Shadow and Bone

By Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is the first book in the Grisha Trilogy, AKA the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. It is a YA Fantasy book that is rated for ages 12 and up.

Netflix will be adapting the Grishaverse books into a series premiering in April 2021 following not only the Shadow and Bones story, but also the Six of Crows story, another book by Leigh Bardugo set in the Grishaverse.

Synopsis

Standing on the edge of a crowded road, I looked down onto the rolling fields and abandoned farms of the Tula Valley and got my first glimpse of the Shadow Fold. -Pg. 8

Shadow and Bone follows our protagonist, Alina Starkov. Orphaned at a young age, Alina spends her childhood at an orphanage where she meets her best friend, Malyen Oretsev. As Alina and Mal get older they join the First Army and are sent to cross the Shadow Fold, an unnatural patch of darkness filled with monsters that divides the country of Ravka. During their trek, their regiment is attacked by Volcra, the mysterious beings that live and thrive in the darkness, and Alina unleashes a power that she never knew she had.

Alina is then thrust into the world of the Grisha, the magical and powerful elite upper class, as she learns to harness her power. The Grisha's leader, The Darkling, believes that Alina has the power to finally destroy the Shadow Fold once and for all, saving their country, but she must learn to control it first.

In an unknown world that Alina never really wanted to be a part of, she struggles with finding her place and knowing who to trust.

No Spoiler Review

The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke's house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches. -Pg. 1

The first sentence of this book immediately had me hooked and my intrigue only kept growing from there. I was desperate to learn more about this world and how Alina's journey would play out. There were twists I never saw coming and there were always secrets to uncover. I was never bored while reading this book and never felt like the story was dragging. It had a fast moving plot that definitely kept me hooked through to the end and I appreciated that there wasn't a lot of time spent of insignificant details that might slow it down.

I heard a lot of people criticizing Alina before I had read the book myself and I have to say, I didn't mind her as our main protagonist. We have to keep in mind the intended age range of these books, as well as the fact that Alina is only 17(?) throughout the book. I think that the choices she made were pretty fair in the moment considering the information she had and her background that helped influence these choices. Overall, I never found myself annoyed at either her choices, nor her as a character in general. I think that her ignorance of the Grisha world made her the perfect narrator for this book. We as readers get to learn about the world as Alina does.

The writing itself is also great in my opinion. It's a book that's more geared towards younger audiences, so while the writing may not be as "mature" or "distinguished" as some may hope, it's in no way sloppy or childish. I think that the book is very well written, especially considering the intended age range and could be enjoyed by anyone at any age that chooses to read this book.

Do I think that the world building could have been better? Yes, maybe a little. However, I don't like when books focus too much on world building. It can get confusing and frankly I'd rather have a great plot than a bunch of world building. At no point during the book was I confused about the world. Maybe that was because of the map in the front of the book, but I think that it was because we were given enough information to understand the story without it being overwhelming and overshadowing what was happening.

Are there themes and tropes in this book that we've all seen before? Of course. It's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a book out there that doesn't have similar themes and tropes to things we've read before or seen somewhere on screen, but I think that Leigh Bardugo puts an interesting spin on these that makes them unique to this story.

I did see some similarities between the structure of the Grisha in this book and the Silvers from Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. For example, the way that the people with magic are in a higher caste than the "normal" people and how each group of magic wears different colors so they're differentiable at first glance. I thought this was interesting and would share in case anyone who liked Red Queen was interested in Shadow and Bone.

Final Thoughts Before Spoilers

So do I recommend this book? Definitely. It was a great book and I definitely plan to continue reading not only the rest of this trilogy, but also the rest of the books in the Grishaverse. It was well paced, kept me interested, and not only that, had me desperate to know what was going to happen next. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone whether you're finding out about these books from the show, or are completely new to the Grishaverse. If you're like me and have had this book on your TBR list for a while, definitely start reading it! Even if it's not your usual genre, or you're not convinced yet from my review, give it a chance. It might surprise you!

Please feel free to message me with any questions or comments you have about my review or the book itself! I'd be happy to chat with you!

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Review with Spoilers

They are orphans again, with no true home but each other and whatever life they can make together on the other side of the sea. -Pg. 356

First of all, wow I did not expect Baghra to be the Darkling's mom! And everything she said about how he was actually the Black Heretic and wanting to expand the fold rather than destroy it? Definitely didn't see that coming. Maybe I should've, but I was so wrapped up in everything else going on in the story.

One thing I hated was how Mal treated Alina when he came to the Little Palace. Alina is supposedly his best friend and he treats he like garbage. Maybe he was jealous because she didn't need him anymore and because she didn't need him anymore or because of how close she was with the Darkling now, but if my best friend had been ripped away from me without even getting to say goodbye, I didn't know if they were okay, and I finally reunited with them after months of worrying, I wouldn't be starting a fight right off the bat. I really felt like that was only there to add drama to the story, but it wasn't necessary since a few pages later Aline learns the truth about the Darkling and is forced to go on the run.

Also, one thing that bugged me a little was how Mal was so certain that the other trackers wouldn't find the stag before him, and then the Darkling meets up with Mal and Alina at the exact moment that they find the stag. There's no way that they were tracking Mal and Alina since Mal was covering their tracks so they had to be tracking the stag. Clearly Mal is either way to cocky and not as amazing a tracker as he claims to be, or he just thinks he's so amazing that he doesn't stop to pay attention to the others. Either way, this rubs me the wrong way. I really don't like people who think they're way better than everyone else and Mal is definitely one of those people. He doesn't even acknowledge how much Alina's grown and changed until they're being robbed and she's able to take down one of the attackers.

I did really like how Alina was able to take back control of her power using the exact thing that he Darkling was using to control it. I also liked how Mal being in danger the first time activated her power, and the second time gave her enough strength to find the Darkling's will and take it back for herself. Whether you like Mal or not, the parallels are cool and it's clear how much Alina cares for him in these moments.

Overall I think that the ending holds a lot of promise. I really don't think that the Darkling died in the Volcra attack which means that Alina will have to face him again at some point. I'm curious to see what the next book has in store and can't wait to share my review once I finish!