I would like to start by saying this will not be like any of the other negative reviews of this series. Most people that did not like this book took issue with the world building. While I found those reviews amusing (the whole “grisha means greg” thing was particularly hilarious), I feel they fundamentally missed the point of why this book failed. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that the atmosphere was one of its redeeming features. Furthermore, I am not going to gripe about the language. I think it was perfectly serviceable and no worse than others of the genre (it’s actually getting kind of boring how many amateur reviewers just parrot the “show, don’t tell” rule).
No, the main reason I did not like this book was that it promised something it did not deliver. And that was the massive twist on the genre. Each book teased me with the promise of doing something different- then in the last third of every single one it reverted to conventionality. It was so frustrating! Ironically, it would have been better if the author had not tried to be original at all. Because then I wouldn’t have got my hopes up. I really feel like the author just set herself up for failure here.
I’m actually surprised by how so few people picked up on this. So many reviews raved about how unique and different it is, but I’ve often found myself wondering how they came to that conclusion. It was pretty much a checklist for YA fantasy tropes:
Special snowflake main character: check 
Obviously evil villain no one seems to suspect: check
Pointless love triangles that go nowhere: check
I don’t actually mind predictability if it’s done well, but to be honest the whole thing just really irked me in this case. Probably because this book was so overhyped and had such rave reviews. And after all the positive reviews and the claim that it was oh-so-unique, it was just left me incredibly disappointed.
Rating: 2.5 bananas
the orang-utan librarian 
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The Grisha Trilogy is actually one of my favorite series although I don’t know why. I did not really like book one, and book two was just ‘ok’ for me. I didn’t go into book three with much hope and then it just blew me away. I loved the ending, and yet, I totally agree with what you said here. Great review.
By the way, if you haven’t read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo then you should. The hype is real and it will not disappoint. It is 100% better than the Grisha. No special snowflakes. No obvious villain. And no love triangle. And the characters are amazing. I recommend.
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Ahh I’m glad you liked it then! I can understand why people liked this in retrospect- if it hadn’t been so hyped I probably would have liked it more. I really do want to read that- cos I love the sound of it- and am definitely planning to at some point! I think Bardugo has a lot of potential as a writer even if this didn’t quite do it for me! Thanks for the recommendation!
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The Grisha Trilogy was one of my favourite reads of last year but I still laughed out loud when I read your review. I mean the checklist was just hilarious.
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haha thank you- it wasn’t a bad series by any stretch of the imagination and I get why people like it so much- I think it was just a case of “wrong time, wrong place” for me 😉 I’m glad you liked the review!!
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