Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

TL;DR Alina's the savior; too bad the Darkling has other plans

TBR: ~ #351

finished 1/11/16

Shadow and Bone has been on my TBR for, like, forever. Not only just my Goodreads one ;; My grandmother bought me a paperback copy back in August when we were in Alexandria, and it took me four months to get around to starting it.

It took me a while to get invested in the story. I liked the premise from the start, but it took me close to halfway through the book to really care for Alina. There was a little too much of Alina being passed around by other peoples' decisions to really get a feel for her as a character.

That said, I liked all of the characters. I appreciate the fact that the Darkling thinks he's doing good for the long run. I feel like I haven't read enough stories recently where the villain really believes they're the hero. I'm glad that Mal also played a big part in the story; I was afraid he would be pushed to the side because of Alina staying in the Little Palace and her decision because of Baghra at her turning point.

The concept of their world is also amazing. (And I love the fact there's a map in my copy. I relied on it a lot. Also, I really wish there was more of Alina being an assistant cartographer, because let me tell you, that alone was what I connected with at first.) I'm really glad that it looks like the subsequent books cover so much more than what we've seen -- just the preview for the next book is ♥o♥ There are so many things that can be explored and I'm excited to see what is to come.

I liked the diversions in what was expected, both from Alina's perspective and from a reader's. There was a good dichotomy between what Alina knew as a resident of the world and what was the truth. There were things that I hadn't considered that ended up being important. Especially in regards to the Grisha.

I definitely want to see more explanation of the concept of the Grisha. Alina didn't have all that much contact with others except for Genya and the few acquaintances she made. I want to know more about the Heartrenders and the other types of Grisha that I can't remember how to spell. I also want to see if there's an explanation to where their powers came from (if that wasn't in Shadow and Bone already; it might have OTL) and more about how they became so important and high-status compared to the normal people of Ravka.

My biggest complaint about Shadow and Bone is the huge sections of narration. I realize that some of it was necessary, since there was a lot to establish and cover, but there were some parts that felt a little more tell over show. Alina narrating everything that happened wasn't very engaging. That said, most of the narration I found a little uninteresting was Alina narrowing down months of repetition and little action into a few pages, so I don't know how else it could have been done.

The last quarter of the book definitely had my attention, and I'm scheming as to how to get my hands on the next book. I might break my library embargo just so I can finish this series. I'm still reeling from how suddenly everything Alina knew wasn't really the truth.

As a final, slightly spoiler-y comment: I like how the climax / "final battle" of sorts felt especially hopeless and that Alina and Mal still managed to turn it in their favor. That period of time where they felt like they had lost completely was the most intense thing. I also liked the diversion that helped them get out of it as well! I really appreciated how they managed to recover from rock-bottom.

TL;DR it took a little while to get invested but it finished strong! The worldbuilding alone is enough to get me to come back tbh, even without the crises Shadow and Bone ended with.