Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Book title: Shadow and Bone (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: June 5, 2012
358 pages
My rating: 4.5/5

“Standing on the edge of a crowded road, I looked down onto the rolling fields and abandoned farms of the Tula Valley and got my first glimpse of the Shadow Fold. My regiment was two weeks’ march from the military encampment at Poliznaya and the autumn sun was warm overheads, but I shivered in my coat as I eyed the haze that lay like a dirty smudge on the horizon.”

In the war-torn nation of Ravka, seventeen-year-old Alina Starkov’s regiment is assigned to cross over the Shadow Fold – a barren wasteland of unnatural darkness and monsters. When her best friend Mal gets hurt in a monster attack, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves their lives and leads Alina to join the forces of the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite, and their notorious leader, the Darkling.

Shadow and Bone is the first book in a young adult fantasy trilogy that is part of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books. I had heard a lot of praise for her series, and I was eager to start with this trilogy. I understand where the praise comes from, although I must admit that this particular book did not quite meet my expectations.

The number one reason for my disappointment is the number of YA clichés in this book. The main character is a plain-looking yet sassy girl who suddenly gains a superpower that can save the world. All the boys are handsome and fall for her, leading to the inevitable love triangle. There’s a makeover scene where the mousy main character gets prettified, and a ball with princess dresses. All a standard fare in young adult books, and frankly boring.

I’m not one hundred per cent sure what I think about Alina. On the one hand, I liked reading about her life and experiences. On the other hand, she was a bit too whiny damsel in distress, and at points her sassiness didn’t make sense. At times, she was portrayed as too mousy a person to be so sassy, and at points her sassiness simply came off as stupidity (like when she knows that the person she gives lip to could hurt her).

I’m also not sure how I feel about the two love interests. I’m not a fan of bad boys, so I didn’t really get why Alina found the Darkling so fascinating. Mal, on the other hand, we saw so little that he didn’t have enough time to grow on me. First, he’s after every girl he meets with no apparent regard for Alina, until he suddenly has an off-stage realization that he’s in love with her. The love triangle between Alina, Mal, and the Darkling seems at the end of this book solved in Mal’s favor, but I’m afraid that might not stay that way. I hope I'm wrong, as love triangles are my least favorite trope.

Another problem was Alina’s sudden change in the midpoint, where she learned to use her powers extremely fast. I would have preferred it if the development had been more gradual. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the “magic makes you pretty” storyline, and you could make a drinking game out of how many adjectives Bardugo uses to describe gray eyes (although if you want to get drunk, maybe don’t drink kvas as it only has alcohol content up to 1 %).

This mishap with the description of kvas isn’t the only inaccuracy in the novel. I’ve read several reviews that pointed out the inaccuracies in the Russian-inspired worldbuilding. As I’m not well-versed in Russian language and culture, I wasn’t bothered by those inaccuracies, although it was disappointing to learn about them. To me, the most glaring inaccuracy was the fact that they go hunting a mythical deer creature to cut off its antlers – in the spring! Okay, maybe the mythical deer don’t shed their antlers in the winter, but it still sounded like a mistake. Other than that, the worldbuilding with its magic system was interesting and one of the best parts in the book.

Okay, that’s a lot of grievances. So why am I giving this book four and a half stars? Because I enjoyed the worldbuilding, and this book has potential to develop into a great series. I hope that will be the case when I continue to Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising.

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