OMG! I’m so sorry! I’ve been so busy with grad school and work and trying to read that I keep neglecting this blog. I promise I will do better! It’s taken me a bit but I’ve figured out how to budget my time better so I hope to get back on a weekly posting schedule.
Anyways!
I had another book planned for posting but I haven’t had the chance to take photos of it yet so instead I’m going to just ahead.
Shadow and Bone is the first of Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy and it set in the same mystical world that her Six of Crows series is in. The Grisha Trilogy, however, takes place a few years before Six of Crows and introduces some characters that make an appearance in Crooked Kingdom.
Alina Starkov is an cartographer apprentice in war torn Ravka. She and her best friend Mal were raised in an orphanage by a benevolent Duke and when they came of age enlisted in the army. While Alina is a mere map making apprentice, Mal is one of the best trackers in the First Army. When their units receive word that they are to cross the Shadow Fold, a mysterious darkened region that separates Ravka’s two halves, Alina has her reservations. The Shadow Fold is supposedly occupied by monsters; even with Grisha – powerful sorcerers – on their side, how is the First Army supposed to safely cross?
Alina’s fears are realized when the vessel carrying her and Mal is attacked and Mal is badly injured. Helpless but refusing to leave his side, Alina suddenly unleashes a power she did not have. After returning from the Fold, Alina meets the mysterious and powerful Darkling, the only Grisha able to control shadow and darkness. It is from him that Alina discovers that she is a Sun Summoner, a rare Grisha talent that rivals the Darkling’s own powers.
Sent to the Little Palace in Ravka’s capital to train, Alina finds her new life difficult to adjust to. She has trouble summoning her power at will, but no one knows why. Her life is further complicated by homesickness for Mal and a growing attraction for the Darkling. But the Darkling is not all that he seems, and soon Alina is running from a life of comfort in order to preserve her freedom and growing power.
Shadow and Bone is Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel. I rather enjoyed her style in Six of Crows, but I didn’t enjoy Shadow and Bone quite as much. For one thing, it is written in first person. Have I mentioned before how I do not enjoy stories written in first person as much? The pacing is a bit slower than Six of Crows; this doesn’t bother me as much since Shadow and Bone is the first of three novels, but it did seem to linger a little too long in the beginning.
While I don’t think I’ll enjoy the Grisha Trilogy quite as much as Six of Crows, it is still a little too early to say. I definitely plan to continue on as one of the characters mentioned in Crooked Kingdom has yet to appear, and I am pretty sure he will be my favorite. 🙂
My rating: 3.5/5
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