Book Review - Shadow and Bone
BOOK REVIEW SHADOW AND BONE - LEIGH BARDUGO
I give this book a 5/5 stars!
I REALLY enjoyed this book. There were so many different twists and turns that kept my mind going in very different directions constantly. One minute you thought you knew who was a bad guy, then a few minutes later they'd warm to you and you'd think, "Hey this guy isn't so bad"....then a few chapters later...BAM. You figure out he WAS evil and that you were just as naive about it as Alina was. I mean for the longest time I really did think The Darkling was good. But I guess that's what a pretty face will do to you.
I like how the author started out the book and ended it in third person even though the rest was in first, and named both chapters "Before" and "After." That was a real nice touch, and it really wrapped up the book very nicely. The book starts with Mal and Alina stuck together like glue as best friends, and then ends with them stuck together like glue but as more than friends. That's another character that I never knew what to feel about till the end. I was very partial to him in the beginning, then when I had thought he wasn't answering Alina's letters, I hated him. Then I hated him even more when he had that fight with her in the Palace. As other instances changed though, and The Darkling was revealed to be evil, Mal became the good guy again. The same goes for a lot of the characters. It was almost like I was reading a murder mystery novel where everyone was a suspect.
I actually felt really bad for Alina when Baghra informs her that the guy she was mooning over was using her for her power and was going to turn her into a slave of his will so he could expand the Shadow Fold, instead of destroying it. She had been so duped that it took her a long time to finally believe what Baghra was saying. Of course the minute Baghra said it, I realized it was true. He really had been too desperate to get that collar on her, and his words seemed too sugar sweet and smooth to be true. He had been playing her like a fiddle and when he does get the collar on her, she becomes a slave to his will. Then, the coolest part happens and she realizes that the mercy she showed the stag trumps whatever evil hold The Darkling has on her and she's able to take over the power of the stag and leave The Darkling and the rest of his gang alone to die in the Shadow Fold with the Volcra. Of course I think the Darkling is going to find a way out...but that's a mystery for the next book, which should come out some time this year. I really want to see how he manages to escape such a hopeless situation.
I loved Alina's Sun summoning power. It was interesting to imagine bursts of sunlight just appearing out of the dark, lighting up the night. I espescially liked it when she used her sunlight to light up the water and make a rainbow at the fete. That was so awesome! Of course, her power also keeps the Volcra in The Shadow Fold at bay which is why The Darkling wanted her in the first place, so he could expand the Fold without getting eaten by Volcra, which happen to be the consequence of his creating the Shadow Fold in the first place. I really love that Alina was able to use her Sun power to do "The cut", which only really powerful Grisha can do. Alina changed from a weak little girl, to a badass hero who's gonna save the world from The Darkling's greed. It was a very refreshing change and I couldn't help but applaud her when she came into her own.
The Shadow Fold actually reminded me of The Boundary in The Sword of Truth series. The difference being of course, that there was a pass that you could go through in the boundary as long as you had a creature's bone around your neck. In the Shadow Fold, there is no such pass and only Alina's Sun sommoning power can keep the Volcra from eating you alive. There are a lot of similarites though. They both are wastelands filled with evil creatures, they both seperate two lands, and they were both created by powerful people. While The Boundary was created by a Good wizard, and The Fold was created by the evil Darkling, they were both still full of great power. Of course, Alina will be the one to rid the land of The Shadow Fold and I cannot wait for that little showdown!
While I was distracted with the little happenstance of The Darkling's "fake" affection for Alina for awhile, Mal and Alina's love story made me warm and fuzzy all over. I had the feeling that Mal really did have feelings for her in the beginning, and it turns out that as soon as she was gone to train as a Grisha, he felt her absence like a huge weight to his chest. It was then he realized how much he belonged with her. Of course this little fact isn't known to Alina until the very end of the book, when they're traveling together and he's helping her track the stag so she can stop the Darkling. That speech he gave her right before they were captured was so sweet. It seemed so unfair that right after they have such an epic kiss, they get cruelly seperated from each other. She does save him in the end, but for awhile there I felt so gipped!
I honestly couldn't understand why Genya chose The Darkling over her own conscience. She wanted so badly to be rid of serving the King and Queen that she was willing to sell her soul to become Corporalki. She seemed so against things like that when she would speak to Alina that I never for a second thought she would do something like that. It makes me question, like Alina did, whether or not Genya truly was her friend or if she played it up to please the Darkling. I hope in the future books, Genya will change sides, cause it seemed like she was truly upset about everything.
I highly reccomend this book because it was very unique and was full of interesting characters and plot twists. There were so many of the latter that I found myself never bored and always entertained. This is the first book in the Grisha series so there will be more and it is definitely a series worth paying attention to.
