I always love it when I’m buying a book and cashier sings its praises, it always makes me want to read the book even more. So this book started off well right from the beginning in Waterstones!

I’m just going to jump right into this, this book is set in the same world as the ‘Shadow and Bone‘ series but is in a different time period, has different characters and is a completely different story. This book is based in the country of Kerch instead of Ravka and follows the rag tag gangs within Kerch but mainly the Crow Club (gang) and it’s most prominent members. This gang gets contacted for a massive mission which is to break into the most well guarded and notorious prison in the Kingdom, The Ice Court and rescue a prisoner. It is clear this is a suicide mission, but with the prize of 30 million Kerch, Kaz and his team cannot resist.

Whilst browsing the shelves, this book intrigued me, mainly because I’d read the Shadow and Bone series, which was good but it wasn’t my favourite. Because of this I really wanted to know what it was like because I did like the world and was interested in learning more about it and exploring new areas and new characters. This book did not disappoint, it was so exciting and intense. The characters were strong with intimate and complex backstories which beautifully intertwined with the story line. I actually preferred this greatly to the Shadow and Bone story, I feel as though the story was a lot stronger and the characters were much more complex and likable.

What I really loved about this book was that it was so gripping! Right from the start it was interesting and I kept wanting to know more, there was no faffing they got straight into what the story was about and the main premise of the story. I just wanted to keep reading, but the best thing was that you never really know what was going on, you never knew if the gang are genuinely in trouble of if Kaz Brekker or the gang had something else up their sleeve! Because of this it was literally impossible to predict and I never knew what was happening and the ending was always so up in the air, even two pages from the end!

I don’t want to say too much about the characters because there is a lot you learn about each character and I want to keep that as a surprise. But I will say a tiny bit about the 6 main characters… Firstly there is Kaz Brekker (Dirtyhands) he is very high up in the gang and will do anything for money. Secondly there is Inej, known as The Wraith, she has silent feet and can climb anything. There is also Nina a Corporalki Grisha from Ravka and Matthias from Fierda who was trained to kill Grisha. Finally there is Jesper a good friend of Kaz Brekker but also has a slight glambling problem and Wylan who is always made fun of for being young and inexperienced. The characters were each so unique and different from each other, also each chapter was from a different perspectives so you got to know all of them really well!

I really did love this book, I would recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of excitement in a book. There are so many twists and turns I promise you that you won’t get bored! I’m going to give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, I really did love this book and it lined up perfectly for a sequel so I seriously cannot wait for the second book!!