bardugo’s strength is definitely character building and i think that shows when u compare the duology to the shadow and bone series. it’s a good duology to speed through and read its very engaging bc she is good at characters+character interaction but when you sit down and intentionally think about the books they have a lot of flaws. i haven’t read them in years so i cant rly elaborate but the world building + the weirdness around how she approaches certain international relations was.. idk.