This seems to be one of those very polarizing books where you love it or hate it, and nothing in between. Personally, I loved it; I started it on the weekend and had about 100 pages left when I had to go to work this morning. Couldn't stop thinking about the plot all the way through work, and couldn't wait to get home again to finally finish it off. Based on the multiple prestigious awards it's won, I'm clearly not alone in this. If you enjoy beautifully written fairy tale stories with a bit of darkness - if you loved Robin McKinley's "Door in the Hedge" for example - you'll likely adore this book. If, on the other hand, you prefer the sunny Disney versions of fairy tales, or you find the Beauty and the Beast romance deeply troublesome, you probably won't like this.

I have to admit the heroine is a little bit of a Mary Sue - an ordinary everywoman who turns out to be somehow special and gifted. And the Dragon can be read as a bit of a Beast figure, depending how sympathetically you choose to read him. But most protagonists of fairy tales are Mary Sues and Special Snowflakes, it's almost a stable of the genre and I was okay with it here. The story is a fantastic tapestry that keeps you feeling as if you ALMOST recognize a bit of an old fairy story you know, but then twists it away again. There were echoes of Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty, and Briar Rose, and various Russian folk tales, but none of them quite turning out the way you expect, and in the end it turns into a story entirely standing on its own. I'd love to read more about the world and these characters, but it ends satisfactorily for a stand-alone story and I don't know if there's any intention to continue it.

I would definitely say this is a teen book, not for younger kids, as there are definitely dark themes that would scare kids - necromancy at one point, and violent fighting with lots of soldiers dying - and also one sex scene. But it's mostly a beautifully written and absorbing story about magic and politics and people making the wrong decisions for the right reasons and of course the protagonists trying to save the world against all odds. I really enjoyed Novik's Temeraire series and enjoyed this one even more, can't wait till her next book!