Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone impressed me throughout, and I'm very glad I gave it a chance. Overall, on the YA quality spectrum from Twilight on the low end to Harry Potter on the high end, this one rates somewhere in the “very good to excellent” range between Hunger Games and HP.

Pros: Truly unique setting, in a Russian-inspired landscape. So many books in this vein just choose a vaguely European/British setup, so I was very happy to see something different. This also lends itself well to a fascinating overlap between the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition of Russia and the book's fantasy elements, which is unlike anything I've ever come across and I hope gets more attention in future books.

There's also a good use of controlled information (reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson a bit), as well as thoughtful interactions with questions of mercy and necessary evils. It's no “Game of Thrones,” but the villain(s) here have a lot of motivations to pull from, and readers can genuinely see why some people support the “bad guy.” That's always welcome, especially in books for this age group. I'll keep reading for sure.

Cons: ?