Title: Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy (young adult)
Publisher: Square Fish
Publication date: May 7th, 2013
Synopsis from Shadow and Bone's Goodreads page
Alina Starkov doesn't expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal--and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power not even she knew existed.
Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. With Alina's extraordinary power in his arsenal, he believes they can finally destory the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina will uncover a secret that could tear her heart--and her country--in two.
I have had this book on my shelf for about a year and a half, and I had been meaning to read it since the day I got it, but instead...I was stupid in not reading this sooner than the year and a half I have now had it.
I really, really enjoyed this book. There is a map (always a GREAT sign when you open a new fantasy novel) that is beautifully detailed, and a list of the hierarchy of the Grisha, which really helped when you first start getting into the book and the world. It is a very engaging, attention grabbing book, to say the least. It gets a strong hold of you from the very beginning and has you tangled up by the second chapter, needing more.
Shadow and Bone was an amazing read, from the characters themselves to the world to the powers of the Grisha, everything was superbly well thought out and written. I loved the characters and the writing, but I wasn't such a massive fan of how Alina grew as a character as the book progressed.
I found Alina very whiney and kind of childish at one point of the book, which I can understand after everything that had happened (and keeps happening) to her, but I feel that she could have at least tried to find solace in something. She ends up being in a grumpy, aggravated and distraught mood at one point in the book, and the mood carries on through the rest of the book. Many of the characters become annoyed with her, and instead of apologizing or trying to explain herself, she ends up just standing there in shock and not doing anything, choosing to wait for the other person to come to her first when she was the one who instigated the problem in the first place.
I did find the book very fast-paced, and therefore I found that I needed to check the map and the hierarchy included in the front of the book quite often, but that is to be expected for a relatively short, fast-paced fantasy read.
Other than the character development of Alina, I throughoutly enjoyed the book. Leigh Bardugo has a very powerful voice through her words, and her world is just magnificent. The book just leaves you crying for more throughout the entire thing, and as soon as you turn the last page you need the next one. It was a very easy read, having read it in less than two days and currently finishing up the second book in the series as I write this.
The world was wonderful, the powers mystical, the characters witty and enjoyable, and the writing was absolutely fantastic. An amazing book, and I don't want the trilogy to ever end!
Overall - ★★★★.5☆
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