Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Published June 5, 2012
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
So this is a re-read for me, I decided to re-read this series and I’m not regretting it. Although, I prefer the Six of Crows duology over this trilogy, I’m still enjoying immersing myself in this story and world. I absolutely am obsessed with Leigh Bardugo’s writing. It’s something that really just has the power to draw you in and keep you sucked in her words and it’s like her writing just grabs you and doesn’t let go which is something I feel like a lot of YA Writers struggle with. Since reading a lot of YA, other than The Raven Cycle, Cinder Series, and Throne of Glass. I don’t think I’ve been so drawn into a universe.
Was I blown away by like the plot, characters, development etc? Yes and no. I enjoyed the plot quite a bit. I thought it was interesting to have Alina and Mal just be “normal” until her powers manifested. I thought it brought some spice into their relationship other than the girl pining over the boy. But my goodness, after that it was like OVERKILL. We get it, she’s the sun summoner and she’s powerful and it causes riffs between the two of them because he’s not a grisha.
Personally, the only characters I thought of as worth while in any way were the Darkling and Genya. They were like the only two who really had any substance. I LOVE the Darkling, probably one of the better villains I’ve read through YA. And Genya just had so much personality compared to anyone else. She was strong, sassy and confident, but also shy and soft spoken when it came to David. She just was great.
Shadow and Bone is always a great read, I have to say Bardugo does a great job of making a really good jumping off point for a action filled, and suspenseful trilogy. It had been so long since I read this the first time, that reading through the twists and reveals of certain plot points made me appreciate the thought that went through setting up everything that happens in this and the other two books.
5/5 Stars
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