September 19, 2018

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt
Publication Date: June 5, 2012
Pages: 356
Format: Paperback/Own

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.

Review: I can't believe I waited so long to read this. I kid you not guys, I've had this book since before it came out in 2012 (obviously the old cover then). I seriously can't believe it took me 6 years to finally read it. Idk. I guess the hype around this really got me back in 2012 and I avoided it like the plague because of it. I'm so glad I finally picked it up though. I really did enjoy this and what a quick read it was for me as well! The only thing that kinda annoyed me is like most other first books in a series, it seems to start off slow and save all the action and plot twists for the second half of the book instead of equally pacing everything through the whole book. Fun fact though. I definitely understand why this redesigned cover has that certain image on it!

So the first thing I liked is that the idea for the world came from Russia. We see so many books whose worlds are based on Europe or the US, but not much from Russia. So it was refreshing to read a book with a different influence. And the fact it also took into account the class differences in Russia made it that much more realistic being based off that world. I also loved that some of the language also seemed to be influenced by the Russian language. It definitely made it more interesting for me to read. 

I also found the magic of the Grisha incredibly interesting. I thought it was really interesting how most Grisha seemed to only have certain types of powers. Like fire, wind, etc. and how they were separated into 3 groups based on their powers. Which is what makes The Darklings and Alina's powers more unique. No one else seems to have control over darkness like the Darkling does and no one else seems to be able to control Sunlight like Alina. What makes them different? If most Grisha tend to have one of the normal powers, how did those two get more unique powers? I found it interesting how the Grisha are the elite, wealthy ones. Usually with magic it either makes you the elite class or the poor persecuted class. It all depends on the world right?

I did like Alina's character. She's not my favorite of characters, but she's not bad by any means. I thought it was pretty interesting how she didn't seem to manifest her power until much later compared to when most Grisha manifested their powers. Especially since she had even been tested when she was 8 like everyone else. But then later on we find out that Alina did kinda know about her power and that she was different. She pushed it down and hid it so she wouldn't be separated from Mal. Which causes her trouble. She let the idea of not being separated from Mal take over her thoughts so much, that she found it hard to let go and let her power come to her until it finally seemed like Mal stopped being interested in talking to her. It was amazing how easily her power came to her once she let go of the thing that was holding her back. I did find Alina a little naive. She seemed to think the Darkling only had her best interests in mind and anyone who said anything to the contrary was wrong or lying. She didn't wanna believe it because he was so nice to her and was definitely into her. Once she got passed that though, I was liking her more since she was really starting to look deeper into things.

I'm not really into either of the "love interests." Neither The Darkling or Mal really gave me much to like about them. The Darkling obviously is lying to furthure his interests. Trying to get Alina on his side so he can steal her power to use to expand the Shadow Fold. Nope. Not to mention how he's just cruel regarding Mal even after Alina's begging. So that's a nope for me regarding the Darkling. And Mal. I just don't feel it. First, he's incredibly dense. All about hooking up with other girls, not caring about Alina's feelings until she's taken away. Then suddenly its like a 360 and he suddenly loves her and wants to be with her. Just ugh. How typical. You want her when she's no longer available to you. I just also haven't seen anything that makes me think "yeah, those two need to be together!" The most I see thus far is a close friendship despite them having feelings for the other. We'll see if it changes as the series goes on. 

I'm definitely curious about what's going to happen next since Alina got away and clearly that's going to make the Darkling more angry. Not to mention I wanna know if any of the other countries are going to do anything about the fact he expanded the Shadow Fold on his own people and is threatening to do it to everyone. He may think it's going to bring peace, but it in fact, is not. That's seriously not how you go about achieving peace.