Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Published in 2012. Fantasy. Mal and Alina are orphans, living in Ravda. They have been tested for their magical abilities and found wanting. Mal is taken into the First Army as a soldier and proves his abilities as a tracker, while Alina becomes a cartographer. On their first mission, they are to cross the Fold, an area of danger, filled with darkness and monsters. When they convoy is attacked, Mal tries to protect Alina while she tries to help him. In doing so, she releases her magic—she can summon light. The man called the Darkling recruits her and takes her to live with the others with magical abilities. He believes her magic, combined with his, will destroy the Fold to allow the country to be whole again. For the first time in her life, Alina is treated like royalty as she trains. The Darkling strings her along to accomplish his needs until she learns the truth. He doesn’t want to destroy the Fold; he wants to expand it.

I enjoyed reading this book. It’s the first book of a trilogy, and for a change, it gives me the title of the second book. Too often, publishers hide the fact that a book is part of a series, to get readers into the books any way they can. According to the book cover, this book was also made into a Netflix series. I don’t subscribe to Netflix, but maybe, one day.