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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171 of 208 people found the following review helpful.
Fantasy Twilight
By Sesho
For hundreds of years the land of Ravka has been divided into east and west by a miles-wide void of darkness called The Fold. Another name for it is the Unsea. Probably because the only way to travel across it is to use sand skiffs which use sails to glide across the wasteland inside the Fold. Within the Fold, no light enters. So once you are inside you can't even see your hand in front of your face. You can use torches and lamps, but you really don't want to attract notice while you're in the fold. For, you see, something or actually, some THINGS live in the fold. Here there be monsters. The volcra, blind, flying humanoid creatures with razor sharp teeth, are attracted to any light source or noise. They are always ready to feed on any voyagers across the Unsea.Now you might question why, if it's so dangerous, does anyone even try to cross the Fold? It's due to geography. Ravka is hemmed in by hostile countries to north and south and to the east, there is nothing but mountains. Across the Fold lies Ravka's port cities, it's only means to export and import goods, supplies, and wealth. In essence, West Ravka is the backbone of the land's economy. The only way to get across the Fold is to bring armed guards or soldiers, and hopefully, some Grisha.Grisha are the equivalent to what we would call sorcerors. They don't really use magic though. They simply have the ability to manipulate matter at its most basic level. Kinda more like the alchemists in Fullmetal Alchemist. Some can control the elements such as the Inferni or Tidemakers. Others are soldiers or healers that can effect living things, either positively or negatively. Some are even used in manufacturing. The Fold was actually created by one of these Grisha, called The Black Heretic, who, mad with greed and power, used his powers over darkness to bring the Fold into being. His descendants have spent their entire lives trying to right his wrong and destroy the Fold.Alina Starkov, a war orphan, was once tested as a child to see if she had any Grisha abilities and came up negative. She's now a soldier in the Ravkan army and is assigned to an escort mission through the Fold along with her childhood friend Malyen Oretsev. The mission quickly goes to hell in the Fold as volcra attack in great locust-like swarms. As her best friend (and love interest?) is about to be killed, Alina lets out a blinding light as bright as the sun and saves her friend and the fleet. It turns out that Alina is a Grisha called a "Sun Summoner" who has the power to control light. It is hoped, that along with the Darkling, the descendant of the Black Heretic, they will be able to find a way do destroy the Fold. But she will have to learn how to use her power and avoid enemy assassins in order to do that.If you've gotten this far in the review, you might think, wow, that sounds like an interesting book. I thought so too when I read about this novel. I had read good reviews in multiple publications and Shadow and Bone also made the Amazon Best Books of the Month list. I had high expectations, so I wasn't really prepared for the level of mediocrity that I encountered.The main complaint I have against the book was its saggy middle. Shadow and Bone definitely needed a tummy lift or lipo or something because I quickly lost interest once the book got rolling. After Alina is brought to Ravka's capital city, Os Alta, she sees how the other side lives. Raised as an orphan and then enlisted in the army, her mind is not prepared for the opulence, some might say decadence, of the royal court or of the Grisha. The Grisha are treated like nobility, get very nice living quarters, the best food, and they even all look uncannily attractive. They might even be unnaturally attractive. And now here comes Alina, who is short, pale, and has really scrumpy hair. She doesn't fit. She doesn't belong. BUT she wants to. And that is when this book goes south.You see, Alina WANTS to fit in, so she starts taking a lot of pride in her dress, lets another Grisha named Genya who seems to specialize in cosmetology and plastic surgery do her hair and make her face look better. She worries about catching the Darkling's eye. Mainly because he's a gloomy bad boy (actually, he's 120 years old, but still looks young and hot). Eat your heart out Edward. She feels guilty for wanting the Darkling because she really loves Mal but when has that ever stopped a foolish romantic girl? Come on love triangle! There were a couple of scenes once she makes it to the capital that made me cringe. It's when Alina "squeals" with delight as she looks at herself in the mirror or tries on new clothes. Yes, she actually squeals. At this point in the book, my mind checked out and my soul probably died a little. I had just finished reading an 18th century novel called Evelina by Fanny Burney, which was mainly about a heroine who spent the whole book walking around and going to parties and worrying about how she looked. When I started Shadow and Bone I was like "Cool, a sassy heroine who isn't afraid to speak her mind or fight". But, as Alina desperately tried to fit in with the Grisha, I thought I was reading Evelina all over again. Except Evelina was well written.Another unfortunate result of the Os Alta section of the novel was that I came to the conclusion that Alina was dumb and uninteresting. Bardugo hardly hints at what Alina's training consists of. She spends most of her time social climbing. Also, in times of danger, Alina almost always chooses the path of least intelligence. When she's not supposed to reveal herself, she causes a scene. When she's supposed to conceal her power, she uses her power. She reminds me a lot of Sookie from the True Blood novel series. At a certain point, you just realize the protagonist is an idiot and you quit reading.There is a little world building and the Fold is an interesting premise but it just never really fully forms in your mind. Yes, the author uses Russian names and Russian clothes terms, but nothing about this novel FEELS Russian. It would be like if I wrote a novel and used Japanese names. Would that automatically give it a Japanese ambience? No. I didn't see any real use of Russian folklore or anything either, so I don't understand why she used the Russian wordbank when she chose the names of her characters and locations.In the end, it seems like the author tried to write a Twilight type romance and just put a veneer of fantasy over it without really thinking things through or getting too worried about telling a story or creating a living breathing world. It was more about "ok, I want a girl torn between two hot guys", "I want a girl that wants to join a clique, so she has to get made over like in those 90s teen movies", "I want a manga heroine that has to train" etc.Maybe I'm wrong, because there are a ton of book reviews and readers that love this book. I'm probably in the minority, but I have to say, this book wasn't very good. I definitely will not be reading the rest of the trilogy.
