Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So. . .this was disappointing to read and this is hard to write. I have enjoyed Bardugo's novels in her Grishaverse.(Those books are high 4 star ratings for me) I was so excited to see this story: mystery going on at Yale. Bit of magic. Morally gray characters. So excited. When I got the book on Tuesday, I started reading right away and - I was confused and bored for a good bit of the first six chapters. I went on reading, thinking things would get better, but they never really did. I didn't feel anything for the characters. I didn't feel like the story was going anywhere interesting. It was so disappointing, because this was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Maybe my expectations were too high? Maybe I'm just not in the right mood for this kind of story? I don't know. What I do know is that it took me four days to read this and I never wanted to pick it up. I had to force myself. I don't think it helps matters that the start of the book - with the info dumps and the flashbacks - felt (for me!) shaky and all over the place. I'm never confused when reading, but I found myself often pausing to go back and recheck somethings. The novel as a whole felt overly long and like a lot of setup for things to come. It didn't need to be nearly 500 pages - 300 pages would have worked just fine. I didn't care about these characters - the felt flat or like copies of people from other Bardugo works. At times, it also felt like it was being "dark" and "gritty" just to be "dark" and "gritty" or because Bardugo wanted this to be an adult novel. I understand that I'm in the minority here and that people are loving this novel, and I'm so happy that people are enjoying it as much as they are. I'm just disappointed that I didn't enjoy this novel. I may come back to it someday, I may not. I do know that I will go on reading novels set in the Grishaverse. So, at least I'll always have that.