Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jan 20, 2021 Kristin rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was really boring for the first half and then picked up nicely in the second half.

I am slightly annoyed. What is with this pattern of writers (screen writers, authors, et al) having the heroine fall for the bad guy? She falls for the hero/good guy . . . and/or the evil one. That or if there's a "love triangle" there's one that the lead female is just not into.

Red Queen (Mare and Maven).
Frozen (Anna and Hans).
Chuck (Sarah and Shaw).
Shadow and Bone (Alina and the Darkling).

I am not liking th This was really boring for the first half and then picked up nicely in the second half.

I am slightly annoyed. What is with this pattern of writers (screen writers, authors, et al) having the heroine fall for the bad guy? She falls for the hero/good guy . . . and/or the evil one. That or if there's a "love triangle" there's one that the lead female is just not into.

Red Queen (Mare and Maven).
Frozen (Anna and Hans).
Chuck (Sarah and Shaw).
Shadow and Bone (Alina and the Darkling).

I am not liking this pattern. Why can't the girl just have a relationship that doesn't work out, or a casual relationship with someone, you know, like normal people? Why is it always, "Sorry, I'm just not that into you and so we'll never be together," or "I'm into you but you're evil," or "I'm into you and you're perfect for me and even though we're sixteen we're going to be together forever?"

Meanwhile, the men in most stories seem to have perfectly normal dating relationships with people before they meet the heroine.

It gives me an icky feeling, like the expectation that women choose men who are exactly right for them or else they'll choose someone horrible. It feels like perpetuating the stereotype that women aren't built for casual relationships or dating around, and quite frankly, the double standard is wearing thin for me. Series where the heroine has a pattern of normal dating relationships before meeting "the one" are rare. Why?

I think if it weren't for seeing this pattern yet again, I might have enjoyed this a bit more. I was brought over from Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom, and after reading those I knew I had to go back and read the original trilogy for more Leigh Bardugo. Her characters and story telling are way better in the Six of Crows duology.

Still, I'm going to finish off the series because even though it has some patterns that bug me, the story isn't bad. It's just not great. Part of me is burnt on Young Adult fantasy and I'm ready to do some different genres for a while, maybe come back to YA later. ...more

Like · see review

May 27, 2020 Grace rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

Like · see review

Oct 20, 2019 Audrey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: could-not-put-down, borrowed, octbrchallenge-2019

It took me over two years from the time I borrowed this to sit down and read it. It took four days to get up through chapter two. But once I did, I didn't want to put it down. The world and characters sucked me in. And sometimes getting on the bandwagon late means you don't have to wait to find out what happens! I ordered the rest of the trilogy before I was halfway through. It's definitely something I could see myself re-reading a number of times. ...more

Like · see review