Review: Shadow & Bone (The Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardugo

Book: Shadow & Bone (The Grisha Trilogy)

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publish Date: May 7th,2013

Published By: Square Fish

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Series: Book 1 in the trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis: 

Alina Starkov is an orphan from the Border Wars and the one thing that keeps her from unrelenting loneliness is her friend and fellow refugee Mal. They are then drafted into the army of their war-torn homeland.Their convoy is attacked and suddenly Alina calls upon a power that she had no idea she possessed.

Alina is then whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a Grisha. The Grisha are the magical elite,led by the mysterious Darkling. He believes that she has the power to save their world from further desolation.

Alina isn't used to living in luxury.Nor is she used to be being anyone's favorite.She's not used to having to navigate things on her own,without reliable Mal. As the threat to the kingdom grows,Alina discovers a secret that threatens to turn everything upside down.Only her past can save her and only she can save the world.

Disclaimer: I purchased this book.

Review: Oh holy wow. This book was absolutely insane in the BEST way possible. I adored this book from the very first word to the very last word. I soaked up this book like a sponge soaks up water.I tweeted the author after reading the prologue and all I said was that I was totally hooked already. That feeling did not go away at ALL while I read it.

Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent said that this book is "Unlike anything I've ever read" and I have to totally agree with her.I was trying to think of something that I could compare it to but anything I could come up with just didn't come close.

I wish I could say something good about Mal but since he was only in it a little bit in the beginning and then towards the end,I really can't Hopefully Siege and Storm will give me a better picture of him. Oh I loved Alina. She was definitely a complex character and I think in a book like this,having a complex character is absolutely essential.

I wish we had seen even more of Genya. I loved her so much and she seemed to be a decent person who the Queen and definitely the King used and abused for their own amusement. I loved how she attempted to help Alina with many things.

Of course we have to get to the Darkling. I know that many MANY people hated him but I will not be getting on that bandwagon. I loved the Darkling. He had this air of mystery about him. Not much was known about him and by the end you didn't know who was telling the truth either Baghara or the Darkling. Maybe my opinion will change in the second book,but for now I loved the Darkling.

The world itself made me think of Russia as did Alina's & Mal's names. I have never been to Russia but this book and the world within these pages struck me was Russian.That made me super excited as I have always wanted to visit Russia or at the very least study Russian.

The pace of this book was quick but not in a bad way. I was never bored while I read the book and I am so excited to read Siege and Storm as soon as humanly possible. So this book gets five stars from me and I can only hope that Siege and Storm is as good if not better than this book. Readers,comment on this post if you've read this book. Let me know what you thought of it.