Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1) in Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books

Jul 28, 2018 Jenny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-bookshelves

3rd time I've read this now! I think I love this series the more and more every time I read it! ...more

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Apr 25, 2021 Kaitlynne rated it liked it

I read this book, because I want to watch it on Netflix and my book nerd self can't do that until I read the book first.

That and it was a challenge book in an online readers group that I'm in.

I remembered why I marked it as DNF before.

I'm not really a fan of the Darkling. I wasn't back during my first try at a read through, and if I'm being honest, I'm still not. In fact, I forgot most of what happened in the book, EXCEPT for the fact that... He put a collar around her neck (I think that's the p ...more

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Feb 09, 2017 Jo rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2017

Review in progress
Shadow and Bone
By Leigh Bardugo
Synopsis
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 co ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Erica Alyson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, paranomal

Amazing book! On to book 2!!!!

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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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