Enjoying this quite a bit so far. Doing a pretty good job making each side a viable perspective. logical and consistent motivations.
super special magical protagonist, totally fucks up and gets all her friends killed. (granted she mostly forgets all about that, and starts pinning for her boring safe boyfriend/brother, and super hot badboy villian/love interest)
yeah, some of the "plot holes" mentioned in previous posts were 100% explained by the old lady wizard teacher.
human amplifiers, hes full of bones.
the one general notes that when he was a kid, mages were 50:1, then guns made them 25:1, then repeaters made them 10:1. how much longer till they are as expendable as the rest of us.
but, also, old lady talking to her son in the past. " grisha are builders, creators, not warriors. we practice the small science, not magic." so, both ways. the magic they practice is more useful for day to day use. not war. but, the general specifically started the school to teach them to be fighters, to be useful. and even further REAL magic is forbidden/not taught. and him doing real magic is what caused the void.
the conductor mentioned they passed a Hive. so, the assumption would be the monsters are breeding.
Nina plotline does get way too YA. just keeps getting worse. I thought the first interaction was ok. pretty sure that was supposed to be her, actually flirting to try and get him to drop his guard. but man, it just gets laid on thicker and thicker. ooph.