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Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)

Leigh Bardugo

Start date: September 1, 2017

Finish date: September 30, 2017

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What Members Thought

Jan 14, 2012 Angie Taylor rated it it was amazing

I loved this book! It was a perfect story to get lost in. I loved the magic, characters, good versus evil, the romance, everything. It was well written and had the perfect tension throughout, making me not get much done for the last 24 hours. The story was unique and compelling and just an all around good read! The perfect fantasy book!

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Apr 25, 2021 E.S. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Book Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.75 / 5 stars)

Alina has never considered herself anything important; an orphan, a mapmaker, a nobody. She is just one face in the army, nothing like the infamous Grisha who display insurmountable power. But, as they cross the Fold one day, Alina unleashes a power beyond her wildest imagination. At first she doubts it happened, but when she catches the attention of the Darkling, she discovers that she is the lone sun summoner in Ravka…and she might help change the world.

Truth Book Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.75 / 5 stars)

Alina has never considered herself anything important; an orphan, a mapmaker, a nobody. She is just one face in the army, nothing like the infamous Grisha who display insurmountable power. But, as they cross the Fold one day, Alina unleashes a power beyond her wildest imagination. At first she doubts it happened, but when she catches the attention of the Darkling, she discovers that she is the lone sun summoner in Ravka…and she might help change the world.

Truth-to-told, I entered Shadow and Bone skeptically. Already, YA as a genre enters uncertain territory for me. Sometimes the books work, such as Six of Crows, but others lean too far into being YA, and I struggle to connect with the characters. This is particularly true for me when it comes to YA books narrated in the first person.

While overall, I enjoyed the plot of Shadow and Bone – and have full intentions of reading the rest of the series and watch the TV show – some parts of this book just didn’t work for me.

But first, let’s talk about the good: the Grisha are full realized magic users, both who face admiration and discrimination on both sides and in different ways. The worldbuilding around them is sound, and Ravka as nation is full realized. While Six of Crows as a true story about characters, Shadow and Bone is a teenager’s perspective on the world around her. Alina is powerful, and she slowly comes to terms as to how to utilize her abilities…which she unknowingly suffocated throughout her life. But, she is also a realistic teenager; she trusts the wrong people, she doubts herself, and she easily can be manipulated. Yet, her conviction shines; like her powers as the Sun Summoner, she is also the light. She stands up for what is right, and holds herself to a high standard, to meet the ones she admires. This is a standard YA protagonist, but at its core, it works.

Overall, I loved the plotline. The Darkling does indeed make a (spoiler) fantastic and complex villain that manipulates Alina for his own uses. Certain characters shine above the rest as well with Genya being my favorite. The idea of an amplifier to make abilities stronger seems to also play into some of the ideas with Juda Parem in Six of Crows (and I suppose I’ll learn more about that as well). Bardugo has obviously put a lot of care into this universe.

Yet, I do take issue with a few things in the story. While Alina is a fantastic protagonist, strong in her own right, the plot – for the most part – happens around her. She is thrown from one location to the next, not really in charge of her destiny until the very end of the book when she fights back against the Darkling’s influences. This could be viewed as a magnificent example of character growth though, which is quite typical of many books. Truthfully though, Alina is somewhat bland too. While I can tell you she is the Sun Summoner, has a strong moral compass, loves teasing Mal, and tends to belittle herself…I can’t tell you *much* about her. She’s in her head a lot, as most teenagers are, and she’s a survivor. So on one hand, kudos to Leigh Bardugo for writing a believable narrator, but on the other…I just wish there was a bit more.

I also tend to be hesitant with certain tropes in YA fiction…especially the love triangles. These triangles have of course been latched onto by the fan base on social media about whether Alina belonged with the Darkling or with Mal. The Darkling is a fantastic villain, as I have mentioned, but he’s manipulative. His relationship with Alina is one of power, that is uncomfortable to an extent. Alina is 17 and the Darkling is, well, ancient. I have never been one for those romances with such a big age gap, and I was excited to see her go back to Mal, her friend, the one who has fought to protect her. I know, I know, a lot of people think Mal is bland and boring. I didn’t think so though (especially with the bonus letter at the end of my edition). Mal is a soldier, like Alina, and he’s young…trying to balance his duties with the love he didn’t know he had. Yes, he can be a little in his head and annoying in instances, but what teenage boy isn’t?

