I'm enjoying the change of having Alina hunt for the sea whip herself, it gives her much more agency, which she desperately needs to stand as a character.

I'm actually not sure what to make of the change at the moment.

I think Nikolai's insanely daring plan to "betray" you-know-who with no real assurance Alina would agree to help him is a perfect introduction to the nature of his character. The betrayal also sets up what happens later to him in the books in terms of motives.

I also think Alina demanding command of the second army and taking an active role in stopping the Darkling a few chapters later was her taking control of things.

So we'll have to obviously wait and see, and the changes could always be good, but I hope they don't undercut Nikolai's character and story from the books in the process.