Book Buddies Review: Shadow and Bone

Posted November 26, 2014 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 5 Comments

book buddies

lauren + kaitlinBook Buddies Review: Shadow and BoneShadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Series: Grisha Trilogy #1
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Published by Macmillan on June 5th 2012
Also by this author: Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising, Six of Crows, Summer Days & Summer Nights, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic, Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Crooked Kingdom , King of Scars, Ninth House
Format: Hardcover (358 pages) • Source: Library
GoodreadsAmazon Barnes & Noble
four-half-stars

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



Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom)

 

Lauren: So what made you initially put this one on your TBR?

Kaitlin: I had a big time period where I was obsessed with BookTubers and a lot of the BookTubers mentioned this book on their hauls or recommendation videos and said they loved or liked the/series book. I read the synopsis and thought it was pretty interesting so, I put it on my TBR list.

Lauren: Mine was kind of similar actually! When I first started blogging a few months ago, I noticed that it was a series that everyone loved. It sounded really unique but I wasn’t sure if it was a book I’d like. The more I saw people talk about it, the more I realized I needed to read it.

Kaitlin: Yea, I think the best place for book recommendations are from other people like bloggers or BookTubers, because if you find someone you think has the same taste in books as you then you can find books you might really enjoy from them.

Lauren: Exactly. Book blogging is good for that. Did the book meet your expectations overall? How’d you feel about it?

Kaitlin: I think this book pretty much topped my expectations. I have never been a big fantasy reader because it takes me ages to read one. This book only took me about 3 days to finish because there was a constant line of events. The book never got very boring and this is one of the books that I would love as much as a dystopian read. The world development was pretty good and I think that’s a super important aspect with fantasy because the world can be very different. It’s also very fun imagining how certain things in a fantasy world are different in our world and I can imagine what the different things would look like.

Lauren: Oh absolutely. In theory, I love fantasy books. They’re so cool because it shows a whole new world to explore. But I’m with you on that – it can take a while to read. I started this week before a weekend, and then didn’t read much over the weekend, but I think it only took me about four sittings to actually finish the book. I loved that the plot continued steadily. At times I would think “there’s not much happening right now” but it was still SO interesting that I didn’t mind. Everything got crazy towards the end, too!

Kaitlin: I know! One thing that got me motivated to read on was to find out what was going on with Mal (that’s not a spoiler because it was in the synopsis).

Lauren: Same here! I liked the “love triangle” in this one. The Darkling was totally a villain you love to hate. I’m definitely fascinated to learn more about what’s really going on with him. My heart definitely is torn between him and Mal; I understand the draw to both of them. One thing that was kind of lacking for me was characterization. I really liked Alina’s character and seeing her come into her powers was SO cool, but she didn’t really have a personality that much.. if that makes sense.

Kaitlin: I understand where you are coming from, like you felt like she is just Alina, not brave or smart Alina..

Lauren: Exactly! She did have moments of bravery, but I want to know more about her. It’s definitely a great thing that this is a trilogy. She’ll be characterized a lot more as the book goes on and she learns about her powers.

Continue reading the second half of our discussion on Kaitlin’s blog here!

5 responses to “Book Buddies Review: Shadow and Bone

  1. What are the chances that I’m reviewing this tomorrow?! Crazy timing! Definitely agree with you on the Alina part, when she did develop, it was through the romance, not through herself or what’s she’s capable of, which I hope changes in the next installments.. btw, for some reason, the reading on part? It didn’t work for me, don’t know if I’m alone there, but thought you should know 🙂 Great (half) review girls, really enjoyed reading it 🙂

    Amanda Gray recently posted: Book Review - Spirit Bound
    • Lauren (Bookmark Lit)

      Thank you! I think my review actually got posted too early so Kaitlin’s link doesn’t work yet! haha CRAP

  2. Fantastic review Lauren and Kaitlin! I had so much fun reading this, such a creative and fun way to review and discuss a book 🙂 It’s so true how much hype surrounds Shadow and Bone and I’m so so glad that it topped my expectations which doesn’t usually happen much!! I agree with you both on the characterization of Alina. There is still a lot of room for character growth in the rest of the series and I’m looking forward to it.

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