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A review by kaetheluise_nckl
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
5.0
written on 04/26/2019
Leigh Bardugo's forte when it comes to these books is lore and world-building.
I am going to admit this now and I will do it freely: I feel like Alina is not as developed as she could be and I often found myself annoyed with her as a character. I get it, she is the protagonist and she needs room for development, but in my eyes Alina was a blank canvas with a few splotches of grey paint.
I can't say the same for any of the other characters, not even Malyen, who was - as I believe - to be much like Alina.
It will come to no surprise if you know me, to find out that I like the Darkling. I am aware that he is very much the villain and the antagonist in this story, but he is the most fleshed-out character among all of them and I enjoyed reading about him very much.
The world-building in connection with the lore, however, blew my mind. I cannot really begin to describe what I liked most about it. It's when you have an amazing one-course meal and someone asks you if you liked the meat more than the potatoes even though you've been eating both things together and you can't pick.
Os Alta is so wonderfully dark, but elaborately beautiful, and the lore around the Grisha is its own kind of magic, really.
Overall, my rating might contradict what I am about to say - I was disappointed with Shadow and Bone.
I gave it five stars because the ending, the lore/world-building and the Darkling blew me away to a point where I had to start the next book immediately and I am happy that I kept reading.
Leigh Bardugo's forte when it comes to these books is lore and world-building.
I am going to admit this now and I will do it freely: I feel like Alina is not as developed as she could be and I often found myself annoyed with her as a character. I get it, she is the protagonist and she needs room for development, but in my eyes Alina was a blank canvas with a few splotches of grey paint.
I can't say the same for any of the other characters, not even Malyen, who was - as I believe - to be much like Alina.
It will come to no surprise if you know me, to find out that I like the Darkling. I am aware that he is very much the villain and the antagonist in this story, but he is the most fleshed-out character among all of them and I enjoyed reading about him very much.
The world-building in connection with the lore, however, blew my mind. I cannot really begin to describe what I liked most about it. It's when you have an amazing one-course meal and someone asks you if you liked the meat more than the potatoes even though you've been eating both things together and you can't pick.
Os Alta is so wonderfully dark, but elaborately beautiful, and the lore around the Grisha is its own kind of magic, really.
Overall, my rating might contradict what I am about to say - I was disappointed with Shadow and Bone.
I gave it five stars because the ending, the lore/world-building and the Darkling blew me away to a point where I had to start the next book immediately and I am happy that I kept reading.