Title: Shadow & Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Shadow & Bone Trilogy, book 1
Age Category: Young Adult
Published by: Orion's Children Books, October 2020
Pages: 307p.
Genre: Epic fantasy
About Shadow and Bone
Alina Starkov is a soldier, the regiment plans to cross the Shadow Fold, a darkness that holds all kinds of shadow creatures. Alina isn't sure she will make it to the other side, but when her party is attacked she unleashes magic she did not know she possessed.
Alina ends up in the world of the Grisha the elite military unit, led by the notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes that Alina's powers can reunite the war-torn nation. If she could only master her powers.
But the kingdom holds some dark secrets, and Alina has to find her place in this world and hold the future.
Welcome to Ravka, a world where science and superstition collide, and nothing is what it seems.
My thoughts on Shadow and Bone
My relationship with Shadow and Bone has had a lot of ups and downs. You could call it a hate/love affair. So expect a bit of a critical review, if you don't like that then I would suggest skipping this review.
To give you an example, in the first 50 pages I was thinking, what the hell is this world, where is my world-building? Why has everyone been hyping this book up, so much? I got my answers shortly after, as the pace of the book changed at that point, the story became interesting all of a sudden.
That is my general feeling about this book, I feel like I am missing out on the many details this world possesses. This is mainly because it is written from Alina's perspective, and she has a very narrow view of the world she lives in. Lots of details have been kept hidden from her, or just weren't of interest to her, so that makes the story a bit narrow-minded as well.
The world Leigh Bardugo has created is very interesting, even from the narrow point of view we have gotten, it is very fascinating. And I would love to read more, fortunately, I have 4 more books to look forward to next to this trilogy all based in Ravka. I would love to see how the writing has evolved from Shadow and Bone, I have heard that the other books are even more beloved than Shadow and Bone.
Enough about the world building I think you have gotten my point. Still, the feeling of missing out on things kept nagging me to the end of the book. There were some reveals that, because I have managed to dodge almost all spoilers on this series. Except for that the Darkling was supposed to be the villain of this story. The reveal that came from Baghra, as may be the biggest surprise of the book. That was unexpected, as I wasn't sure what Baghra's intentions were before that moment.
At this point in the book we have finally found the haste button, and the story keeps spinning. We learn a great deal more about the world, and about many of the side characters.
We also see Alina evolve. This learning curve goes hand in hand with our main character, so there are no broadly explained elements, we only see what Alina's eyes see. Alina is that so-called reluctant hero, a trope that I found out by reading this, I don't like. Alina seems to be so foolish and naive, and it bugged me that the Darkling caught up with them in such an easy manner. It was excruciating to read about.
Rating Shadow and Bone
Short version: it needs more world-building.
Long version: the world is so damn interesting, I just want a whole lot more of it, even if Alina is not my favorite character ever. The side characters make up for the lacking main character, and therefore I am not giving up on this series. I am becoming a fan of this world and already have a favorite character, Nikolai, I haven't talked much about him in this review, as I was a bit concerned with spoilers. I am glad that this character is so beloved that it has gotten his own duology , being King of Scars and Rule of Wolves.
Overall this book had its moments but it will never be the best thing I have ever read. What I have learned from this one is that I do not like the reluctant hero's point of view. Also, the book starts very slow, so be aware of that, it gets better after the 50-page mark, and from that point, you can easily make it to the finish line, and it becomes addictive even.
That being said, I had a really hard time with the main character, which left this book stranded on 3 stars.
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