89 of 107 people found the following review helpful.
Shadow and Bone
By Leeanna Chetsko
How can I convey the awesomeness of "Shadow and Bone?"Admittedly, this book wasn't an instant pick for me when it showed up in my Vine selections. But then I remembered I had put it on the wishlist I use to keep track of upcoming books, so I grabbed it, and wow, am I happy I did.I hated having to put "Shadow and Bone" down. Real life is always so annoying when you're in the middle of a great book, and that's just what this is. I'm going to try every way I can to get my hands on a copy of book two before it comes out, because I'm THAT eager to find out what happens to Alina, Mal, the Darkling, and Ravka.At the start of "Shadow and Bone," Alina is a regular girl. Unremarkable, even. She's terrified of crossing the Shadow Fold, but then, so is everyone else. The Fold is a swath of darkness across Ravka, cutting the country off from the sea. Volcra, monsters that attack humans, live in the Fold, and it's said they can smell human blood from miles away. Mal, Alina's best friend, reassures her that nothing is going to happen.But of course, something does happen. On their way across the Fold, the volcra attack. When they go after Mal, nearly killing him, Alina is desperate to save him. Somehow, she does. Light suddenly fills the Fold, driving the volcra back.And that's where the story really starts. Alina is whisked away from her life in the army to train as a Grisha. Grisha are sort of like witches or mages. Usually, children are tested to see if they have Grisha abilities, and if they do, they are taken to a special school to be trained. Alina didn't pass the test as a child, but she's one of the most powerful Grisha ever. Only she can get rid of the Fold and rescue Ravka from darkness.It's a lot of pressure, and I love how Alina handles it. She's a great character, one that I think a lot of readers will like. I definitely did.I'm not going to list all the reasons I loved the book because I can't figure out a way to do so without spoiling it for everyone. And I don't want to do that. I think it's way more fun to puzzle out the plot, and try to figure out who you can trust while you're reading, rather than knowing before you go in.But here's a short list:--A cool magic system. Grisha say they study the "Small Science," which I'd call a combination of magic and manipulating natural elements.--You never know what character you can trust. Along with that ... the Darkling. The most powerful Grisha of all. He's thrilled to have found Alina, and she's thrilled to have the most powerful man in Ravka saying she's special. It's heady for someone who always thought of herself as no one.--The customs of the Grisha and Ravka itself. Ravka is based off Russia, and having recently read a few other fiction and historical works on Russia, I could really appreciate the setting and the culture the author worked in, as well as what she made up.--There's romance. Yeah, I don't normally like romance, but here there's no love triangle (so sick of those) and the relationship is actually believable.Seriously, just read it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
62 of 74 people found the following review helpful.Basic, boring and uninspiring.
By Jovana J
Alina has to be one of the most useless heroines in recent YA fiction history. I could not relate or resonate with her for one second. She was too weak and pathetic for my taste. Instead of improving upon her magic and learning more about herself, she spends 300 pages sulking around, doing and saying STUPID things, and blushing when it comes to Darkling. I hate the whole "special snowflake syndrome" and "why am I so special", "why does he even like me, I'm so plain"..."people are so mean whaaa whaaaaaaaambulance" which is pretty much 300 pages of this book. Too much emphasis on beauty and vanity, and not enough character development. Why does EVERY heroine in YA books have to be "plain" at first, and being plain entitles brown hair and skinny body? It's such an annoying trope. And how funny that all these "plain", quiet, boring girls land all the hottest dudes on the planet? Ahhh, only in YA world. *gag*Another annoying trope? The dreaded love triangle. On one side you have the best friend (Mal) who doesn't notice our heroines feelings at first, but he is gone for like 90% of the book so you don't get a chance to get to know him and figure out if you should cheer for him or not. I don't care if he lives or dies at this point. It simply doesn't matter. On the other side you have the standard, sexy bad-boy Darkling with mysterious past. Of course he's interested in "plain" Alina because she is so special. I don't know why she's special, but the author tells me, so I have to take her word for it.Ignoring the biggest flaw (which is the poor handling of Russian culture and language,) the storyline is simplistic and predictable: classic "good vs. evil" but I really did NOT care who is who because everyone is such a dull simpleton and/or page filler that it doesn't really matter.This book is BORING, trite and uninspiring. Your money will be spent better elsewhere.
