Shadow and Bone
Ratings1,000
Average rating3.7
Hmm, I'm not sure what to make of this one.
I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first half, which felt a bit generic. It's a fairly short book so a lot seems to happen in not much time but then we find out later it was about 5-6 months that have passed.
The Darkling is a terrible name and I think it would go a long way to making me take his character more seriously. As it stands every time he's mentioned or in a scene I can't help but think of some shoddy romance novel that's trying to hard to have a “mysterious” and “intriguing” character without doing any of the work. Alina so far has been fairly bland, but towards the second half she got some more character about her. Hopefully the next two books continue developing her. Mal is a bit better but I don't think we spent enough time with him to know - but again we do see more of him in the second half. There's a few leaps of logic (?) that propel him from best friend status (more like they grew up together and he often forgets about Alina) to being deeply in love and willing to die for her. It's plausible, but there needed to be more there before they make that leap. I think by the end of the second book is roughly when their lover status is more realistic. I liked and enjoyed it but I'm glad the book wasn't too long and drawn out. Not sure if I'll continue the series.
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flaws: -generic characters -basic good v bad story -pacing is a bit wonky (at times) pros: +interesting world +potential for improvement +good writing +story peripheries boost the basic structure
> Bardugo is so far much better in Six of Crows / Crooked Kingdom (which I read first) so it's interesting so her development - because it is a significant level of growth she made. I am unsure of what score to give to be honest. 3-stars feels too low, but 4 seems to high and 3.5 doesn't sound quite right either. I think the major flaw is her generic characters (so far, at least) and the other more minor flaws aren't so bad, but keep it from being a proper 4-star book. Strong 3- to light 4-stars.
3,5 out of 5 stars.
My thoughts:
the titles for the grisha are extremely confusing and after finishing the entire book i'm still not entirely sure what is what and who is who and what rank it portrays
Alina is DUMB, but I love Genya and the darkling so much
When Baghra completely random pulls alina apart and tells a few things alina throws the whole thing around and it ANNOYS ME. I honestly still don't understand how Baghra is still alive if the darkling is so old? And if she's an amplifier as well, does that mean she was the darkling before him? But no one ever asks or explains and it just leaves me confused as to how that works. Nonetheless, I thought it was a bit weird of a twist.
Reading the rest of the story I wished alina had stayed at the castle and had found out about darklings plan only when he already foun: the stag or when they'd be in the shadow fold and he'd go and threaten everyone. I honestly also didnt enjoy mal & alina's trip to find the stag. Alina finding sudden strength in the stag also goes against what she's been told by both Baghra and the Darkling and that makes it a bit of a weird twist for me to make her suddenly able to overcome the Darkling's commands.
The ending is not too good, but I enjoyed the extra chapter about Genya a lot. It gave me more insight to her as character and to her background and the same goes for the Darkling who appeared in this character.
Besides the point above I just don't enjoy Mal too much. It's probably influenced by the fact I wanted Alina to stay at the castle and find out later and the fact I didn't enjoy their ‘camping trip' but he's not very interesting to me.
I LOVED the writing though and besides the fact the titles are confusing the lore and worldbuilding is amazing and interesting. I'd only wish we had gotten to know more about this land, but I have two books to go and I'm both very curious and excited about reading them.
Nappasin tämän fantasiasarjan luettavaksi ensisijaisesti perheen teinille, mutta sen verran tätä on kehuttu, että piti sitten itsekin lukea. Asiaa vielä auttoi GoodReadsista bongattu huomio siitä, että kakkososa on kuulemma vielä huimasti tätä ensimmäistä parempi.
Varjon ja riipuksen maailma on epämääräisen venäläinen fantasiamaailma, jossa Ravkan maata vaivaa sen halki kulkeva Kuilu, yönpimeä alue täynnä vaarallisia hirviöitä. Vuosisatoja sitten vahingossa syntyneen Kuilun hävittäminen on tärkeä tavoite ja siihen tarvittaisiin harvinaislaatuista auringonkutsujaa, joka voisi taikavoimillaan luoda hirviöt päihittävää valoa pimeyteen. Valtion taika-armeijalla on käytössään tulenkutsujia, tuulenkutsujia ja vedenkutsujia, mutta ei tällaista auringonkutsujaa.
Alina Starkov on orpolapsi, joka päätyy armeijaan kartanpiirtäjäksi. Alinan tie vie Kuiluun, jossa hirviöiden hyökkäyksen käydessä päälle Alinasta paljastuu uinuneita voimia – voisiko Alina olla kauan kaivattu auringonkutsuja? Alina kiidätetään pikavauhtia pääkaupunkiin, jossa hänen taikavoimiinsa perehdytään ja häntä koulutetaan käyttämään voimiaan Ravkan hyväksi. Lopulta asia ei kuitenkaan ole aivan yksinkertaista: kun Alinan voimat paljastuvat, paljastuu myös kaikenlaista pahuutta ja lopulta Alina joutuu vakavien valintojen eteen.
