I knew I needed to finish the trilogy before watching it.
I didn’t like this one as much as I enjoyed the first one, I feel like not a lot happened until the last 50 or so pages, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it because I did. This one felt a lot more emotional. There were times when I was nearly teary-eyed, Bardugo does have a way of describing emotional pain that I could just feel.
I found Alina a lot less likeable in this book, you can see that when she got the fetter she was a lot more selfish and the power was going to her head. I didn’t like the way she was treating Mal but I also found Mal to be really annoying. Neither of them was seeing the situation from each others points of view, but also more frustratingly, they weren’t talking. They weren’t telling each other how they felt or what they needed.
I feel like they are both expecting each other to not change and not to have their own needs, almost like to please each other they need to deny who they really are. Mal needs to be out doing stuff but he can’t while Alina is a Grisha but Mal doesn’t want her to be.
I really enjoyed Nikolai as a character, even though he was arrogant I found him quite funny, to be honest. He knows how to lead people and how to gain their trust, but not out of fear, whereas Alina has followers by fear, at least that’s how it felt to me.
I honestly can’t wait to read the next book and watch the show. I hope that it stays true to the books.
booksforall245 