Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo @lbardugo
Shadow and Bone(Grisha Verse #1)
by Leigh Bardugo
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.
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.
My Thoughts:
Ok - so you ever have that book that you bought and then just put on your shelf and just forget about it? Then a buddy read comes along and triggers you so you figure THIS IS THE CHANCE TO READ IT... and so you do? This is exactly what happened to me. I couldn't even tell you how long I probably had this one on my shelf. So long that I forgot I had it, almost bought it again and then upon organizing, found it again! JUST IN TIME!
For those who don't know @captain.valour - meet Alex... writer, reviewer, cosplayer and all around one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He put together this fun buddy read through another account he runs on Bookstagram, @bookstagram.buddy.reads and I couldn't pass it up:
I have heard so much about this series and the Six of Crows duology that I'm surprised it took me so long to get involved. It absolutely has the usual elements of a YA fantasy - magic, love triangle, good vs evil, the chosen girl.. so on and so forth. Rather than focusing so much on the romance part (thank you, Leigh) it delves more into the characters themselves, specifically Alina. Oh, and hello Darling... me-ow. I do love me the "bad" guys. #sorrynotsorry.
The author does a fantastic job building up this world and I did not expect the ending to go quite the way that it did. I assumed some things going into this read and while some assumptions were correct, others clearly were NOT. Definitely curious to see where this story goes and am so happy Siege and Storm showed up on my doorstep last night.
And by the way, can I have a Volcra as a pet? Maybe? GIMME!
I can only see this story getting better from here now that the foundation has been laid.
★★★★
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