Paikka paikoin Varjo ja riipus oli varsin tavanomaista nuorisofantasiaa kaikkine tuttuine käänteineen. Kirjan alku oli kiinnostava, kun mielenkiintoiseen maailmaan pääsi tutustumaan. Keskivaihe, jossa käytiin läpi Alinan koulutusta ja elämää palatsissa latisti tunnelmaa aika lailla, mutta loppu onneksi käänsi vaikutuksen sen verran positiiviseksi, että neljäs tähti on oikeutettu. Ilman lopun käänteitä arvio olisi jäänyt kolmeen tähteen. Paljon auttaa myös lupaus siitä, että toisessa osassa Alina saa vähän lisää luonnetta, loppu jo siihen viittasikin.
Perheen teini, joka on tietysti lukenut aika paljon vähemmän tavanomaista nuortenfantasia, piti Varjosta ja riipuksesta aika lailla, eli kohderyhmälleen kirja kyllä toimii.
it was actually much more enjoyable than I expected. Well, aside of kinda ridiculous and kinda irritating misuse of Russian words. But overall entertaining enough.
O.W.L. Readathon - Divination
Third Eye - Randomly picked book
Now it all makes sense, I'm tired and exhausted all the time because I have deeply repressed magical powers, it all makes sense now!
This was a fun read - perfect for a confusing, stressful time in real life. The outlines are a typical Hero's Journey, but the characters, the rich (yet accessible) worldbuilding, and a couple unexpected turns make it rise above a cookie-cutter approach.
Oh, it got a little nasty there for a bit... too much kissing and fondling there...
I liked the book but the protagonist kind of annoyed me a little. It took one small conversation for her to run away. Mal couldn't see that he liked Alina until she left? Very cliche ngl. Don't think I'm gonna go read the next one!
An excellent book series... with lots of suspense, thriller and of course action and love...
Strong characters with their human weakness that they struggled to achieve their goals and save the human kind, with magical powers and a strong sense of righteous... a book that captivate the readers attention from the begin till the end.
Love this one! Alina is a strong MC and reading her journey had me rooting alongside her. This is the first book I've read by this author and she is fast becoming a favorite. It is an easy read and well written with characters that make you want to keep reading. Jam packed full of war, treachery, the power hungry vs. the peaceful, and true friendship. I am looking forward to the next one in this series.
Soooo... why did I wait so long to read this? Hmm??
It was AMAZING. I practically read the entire thing today and was sitting at the edge of my seat in anticipation. I NEED to get my hands on the sequel ASAP.
Wow wow WOW!!! I can see why this is so popular now!!! I don't think I could say anything that hasn't already been said, but I can't wait to start the next book!!!
A decent read, I liked that the magic system was somewhat developed, but what is with the hometown boy love interest literally having no personality?
It's more like 3 1/2, maybe 3.7, but only because I read Red Queen first and they are nearly the same history
For sure the best book of this kind I have read for 2 years.
The universe is original, the character are deep and well written.
I wasn't able to put it down since I started and had to read till I was exhausted.
Everything is such a good surprise and almost everything is unexpected. Can't wait to read the following book I have massive expectations !!
I feel like I want to give this book one star because I really can't think of anything I like about it, but I try and save one stars for books I really hated, and I just don't have strong feeling about this book. Everything about this book was so basic and boring and there was absolutely nothing redeeming or standout at all. The characters were all cookie cutters with nothing interesting or specific to them that made them worth caring about. The world building was simply not there; I didn't understand the significance of the Shadow Fold or Sun Summoner or anything because it just wasn't explained well. The writing was so so basic and was literally just telling the story and nothing else. It was so simplistic that it got in the way of the story because it just wouldn't describe things in detail so I didn't care about what was happening. Whatever, I just want to read six of crows.
2,5 sterretjes
Legt aan als een dertien-in-een dozijn YA-Fantasy, met toch enkele unieke ideeën, zoals de magie en de machtsverhoudingen.
Toch miste ik iets aan de opbouw van de wereld. Deze mocht toch wat meer worden uitgediept.
Wat het verhaal betreft, zoals ik zei, nogal generisch.
Ik stoorde mij ook aan het feit dat het weer maar eens om een speciaal meisje ging, eentje dat ontdekt dat ze krachten bezit die haar wereld compleet kunnen doen veranderen. En wat is haar hoofdbekommernis? Ewel, dat ze niet mooi is. zucht
Verder van de rest was de schrijfstijl wel heel vlot en meeslepend, waardoor ik ondanks de enkele elementen die me stoorden, toch verder wou lezen. En ondanks het nogal clichématige verhaal, ben ik toch wel benieuwd naar het vervolg, dat schijnt vele malen beter te zijn.
