REVIEW: SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Source: Physical copy
Pages: 358

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SYNOPSIS:  Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

I have heard of this trilogy on Booktube rather a long time ago but it was not till a few days ago that I saw one Booktube reading it and was like "Jup it is time to read it".

I do not really know how I should sum up everything this book made me feel but I will try to do my best.

THE WORLD: It is a dark world. The elite Grisha with their powers live as upper class rich society. The peasants or unlucky ones which were not born with power live in poverty. The country is also at war. Plus it is divided in two parts by the Shadow Fold which is really a darkness with volca...magical evil creatures who consume everything that enters the fold.

CHARACTERS: Alina is a peasant. She is rally nobody till one day she has to cross the Shadow Fold and upon volca attack she saves her friend. She is shining bright light which kills the volca. In other words, she is Sun Summoner. From here she becomes a Grisha and her life changes radically. I love Alina very much, she is so naive but also she grows so strong. Go Alina! Mel is Alina's best friend and he really plays a bigger part only in the end. I do not like Mel, I just don't. I think he is rather blah. And we also have Darkling...oh my oh my how much I liked him in the beginning! He was a power in this book. It is so sad the story developed the way it did. So so sad!

LOVE: From first look it feels like we have a love triangle. Well it sadly turns out we do not. My oh my how did I love the Darkling as love interest. The tension the passion was just vibrating!

PLUS: This book reminded me from page one of Red Queen. I know Shadow and Bone was published 3 years ago so I should say Red Queen reminds of Shadow Bone. But whichever way it is I must say I liked it much much more how the story was written in Shadow and Bone. I love Red Queen still and please do not think differently but Shadow and Bone is just IT for me.

MINUS: Again I did not like Mel all that much so I am a little dreading to read next two books of the trilogy.

OVERALL: It was one of these books you just cannot put down. Really, I was so sick yesterday and all I kept thinking was that I need to finish a few pages I have left of Shadow and Bone. Unfortunately, I was too weak to do it. But today, now that I feel a little bit better the first thing I did in the morning was finish the absolutely awesome Shadow and Bone. I will always love Leigh Bardugo for writing such a powerful and incredible story!

What do you guys think about SHADOW and BONE?