Shadow and Bone
by Leigh Bardugo
📖 | Genre: YA Fantasy
⭐️| Rating: 4.5/5
📚| Review: I’m not sure I would have come across this book if it weren’t recently adapted for Netflix, but once I fully committed to the Grishaverse, it was hard to come back up for air. An escapist, immersive Young Adult fantasy novel, SHADOW AND BONE has its fair share of world building, but it’s not too overly complex. Unlike other books in this genre, this one does not have an overwhelming number of characters to keep straight. Our protagonist is your orphan-with-unknown-magical-powers trip but in breaking with the mold, Alina is very different than other main characters. She is not a natural born leader or waiting for her magical powers to whisk her away. In fact, she’s much more timid, and is a follower in many senses. She doesn’t rise up immediately in retaliation; rather she tries to fit in while simultaneously resisting her affiliation with the higher class of Grisha. This internal conflict made her character interesting and her dynamic with her enemies even more layered.
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SHADOW AND BONE sucked me right in and now I’m invested in this series. Though there was a lot of initial set up to start, I expect the remainder of the trilogy will bypass some of the backstory. The fast-paced plot and complex characters melded with the fantasy setting made for a wholly original and dynamic narrative that kept me turning the pages and quickly trying to get my hands on the sequel. If you enjoy YA fantasy novels such as A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES or RAYBEARER, I think you’ll really like SHADOW AND BONE.
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