Granted, Mal being the influencer over Alina’s powers also doesn’t sit right with me either. Her powers unlocked to save him; she unlocked them again when she stopped fretting over him; and again, she unlocked them to save his life. I hate the idea of an heroine’s powers being tied to a love interest.

Overall, I did like the story though. I’m in love with the Grishaverse and have intentions to read the rest of the books in it. In fact, I still basically read this book in one sitting (with a few small breaks), so it kept my attention from start-to-finish. Since I went in with lower expectations for this book, I can definitely say that the book surpassed them. ...more

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Dec 24, 2019 Zara Arshad rated it liked it

Shelves: got-sucked-into-their-world, kick-ass-girl, good-start-bad-end, fantasy, assasins

I first read this book's 100 pages (till Chapter 10) some 4-5 months back and then stopped reading but after learning that I was horribly behind on my to-read list for 2019 (I'd barely read 3 books all year, out of 50) I wanted to start reading again and this was the one I picked up to continue.

I first read the standalone series Six of Crows by Leigh Burdago back in 2017. After surprisingly enjoying that story a little too much, I wanted to give her other works a try. Back then in 2014, I first I first read this book's 100 pages (till Chapter 10) some 4-5 months back and then stopped reading but after learning that I was horribly behind on my to-read list for 2019 (I'd barely read 3 books all year, out of 50) I wanted to start reading again and this was the one I picked up to continue.

I first read the standalone series Six of Crows by Leigh Burdago back in 2017. After surprisingly enjoying that story a little too much, I wanted to give her other works a try. Back then in 2014, I first tried Leigh's writing and ended up reading the short story The Witch of Duva and didn't really like the gist of it so I dropped wanting to read Shadow and Bone then. But after hearing that Netflix had opted to make this book into a series I decided that I had to check it out. I finally got round to reading it and today during my winter vacation, I ended up reading it in one sitting from Chapter 11 to 22.

My thoughts on the story:
The story is set in a land called Ravka where special people with powers exist called Grisha and are enrolled in the army to defend their land against wars with other nations. There's a girl whose rare gifts are discovered by accident and she turns out to be the Chosen One they've all been waiting for. She's taken away from her old life and her best friend/childhood love Mal, and put into the custody of the mysterious Darkling, who's the only one of his kind just like her. The story goes that his ancestors created the Shadow Fold, a land of darkness, that had divided the nations and to reunite them all they need Alina to destroy the Shadow Fold and the monsters, volcra, that lurk within.

Spoilers
The author plays with the innocence of Alina and leads us to believe that the person who smiles at us and bring us a sense of comfort can be trusted. That's where the story goes off, when we as readers are lulled in the security of the Grand Palace, with its warm beds, the cozy friendship of Genya, and the pull of the Darkling, we find out things aren't as they seem. It was like waking up from a happy dream and smack into reality.

Alina is forced to run away from the Palace in order to save herself from becoming Darkling's slave and letting him use her powers for his selfish gains. He wants to expand the Shadow Fold's range and spread terror onto those who refuse his wishes. The Darling ambushes Alina and Mal at the sighting of the ancient stag. He then uses its powerful stags as Amplifiers to control Alina's powers. Once in the Shadow Fold, when Darkling orders Mal to be thrown to the volcra as food, Alina's powers come to her aid and she ends up fleeing the hold of Darkling with Mal and they find themselves on the other side of Ravka.

The ending was a bit underwhelming and was like any other cliched story but I had a lot of fun reading it. I know for a fact from the Six of Crows series that Alina ends up destroying the Fold so I know how this ends but I'll read the next book soon enough. ...more

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