Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: Grisha #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Summary: Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Review: Holy A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-N-E-S-S!! Seriously, this book blew me away! I'd seen it floating around the library for a while but never picked it up. The library then purchased the audio book and since it was brand new (and I love brand new things) I checked it out. Well . . . it then sat in my drawer for a little over a week. One restless night (I've been having a lot of those lately with Christmas so near) I pulled it out and started listening to it . . . um, can we say 'BAD IDEA'?! I listened to it for three hours straight and was more awake than I'd been before! Right off the bat, Shadow and Bone captured my attention. The world Bardugo created was fascinated, eerie, and adventurous. Alina was a fairly decent main character. There were a couple things she said throughout the book that made me facepalm, but other than that, I really enjoyed her. The supporting characters (the Darkling, Mal, and the fellow Grisha) were also very well written. The storyline progressed at a great pace. I never felt things were going to fast/slow or that certain things were brushed over. On a side note, I would definitely recommend listening to the audio book because there are some Russian-based words that I never would have been able to pronounce and it made reading the book more enjoyable. This is one that I will definitely come back to again and again. A must read over the holidays!!

 

**ALSO, there is one scene towards the beginning of the book (within the first 50-75 pages that was a little gory and graphic (a body gets split in half), but the rest of the content and language is clean, with very few minor swear words

 

 

Merry Christmas!!