This is a spoiler filled book review. Please be aware that if you keep reading there will be information that you may not want to know if you have not read the book. For a spoiler free review of Shadow and Bone click here.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars
Quotes to Remember:
"I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me why we don't belong together," he said fiercely.”
“And there's nothing wrong with being a lizard either. Unless you were born to be a hawk.”
“They are orphans again, with no true home but each other and whatever life they can make together on the other side of the sea.”
“Why can a Grisha possess but one amplifier? I will answer this question instead: What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men.”
“Thanks for being my best friend and making my life bearable.”
“I had spared the stag's life. The power of that life belonged to me as surely as it belonged to the man who had taken it.”
“People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don't expect lip from a scrawny thing like me. They always look a bit dazed when they get it.”
“So I'd made my choice. I'd pushed my power down and held it there each day, with all my energy and will, without ever realizing it. I'd used up every bit of myself to keep that secret.”
“Like calls to like”
“If I told you I'm trying to save the world, would you believe me?”
*This is your final spoiler warning*
*Continue with Caution*
My Review:
I have to admit going into Shadow and Bone I had really mixed expectations. I had heard that it isn't as good as the Six of Crows Duology but I was a little disappointed by Crooked Kingdom so I was hoping that it would be better than that. This did beat my expectations because it was definitely better, in my opinion, than Crooked Kingdom, but it did not quite live up to Six of Crows.
The world building in this book is simply amazing. I understand the Grishaverse much better than I did while reading the other books and I really appreciate that she took the time to explain the world yet it didn't feel overwhelming. I also have to say that I was immediately drawn to the characters. I did go back and forth a bit on some of them as I read the book and I will really dive into it.
Alina: Alina is the main character and really discovers herself and how badass she is throughout the book. It was really interesting to watch as her knowledge of the government grew along with ours as well as watching her learn more about herself and her past. The realization that she was pushing her powers down the entire time for Mal really killed me in a way. I appreciated her need to stay with her best friend but I also felt like she should not have given herself up for a boy no matter how much you like him. But whatever.
Mal: Oh Mal. I have mixed feelings on Mal and haven't truly decided how I feel about him yet. I didn't really like how he treated Alina when they were in the army together. Even as they had some cute moments and saved each other's lives I just didn't feel right about him. I still don't feel right about him. Something is just simply off. The sudden jump in "Oh we're childhood friends" to "Oh. My. God. Love." was a bit much and it felt rushed and unreal. Something just doesn't feel right where Mal's concerned.
The Darkling: Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. He's super polarizing and I can't decide how I feel. I honestly thought it was gonna be him and Alina. Not gonna lie. I felt so unsure when it came to Mal that I thought The Darkling was gonna be the misunderstood true love. Then he ended up being evil. Which really you named your evil dude "The Darkling" come on.
Now on to how I feel about the ending. Mal was never going to die, but maybe I would have felt better if he had. I had a feeling that she would save him in some way but I wasn't sure exactly how she was going to manage it. I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not entirely sure where the story is going to go from here because Mal and Alina are on their way out of Ravka but they are going to have to save the world at some point. Also The Darkling is in no way dead. She definitely did not kill off the big bad in the first book. That's not how this works. And I think Alina knows that.
All in all, I am very excited to read Siege and Storm and hopefully I will start to feel better about Mal. And I need to know more about The Darkling. He is kinda a giant question mark for me.
Publisher's Description:
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.
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