Review originally posted at A Reading Brit.
Shadow and Bone is the first book in the Grisha Trilogy, and I'm pleased to say I finally got around to reading it! I'm only a few years behind the times here...
Overall, this was a fun read that I really enjoyed. I read it in a few hours in one sitting. Whilst the main character didn't really win me over, all the other characters did, as did the world that Leigh Bardugo built. Much like Nevernight, I'm annoyed I didn't read this sooner! Next time a book is everywhere, and super popular, I plan to find out why much sooner that I have been.
The Characters
Alina – She was a little bit annoying at first, but I eventually found it within me to like her. She spent a little bit too much time saying she wasn't pretty, saying she didn't deserve anything that was happening. It was a tad stereotypical, but it wasn't over the top, and I still managed to enjoy her story, nonetheless.
The Darkling – Yep, this is my favourite character. I'm obviously not sure what happens in future books, but I feel like this isn't a character that should be my favourite? I've always been the one to like the bad boy though. It's definitely a fault I've got! He's a great bad guy, and whilst I should've expected it, I didn't quite realise how bad. I went into this book knowing he was the bad guy, but I didn't know how.
Mal – Aww, Mal. He was cute, and genuine, and I felt a little sorry for him. I also spent far too much of the book worrying about him! Whilst The Darkling might be my favourite, Mal has a place in my heart too. I'm curious about him and any undiscovered talents he might have. There's more to that tracking power than meets the eye.
The World
Now, this was interesting, and I'm glad the copy I read had a map so I could understand it a little more. It's an interesting premise, a darkness full of monsters killing anything that might come near. All created using the abilities of an extremely powerful Grisha. I'm interested to find out more about the other Grisha. We only see a hint of what they can do in this book. Even when we did see it, it's mostly for show. I'm intrigued to know what the Grisha can do on a true battlefield, what the different Summoners can do and what other powers might yet be revealed. The whole magic behind it all is fresh and fun, and I can't wait to find out more about it!
Would I read it again? Yeah, I probably would. I feel like I could've missed some details in my eagerness to find out what happens next.
Will I be picking up the next in the series? Yep, maybe not instantly, but it'll certainly be read within the next few months.
Would I recommend it? If you're anything like me, you won't care whether it's been recommended or not. You'll be curious why this book is literally everywhere and have to read it to find out why. If you're like me up until a few days ago and haven't read it, then go for it. At least you'll know what everyone is talking about!
Is it going on my favourites shelf? No, I don't think so. I don't think a book where the main character wasn't my favourite can go on that shelf. I'm still going to rave about it though, because I love The Darkling.
3.5 stars
Ok first off I want to say I really want a library like the one in the Little Palace. I mean 2 stories with a balcony on the second story and a glass domed ceiling but I would make it more cozy and colorful lol. Ok now that that nonsense is out of the way lets get to the actual review.
I was weary going into this because of all the negativity surrounding it. Because of that I went into it with little to no expectations and after finishing it I can say that I shouldn't have been worried because I really enjoyed it.
I was immediately drawn into the story right from the beginning but to me the last half of the book was better than the first half. This book if full of tropes. I mean we get the plain girl trope, friends to lovers, the chosen one and a few others. For me this isn't a problem because I am a rare bookworm who pretty much enjoys all of the tropes.
I don't tend to read a whole lot of fantasy because for some reason authors have to come up with crazy names that no one knows how to pronounce and I tend to get hung up on that because I will come across a word and I will literally sit there for a couple seconds trying to figure out the correct pronunciation and then I will give up and move on. All of that to say that annoys me and it is definitely present in this book but the more fantasy I read the more I get used to it and it doesn't bother me as much.
The Grisha are people with elemental powers and honestly reading this book I was confused on if we are supposed to like them or not. Sometimes it seems like everyone hates them and sometimes it seems like everyone loves them.
This book was pretty predictable except I never saw that twist coming in the end and I loved it. Of course I loved the romance. I was back and forth with my feelings for a couple of the characters and honestly I still am a little.
This was a quick read and I am definitely hooked and can't wait to pick up Siege and Storm.
REREAD 2021: I didn't love it as much as two years ago. Oops. 3.5 stars.
ASFGHJKL. I FREAKING NEED TO CONTINUE WITH THIS SERIES ;-;
I LOVE it.
I thought this book had so much potential at the beginning, but then basically nothing happened and I didn't care about the characters. Love triangle? No. Boring triangle. All three of them. Boring.