Shadow and Bone Review

Shadow and Bone Review (Shadow and Bone Book #1)

By Leigh Bardugo

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

I must begin this by saying how much I loved this book. Shadow and Bone completely blew me away. I went into this book knowing there was a good amount of hype around it, so I tried not to keep my expectations too high, but there were still expectations. This book, however, exceeded all of my expectations and it was just so great and wonderful and enjoyable.

At first, the book seems confusing, because, as the reader, we are just thrown into the world and magic system, so the words were all new and foreign, along with the politics of the world. Leigh Bardugo does a good job world-building though, and she never just dumped information on us all at once, but rather slowly explained more things as time went on. Leigh Bardugo's writing in general was also amazing. She had some of the most beautiful descriptions, her writing being both beautiful and easy to read, and she created some fascinating characters, including Alina, our main character, and the Darkling. Alina was a strong character and knew how to hold her own after being thrown into this entirely new world of being Grisha. And then there's the Darkling. 

Before I even read this book, I had heard about the Darkling and everyone’s love for him. I was hoping I would also love him, and he definitely stole my heart. I have so many feelings for the Darkling that I can’t explain, but he is a very complex and amazing character, and one of the highlights of the book. Leigh Bardugo created an amazing character when she created the Darkling. In the beginning, I mostly read for the Darkling, and while the plot was good, I was just more interested in the Darkling. Around halfway, however, I began really reading for the plot. There was a lot of world building and getting used to the magic system in the beginning of the book, but in the last half of the book, I was completely captured by the plot, and I found the book more action-packed, and this solidified my love for the book.

Overall, I loved this book and I cannot wait to read the sequel, which I will be doing very soon. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.