Book Review | Shadow and Bone

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.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy. 

 

Cover: 

"Don't judge a book by its cover.", they say. But let's be honest, who would want a hideous book on their shelves? Certainly, not me. The cover is the one a reader sees first. And if they didn't like it or it isn't eye-catching enough, they probably won't go over to the book and read what it's about.
This book has no problem about that, at all. To be honest, what really made me buy this book was the cover. At first glance, I knew I had to have this. The cover itself gives off a dark, mysterious vibe. Like it's coaxing you to buy it, to read it. With the lettering, the design, the colors, and the fact that these features actually connect to the story, it is truly one of the best book covers of YA book history. I just adore this eye candy! But let me tell you, the content is even better...

The Characters & crack:

Alina Starkov - Our main character, our heroine, our savior. She is the center of the story. A seemingly slightly less than normal orphan who's insignificant in everything until the day everything changed and she discovered she has a one of a kind power that'll change her life and open her to a world she's never been familiar with: being Grisha. Or the normal YA heroine, but this one actually stands up for herself most of the time. And she doesn't whine much, so that's a plus.

The Darkling - The mysterious : second in command of the king, leader of the second army AKA The Grisha, one who practically rules Ravka, young man who isn't really young and have been there for years, guy everybody have the hots for but are too scared of him and his reputation. Or the guy you can't help but love.

Malyen Oretsev - The skilled tracker, the best friend of Alina, the love of our heroine, the one who secretly loves her back. A young man who is perfect in everything he does who has an unusual talent for finding things lost. Or the other guy. Also, the guy 85% of the fandom doesn't really care about.

Genya Safin - A trusted servant from the palace that befriends and takes care of our main character as an order from the Darkling. The most beautiful girl Alina has ever seen, talented with also a rare power, a gift to the Queen of Ravka. Or the prettier one who lucked out.

Thoughts:

Before reading this book, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I didn't know half of what the synopsis was talking about eg:what's a Darkling?, Ravkas is...? what is this book about?. I wasn't even expecting it to be good. I did, however, realized its potential during the first few pages. Now don't get me wrong, I was still confused on what it's about. It was a new world. An original one. The world was inspired by Russia apparently, if I'm correct which I probably am, but it has its own language and own history and all that, which is hard to catch up with at first. And if I'm being completely honest, I'd say that I still got confused while reading the first half of the book. That's my only problem with this book, though. It isn't even that much of a problem. Eventually, I got the hang of it during the second half and in no time I became an expert in Grisha slang. Besides, I've had more than enough of reading fantasy books to know that most of those books start with the description of everything relating to the world before the actual story starts, making it really boring at first. But Shadow and Bone didn't dwell too much on that, going straight to the story.

And despite the confusion during the early pages of the book, Leigh Bardugo's writing was impeccable and the world was amazing and new and well-thought-out, and that makes up for it by a long shot. This is one of those books that hurts to put down and while reading it, I couldn't help but fall in deeper to what's happening in the book. Alina, our lead character, has the thoughts and emotions of a normal person. She isn't perfect. She has insecurities and she's vain sometimes. She's good and she has dark thoughts, as well. She's weak and strong, all the same. Something most of the people can relate to. And that's just one of the things that made me love this book as much as I do. The plot flowed well and the writing was beautiful. A plot twist that's believable and at the same time you don't want to believe. An ending with a promise. Also, let's give it up for the prologues and epilogues, eh?

And after finishing this? Let's just say this is the book that got me into dark fantasies. I needed more. More of Alina. More of the Darkling. More of Ravka. More of Grisha. I went to tell my friends and gushed to them about this. And as soon as possible, went to the bookstore and bought the second book, Siege and Storm which also did not disappoint. *cough* Nikolai *cough*, but that's a discussion for some other day. This book was just amazing. No, more than that. It is phenomenal. I definitely got more than I bargained for. And I don't regret it one bit. I just love the world. The plot. The emotional scars they left me. Don't even get me started with the characters which only get better through out the whole book and series Or the plot. Or the plot twist that wasn't really not-obvious but it shocked me because I chose not to believe that something like that will happen. Or the Darkling because I could write an infinity long essay about how he deserves all the love in the world and how I will be the one to give that to him, but it wouldn't be necessary for this book review. Or how I love this book to death and how I will hunt you down and nag you 'till your ears bleed if you didn't pick this book up and read it. Seriously. 

This book is complete of betrayal, social classes, social discrimination, self discovery, dark secrets, and the ever popular romantic love . What more can you want? If you haven't read this, then run like hell to your nearest bookstore and get it asap. You'd be doing yourself a favor.

Also, before I end this, could we just applaud Leigh Bardugo, period? I mean, this was her first book and it is out of this world. Complete with the brilliant and clever cover that actually has something to do with the story, the amazing characters, the plot twist, and the idea of this world, all of which I'm in love with. Leigh is awesome. She deserves all the praise.

Recommend to: fans of The Young Elites by Marie Lu, dark-fantasy, magic, loving-the-villain.
Genres : Adventure | Dark Fantasy | Fantasy | High Fantasy | Romance | Young Adult
Stars: 4.5!!! 

~Love the darkness/ling,

 Grace

PS.
Quotes:

"The problem with wanting," he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, "is that it makes us weak." 

“And there's nothing wrong with being a lizard either. Unless you were born to be a hawk.”  

“Dear Mal, I haven't heard from you, so I assume you've met and married a volcra and that you're living comfortably on the Shadow Fold, where you have neither light nor paper to write. Or, possibly, your new bride ate both your hands.”  

Learn Ravkan!
This link will take you to the official site of the Leigh Bardugo, because it'll help you be more familiar with the pronunciations of Ravkan and Grisha names and words. (There are also some awesome stuff about Ravka/Grisha/Leigh Bardugo in her site. Make sure to check them out!)
Announcements!
I might be doing a book review soon on throne of Glass or The Young Elites or Winner's Crime.
And because I felt like I need to explain myself more and because I need you to see the beauty of the Darkling, as well ....I will make a post about it soon. Maybe.
My top three favorite books (I call them my 'big three' oddly enough, they're all trilogies. XD) are:
The Winner's Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski, Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, and The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Make sure to check them out, because I recommend them to EVERYONE!!

Also, the stars picture was taken from google. :)