Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | Review

Paperback: 308 pages

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers

Published: 2012

Language: English

Rating: 4.75 / 5 stars

"The problem with wanting," he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, "is that it makes us weak."

After what seems like a century since it was published, I finally read this book. And I really liked it. It was a cute story with very interesting politics and esentially, a new world to discover.

The story is about the once-great nation of Ravka which is now surrounded by enemies, on top of being torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. There is also a very complex magic system in this world, the Grisha. They are divided in three main categories: Corporalki, Etherealki and Materialki. Those also divide in more categories but you'll discover them while reading the book.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is the first installment in the Grisha trilogy, and also, the author's debut novel. And for a debut novel, it surely is a good one, yet it leaves some space for improvement.

I like the story, I love the magic system, but I really didn't care much for the characters. Perhaps one or two of them were interesting to watch develop throughout the story, but the rest of them were quite annoying. Fortunately, that didn't ruin the story for me. It might have actually added some humour to it.

First of all we have Alina Starkov which is one of the main characters of this book and I think is supposed to be a good one, but I found her very annoying, as if any bad decisions that could have been made throughout the book, she just went out and made them all. I actually liked her in the first half of the book. She was a clueless little thing trying to make sense of the world she was thrown in, which makes for a good start, but the way she evolved, the person she is slowly growing into is not a favourite of mine.

" People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don't expect lip from a scrawny little thing like me. They always look a bit dazed when they get it. "

Then we have the Darkling. I have a love-hate relationship with him. I liked him very much ever since he made an appearence, then I didn't, then I did again. I am still debating. There's something about all that mystery and darkness around him that draws me in but also makes me want to guard myself, just in case.

The Darkling slumped back in his chair. "Fine," he said with a weary shrug. "Make me your villain." 

And we also have Mal Orestev, the character I hate the most. Well, not necessarily hate, but cannot stand him.
Mal is Alina's childhood best friend and I don't have an explination as to why, but I would feed him to Volcras at any given moment.

But that's just my opinion, regarding all the characters.

Back to the actual story, the romance at the end of the book seemed a little forced to me and naybe it would have been a lot better without said part.

" The moment our lips met, I knew with pure and piercing certainty that I would have waited for him forever. "

This particular line I do not dislike, I would have even considered cute if placed in another book with another love story. Perhaps a forbidden love trope would have been more fitting for this line. Here, in this story, considering all the pining after our main character does, seems exaggerated with maybe a slight hint of desperation. But once again, this is just a small inconvenience, it didn't really affect the story that much so I still enjoyed it very much.

I loved the political games and the threats they were facing because I felt like that made everyone more aware of the world around them, that there were bigger things at stake. I also liked the political system and the military business going around. To me, it just made the story better. And that is why I gave it 4.75 stars out of 5.

The series is definitely worth continuing and I will be back soon with the review for the second book, Siege and Storm. If high fantasy is your genre, then you should give this book a chance. It might surprise you.