Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
This review will be colored by the fact that I read Six of Crows before it, because yes, I’m that person who read Six of Crows first because I heard it was better.
And you know what? They were right.
I almost didn’t even read this series because I didn’t want to be disappointed, but I finally decided to take the plunge. Ultimately, S&B isn’t bad. It’s just not Six of Crows. The world building is solid, because… you know, it’s the same world. It’s interesting seeing things mentioned in passing that I know a decent amount about already, like the different countries other than Ravka. I was kind of confused at one piece of world building—the amplifiers. We meet multiple living amplifiers, but she makes it sound like creatures like the stag have to be killed for their power? Are all amplifiers potentially useful alive, or is it only a specific set? She did refer to the Darkling and Baghra as “living amplifiers.” I feel like this could have been explained better, but I’m assuming we’ll learn more in the next two books.
I was pretty unimpressed with the characters, especially after falling in love with all six of the Crows. Alina is your typical special snowflake who doesn’t want the power and responsibility that has been thrust upon her. She checks some of my disliked tropes, but I forgave one of them because there was a legitimate reason for it. She makes a point to tell us that Alina is skinny and sickly and most certainly not pretty, but it’s because not using Grisha power has detrimental effects. So, fine. I’ll allow it.
Mal was just okay. He was charming at times but honestly I hope we get more of a personality from him in later books. Even Genya, who I enjoyed in the TV show adaptation, didn’t captivate me as much as I expected. The romance between the Darkling and Alina might be a red flag for some people, given that he’s hundreds of years old and she’s a teenager. It didn’t bother me because YA fantasy has broken me.
Unsurprisingly, the Darkling was my favorite character, because who doesn’t love a powerful, ancient, incredibly hot mysterious bad guy?
I felt like not much happened until halfway through this book. I recognize on the surface level that stuff did happen in the first half, but none of it was particularly exciting. Mostly Alina lamenting her new situation and failing to use her power. Once we passed the halfway mark, I actually started to enjoy it a lot more. The story from there was faster paced and more eventful, right up to the rather abrupt ending. I dislike when stories just end without any wrap-up, which is ironic since it’s something I had to actively combat in my own writing. Then there was the very odd creative choice of writing the prologue and epilogue (titled “before” and “after”) in third person, referring to the main characters as “the boy” and “the girl.” It read so awkwardly that my brain thought it was written in present tense too, until I went back to verify and realized it was past tense (for those who don’t know I have a strong disliking for 3rd person present tense). I didn’t care for it.
Overall, I liked it enough that I’m going to read the next one, so stay tuned!
Nicole Aisling - Author 