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katara
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Series:
The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1
Genre:
BookTok, Romance, Love Triangle, High Fantasy, Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Dystopian, Didn't Finish, Duology and Trilogy, Book Series
Publication Date:
June 5, 2012
Read Date:
May 25th, 2023
Date Finished:
May 25th, 2023
Rating:
DNF'ed at 50%
Blurb:
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.
Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.
Review:
For all the hype this book has had not only on BookTok and the entire book community singing its praises, I just could not find anything really good about it. Alina was as interesting as watching wet paint dry. Her character often grated on my nerves and no matter how much I wanted to connect with her, I could find nothing about her that I liked.
The story was interesting and I loved the whole idea of a magical world such as the Grishaverse but I just could not find this particular book of any interest. Characters did not feel developed enough.
Was it just me or does Alina feel a bit too Mary Sueish? She gets these great powers. A one-of-a-kind power that is completely the opposite of the Darkling and suddenly she is wanted so much by everyone and hated by many. I just couldn't.
I doubt I will pick up this book again.
