Shadow and Bone by Leigh BardugoMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
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.
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So I watched this book after I'd seen the Netflix series, and I have to confess, I think I preferred the Netflix series! I feel bad saying that, and I think the important thing to realise here is the story and characters are quite different in the book.
Let's start with Mal--he's a totally different character in the book, and I went into this, thinking he'd be like in the TV series where he was one of my favourite characters. But he's unlikeable in the book, and immediately this gave me this sense of disconnection, as it just wasn't meeting the expectations I had formed.
While most of the plot follows the Netflix series (albeit the ending is much bigger and greater in the TV series), I often found myself getting a little bored. The pacing was a bit off at times, particularly in the first half, and I found myself skim-reading at times.
But the worldbuilding is what redeems this story, making it a 3.5 stars. Because this universe just feels so real, so fleshed out, even though it's one of the most fantastical worlds I've ever read.
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