So help me, I really enjoyed this. I mean Anna Karenina it ain't, but it's light & engaging.

The Russian flavour is just chefkiss. The formula is solid. The baddie is a baddie & the beige protagonist blossoms into the beautiful, powerful, chosen one. Twue wuv is lost & found, action, heartbreak, sweeping scenery etc. etc.

Having enjoyed the Netflix adaptation I was surprised that it was singular first person narrative from Alina Starkovs POV. Where is my favourite BAMF Inej? Where's that charming fuckup Jesper? Even Mal doesn't get much of a look-in & he's like, so dreamy or whatever. They were all such fleshed-out characters with their own stories, did Netflix just make 'em up? Turns out they're from a different series in the 'Grishaverse', starting with Six of Crows, which I now must read.