Shadow and Bone

Introduction

Shadow and Bone was written by Leigh Bardugo and published on June 5th, 2012, by Macmillan Publishers. This book is the first of a trilogy, and it’s one that I have had my eye on for a while alongside Bardugo’s other fantasy series Six of Crows. Speaking of, after perusing her website and finding the reading order for Bardugo’s Grishaverse, I can confirm that I will eventually be reading the Six of Crows series, but I’ll give everyone some breathing room before I pick that one up. Luckily, a friend got this book for me in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and I figured it would be a great way to get back into fantasy books after finishing a few romances. I really enjoyed this book, and I would absolutely recommend it to fans of the fantasy genre who aren’t interested in romantic plot lines. For those who haven’t read this series yet and are looking for a general overview of my opinions without too much detail, the Spoiler-Free Thoughts section is for you. Those who have already read these books and want my deeper insights can carry on to the Thoughts section. I would love to hear other opinions, so please leave them in the comment sections on either this post or the social media posts. Enjoy!

If you would like to see more of Leigh Bardugo and her work, please visit her website https://www.leighbardugo.com or follow her on social media @lbardugo.

Plot

Alina Starkov was born a nobody in a world full of powerful warriors and Grisha, practitioners of the small science, until the day she crossed the shadowy Fold and discovered a power long thought to be myth.

Spoiler-Free Thoughts

Whenever I start a new book, it takes me a minute to get myself oriented to the new characters, but I find that I take longer to acclimate to new fantasy books because of the necessary world building. This is always the worst for the first book in a series, and Shadow and Bone was no different. I spent the first third of the book or so getting comfortable with the language used and mapping out the world in my mind - though Bardugo does offer incredibly helpful maps and descriptions within her books. This of course doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book, it only meant that it took me a bit longer to be immersed in what I was reading, something that likely won’t be a problem on a reread. Once I was invested, I found it was very easy to get lost in Alina’s story, and there were enough small mysteries to keep me hooked along the way.

I found the pacing of the book to be well done. There is enough minor action and mystery spread throughout that I didn’t feel constantly bombarded with new information, but I never quite found myself bored either. Similarly, certain character interactions are dispersed enough to make them very interesting and important while not necessarily feeling significant the first read through. There is a touch of romance, enough to provide “background noise” of a sort, but not enough to distract from the plot or ever really be a focal point. I think someone not looking for a romantic fantasy would be easily able to ignore it and enjoy this book for the more fantastical aspects. 

I thought the pacing was not only good, but that it complemented the plot very well. The big moment happened very early on, but not before some character relationships and world order could be established, so it felt significant when it happened, but we also got to be just as confused as Alina. The locations visited created truly beautiful pictures in my mind, and the Little Palace was a very dynamic centerpiece. Thinking about it, it probably wasn’t a gigantic setting, but it offered so much for Alina to learn and practice that it didn’t feel small. The character interactions also did a great job of making the plot feel fuller. Even as Alina kept her distance from most of them, I felt as though I had an understanding of the characters, which really rounded out the scenes and mental pictures.

The characters are by far my favorite aspect of this series. There is not a single character in this book that is wholly good or bad, and the actions taken are almost always backed up with logic that does seem reasonable. This makes even the worst moments almost understandable, and the characters are so morally gray that I can’t find myself completely loving or hating any of them, which makes for a much more interesting story. Some characters were almost too forthcoming while others were much more mysterious. Some were brilliant and others incompetent. Many of them had various masks on throughout the book, and that made nearly everyone untrustworthy in some way. It was so interesting to read, and it was a large part of why I was so invested in this story.

Between the incredibly dynamic cast of characters, well rounded plot, and complementary pacing, I’m going to give this book an 8/10. A great start to a series that I hope gets even better from here.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed seeing less of a divide between the Grisha and the mortals not socially, but in ability. The Grisha train to be strong and fast, but Mal - a normal human man - could keep up with any of them with the same training. The biggest difference is the small science - not magic. It was interesting, the idea of certain people being born with the affinity to shift the matter of a particular substance. I’m honestly not sure why it appealed to me so much - maybe it’s that it was a “science-based” approach - but I think it helped me understand the breakdown better between Grisha, and it helped to put limitations on their power. Even the most powerful Grisha had limits to what they could do. I was also intrigued by the themes surrounding power. Greed is a powerful thing, and it comes with a great cost. Mercy can be even more powerful, and it is a strength, not a weakness.

I will say, the love triangle was very minor, but I found it interesting that I actually switched back and forth between who I was wanting for Alina’s endgame. It started as Mal, switched to the Darkling when Mal didn’t answer her letters - which was solidified after the ball, a situation I saw coming roughly a chapter in advance - and then went back to Mal by the end of the book. The slow progression of friendships into relationships was nicely done, and I enjoyed that it was more of a C plot to the story. Something that could be somewhat ignored if you were wanting to read a straight up fantasy as opposed to a romantic fantasy. I did love that Alina’s power awakened both times when Mal was in danger, but she was able to control it when she stopped using him or the Darkling as a crutch and began to rely on herself at the Little Palace.

Like I mentioned above, the characters sold this book for me. While the Apparat was one of the strangest and most mysterious, and all of the Grisha had well developed, interesting personalities, The Darkling was by far the most interesting to me. I truly and genuinely wanted to like him. For the majority of the book, I did, but the plot twist at the end made me so sad. However, despite everything he did, I am still hoping for a redemption arc for him throughout the next two books. It may be a naive and unrealistic hope, but he was so intriguing and seemed very kind to Alina, if distant at first. I do think that somewhere deep down, he does want her at his side out of some sense of affection, not solely out of greed. One thing I do really want to know about him is what his name is. He must have one beyond the title he gave himself, but what is it?

Honestly, I almost felt more betrayed by Genya than the Darkling. He was always a leader, and I knew he wanted more power, even if I initially thought it was so he could destroy the Fold. I also knew that Genya was in the Darkling’s pocket, but I truly thought she was a real friend to Alina, and I didn’t think that she would stab her in the back the way she did. While I do want redemption for both her and the Darkling, I am so mad at her at the moment. In contrast, I was shockingly okay with Mal by the end of the book. I do think that he needs to get over the fact that Alina is Grisha - there is no changing that. He needs to love all of her or none of her, and I hope he gets to that place so I can truly be on his side.