Shadow & Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (4/5)

I did a review for Shadow & Bone, but I wanted to do an overview for the entire series. I recommend this series for anyone who loves high fantasy with great world-building, fun twists, and questions of morality and fate. Also, anyone who has read Six of Crows first (like I did) and is underwhelmed by the first book, keep reading! I think it improves.

I actually enjoyed books 2 & 3 more than the first book. Part of this was the addition of Nikolai to the cast, but I think the characterization of all the characters improved, though I still prefer the characters in Six of Crows to anyone in Shadow & Bone. The message and writing grew stronger, as did the depth of emotion. The pacing for me improved as well.

Tropes You Might Want to Avoid

1. Special Snowflake. You do still get the “special snowflake” trope with Alina in this series, which some people strongly dislike, but I think in this case it was done well. Especially after the first book. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this trope–Leigh Bardugo does it right.
2. The Scrawny, Not Pretty Girl. This one also improved after the first book, though it did annoy me in the very beginning. They make a point to tell us that Alina is skinny and unattractive, but this is kind of explained with the magic system so I forgive it. It’s not purely to make her seem more relatable.
3. Love Triangles. Yes, plural. But it’s the type of love triangle where you know the whole time who she’s actually going to end up with and the other people are just vying for her attention. And really, the love triangles in this didn’t bother me. They didn’t exist for the mere purpose of creating drama. They made sense for the overall plot.

The tropes above are things that can annoy me when done poorly, but I think this series handles them all very well. If you seriously hate these tropes in all forms, then be forewarned.

Endings are the Hardest Part

I’ve read series where the ending didn’t measure up or actually angered me, but I genuinely love the ending of Rise & Ruin. Without spoiling, it’s one of those bittersweet “it couldn’t have ended any other way” endings. This book also made me cry a little, something that hasn’t happened with the last several books I read (which is saying something, because if anything is at all emotional it will probably make me cry).