Shadow and Bone ~ Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is the first novel in the series. Alina is an apprentice cartographer in the army. The nation of Ravka has been split in half by a darkness crawling with monsters, known as the Shadow Fold. Whilst travelling through the Fold, Alina, her childhood best friend Mal and their regiment are attacked by the monsters. In protecting Mal, Alina releases a dormant power that has the potential to save Ravka. To do so, Alina is sent to learn how to utilise her power under the watchful eye of the mysterious Darkling.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. After reading Ninth House, I was very much looking forward to reading more Leigh Bardugo and yet, I found this book lacking. I’m not entirely sure what it was missing but the book didn’t quite feel whole and it really bugged me.

In regard to the plot, there was nothing really all that special about Shadow and Bone. It followed the formula for a YA fantasy novel. There’s nothing wrong with that however, it paled in comparison to the brilliance that was the writing of Ninth House.  I know it’s a little unfair to compare the two books especially as one is adult fiction, and the other is YA, but I think part of me was a little bitter about the fact that Netflix chose Shadow and Bone over Ninth House (side note Ben Barnes matches the description of Darkling to a T). 

The characters very much fit the mould for this type of story and so there was nothing that I did or didn’t like about them. I think my favourite character was Genya.

Overall, I thought this was an alright story, just nothing special and so, I gave it three-point seven-five stars. I do plan to read the rest of the series just because I’m hoping it’ll get better and I have seen the sequel recommended a lot on TikTok. 

C🌙