Title: Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Indigo

Page Count: 308

ISBN: 1780622260

Goodreads Rating: 3.98

'I've been waiting for you a long time, Alina,' he said. 'You and I are going to change the world.' The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the world of the kingdom's magical elite — the Grisha. Could she be the key setting Ravka free? The Darkling, a man of seductive charm and terrifying power. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him. But what of Mal, Alina's childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can't she ever quite forget him?

When I saw the trailer of the new Netflix show ‘Shadow and Bone’ I knew this was a series I wanted to see. But like always, I prefer to read the book first and I knew I’ve had the book standing on my shelf for a long time. So, it was definitely time to grab my copy of the book and finally start reading it.

In ‘Shadow and Bone’ we meet Alina, a young girl who grew up in an orphanage with her best friend Mal. Alina has always been a normal girl, but one day she finds out she has this power and suddenly her life will never be the same. Alina’s ‘gift’ got the attention of the Darkling, the most powerful, dangerous and handsome guy around. But can Alina trust the Darkling? And what about Mal, the guy she grew up with but who doesn’t seem to want anything to do with her anymore?

From the moment I started reading ‘Shadow and Bone’ I was definitely hooked. Something about the way Leigh Bardugo wrote this book made me want to keep on reading. I rarely read Fantasy novels these days, so I was glad to find I still love that genre as much as I did a few years back. In ‘Shadow and Bone’ Leigh Bardugo created a whole new world. There are Grisha, people with ‘gifts’ and ‘average’ people. There is this scary bit of land called the Shadow Fold where horrible creatures life. And it was just a whole new and exciting world for me to get to know.

And don’t even get me started about the characters in this book. I mean I LOVED these characters. Alina, was definitely your average young girl. But there is something special about her and I loved how normal she was. She really has a great sense of humor too. There where several moments in this book that reading about what Alina’s character was thinking and saying made me laugh.

And then the guys in this book! Mal and the Darkling are definitely both very fascinating characters. Mal is the guy Alina grew up with. He is very handsome, and catches the eyes of many girls around. But he doesn’t seem to notice Alina that much anymore. Which made me not like him all that much in the beginning to be honest. It sort of felt like he forgot about his best friend because he got all these pretty girls surrounding him. Thankfully his character grew on me in the end.

And then the Darkling. Well.. what a character he was. The Darkling is this mysterious dangerous powerful guy and in the end of the book I still couldn’t really figure him out. He definitely was my favorite character though. Which is a little awkward since I’m still not sure if he is good or evil. I thought I knew, and then I didn’t.. and now I just want to read the next book to hopefully figure him out more.

‘Shadow and Bone’ was a wonderful read that I definitely devoured. I already ordered the next two books. I’m not sure if I’ll be watching the Netflix show yet though.. Maybe I’ll need to read the complete trilogy before I do that. Hmm.. We’ll see.

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Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy novels and the creator of the Grishaverse (coming soon to Netflix) which spans the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows Duology, The Language of Thorns, and King of Scars— with more to come. Her short stories can be found in multiple anthologies, including the Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. Her other works include Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Ninth House (Goodreads Choice Winner for Best Fantasy 2019) which is being developed for television by Amazon Studios. Leigh was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Southern California, and graduated from Yale University. These days she lives and writes in Los Angeles.

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I bought this book myself. Opinions are my own.

Maureen Bakker

Maureen is a mom, wife, nurse, and Ravenclaw living in the Netherlands. She spends her days juggling mom-life, reading, blogging, planning date nights with her husband and working as a nurse. Maureen also is a big Anglophile, loves cooking, Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.. Always!  Facebook | Instagram