From the Bookshelf of YAholics Anonymous!…

Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)

Leigh Bardugo

Start date: May 2, 2014

Finish date: May 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read

Discussion leader: Riya

Why we're reading this: Because Ruin and Rising comes out next month! :D
[close] Because Ruin and Rising comes out next month! :D

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What Members Thought

May 26, 2017 Katherine rated it liked it

”’I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Alina. You and I are going to change the world.”

Leigh Bardugo is one of those authors that seems untouchable. Ever since her Six of Crows duology came out, I have yet to come across one person who doesn’t like that duology. ‘Her writing is impeccable,’ they say. ‘It’s so beautiful,’, they say. There’s one user who pretty much rereads it every week (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But those examples confirm that Leigh Bardugo has that somet ”’I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Alina. You and I are going to change the world.”

Leigh Bardugo is one of those authors that seems untouchable. Ever since her Six of Crows duology came out, I have yet to come across one person who doesn’t like that duology. ‘Her writing is impeccable,’ they say. ‘It’s so beautiful,’, they say. There’s one user who pretty much rereads it every week (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But those examples confirm that Leigh Bardugo has that something special in her writing, and I look forward to diving into that duology and hopefully loving it as much as they do (though it’ll be just my luck that I’ll hate it, cause that’s what happens with me and overhyped books).

However, famous authors have to start somewhere in their writing career, and Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel is a perfectly solid but cliché start.

I don’t think I have to rehash the plot for you to get the general gist; a special snowflake orphan with a perfectly plain, bland appearance discovers her special snowflake powers and becomes the ‘chosen one’ to save the entire empire. Said special snowflake is caught between two ridonkulous boy’s affections; the best friend she’s been secretly in love with her entire life,

”’You don’t seem to have much in common.’

‘I guess it’s easy to have a lot in common when you’re kids.’ Like loneliness, and memories of parents we were meant to forget, and the pleasure of escaping chores to play tag in our meadow.”

and the mysterious, hot new guy with special powers that takes her under his wing and seduces her.

”’I’m not what you think I am.’

The Darkling stepped closer to me and said, his voice so low that only I could hear, ‘I doubt you have any idea what you are.’”

You get the idea. Basically every single YA fantasy/YA book cliché you could possibly think of. Though to be fair, this was the very beginning of the YA book craze, and the very beginning of the dreaded ‘Let’s make every YA book into a trilogy so we can make more money!’ craze. It’s an OK book, but absolutely nothing special or extraordinary. But from a vantage point, I can see why it was so popular when it was released. Now that there are so any others like it, it’s just a drop in the bucket at this point.

And for the record; despite what the author says that it was ‘vaguely inspired’ by tsarist Russia, let’s face it; this book is heavily based, if not identical to, tsarist Russia. The character’s names are Russian, the fantasy world name is Russian sounding, the creatures sound Russian. Even the companion folk tales are Russian-esque in nature. Give credit where credit is due, people.

Aline is the specialist of all special snowflakes with the personality to match. We have the requisite ‘I’m so ugly, so I’ll automatically hate every person who has ovaries’ stereotype, though I will admit she does grow in her powers (personality, not so much). Mal is the best friend who just wants things to go back to normal before she found out she was a special snowflake, and the Darkling (by far my favorite character), wants Alina to keep being a special snowflake for his own purposes.

While there was nothing horribly wrong with this book, it was overly cliché and basically another average YA fantasy novel. The takeaway from it, though? Even authors who are considered great don’t start out that way. Leigh Bardugo has obviously grown leaps and bounds in her writing, though what I think is most important is that she recognized the beginners flaws she had and worked hard to improve on them. That, my friends, is what makes a good writer great. ...more

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Aug 06, 2017 Wren rated it really liked it

Shelves: exciting, theme-magic, young-adult-general, sequels-to-buy-or-borrow, unique-books, fantasy-general, blog-to-review, almost-favourite

Review to come

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Apr 26, 2014 Mkittysamom rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-vanilla, ya-luv-all, sci-fi-topian-apoc-utop

I was really intrigued, it has been awhile since I have found a fantasy book with supernatural magic that I've fallen for in awhile. Alina is a great Heroine, I'm glad to read a character that isn't whiny and unconfident. She may not have believed at first, but she still took a beating and kept trying until she figured out her own problems. Mal is strong too! Alina and Mal lived together at the orphanage, they grew up together and I am happy the author gave an example of a real relationship, rat ...more

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Jun 16, 2013 Madelene G rated it really liked it

Reread - probably down to 4 stars. I just love this world, and I really love Alina and Mal. Also the Darking, who is an amazing bad guy. It started out great, the middle was kind of blah.. but the ending was amazing. Need to finally read the rest of the books now!

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