Shadow & Bone

“A good fantasy book with a slightly darker edge.”

Summary

Alina Starkov is an orphan who grew up together with her best friend Mal. This story takes place in Ravka, which is divided by great darkness and volcras, some sort of monsters, that split the land in two. The Grisha are people with certain powers, such as the power of fire. They are created and are taught their powers. The Grisha are led by the Darkling. When Alina stands in front of the Shadow Fold and sees her best friend Mal being attacked by the deadly volcra, a power arises in Alina that she never knew she had. She is sent to the kingdom with the other Grisha and comes into contact with the Darkling. This brings Alina into a world full of luxury and magic, but the question is whether Alina can live with this luxury for so long…

Review

Shadow and Bone is the first part in the Grisha triology, which is picked up by Netflix. I’m super excited and can’t wait to see what the series is gonna be like.

When I bought this book, I had very high expectations. It had been a while since I read a fantasy book, so I was hoping that this was going to be the book that would reignite my interest. Luckily I quickly fell back into my fantasy world and had a lot of fun reading this book.

Leigh Bardugo has managed to create a magical world with lovely elements from former Russia, which is beautiful and gruesome at the same time, full of mystery and beautiful elements. Her writing style is very clear, with great attention to details. I was completely drawn into the story from the beginning and wanted to read the book in one go.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the character development of each of the characters. At the beginning of the book Alina is presented as a small and shy girl, but at the end of the book you can see how she has grown.

Conclusion

A very nice book that you read quickly with a good writing style. This book is exactly what you need if you are looking for a fantasy book that has a slight dark edge. I can’t wait to read the second and third books!


Product information
Written by: Leigh Bardugo
Pages: 358
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 9780805094596
Interested? Buy it here!