I enjoyed the worldbuilding but the characters and plot were rather predictable. I found the slavic-inspired themes a little odd and it took me a while to take the Grisha seriously (a traditional diminutive meaning "little Gregory"). Entertaining enough but I'm not sure if I'll finish the series.

We featured Six of Crows and Shadow & Bone in “How to navigate life as a young adult and beyond: a survival guide in 42 brilliant books”.

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams – but he can't pull it off alone.

This is one to read if you loved Shadow and Bone on Netflix, set in the Grisha universe.

Finally read this book once Netflix announced that it is adapting the book series. Love the world building, characters and everything. I can see why its very hyped and overall a very great book to escape from reality.

I decided to pick up this book because my friends always rave about Leigh Bardugo; I've heard many great things about her novels, from the Six of Crows series to the Shadow and Bone series. I don't delve into YA or Fantasy as much as I used to back in the day, but I found this book a refreshing welcome back. I enjoyed everything from the way the story was told, to the characters, to the world that was built. I found it quite a simple book, easy to follow. For someone with the attention span of a nat, this is fabulous. For others with a much larger attention span who may be used to following complicated plotlines, this book might be somewhat lacking.

I loved how fast the storyline pulled me in, I quickly cared about Alina and wanted the best for her. Mal and the Darkling both intrigued me, their relationships with Alina were particularly interesting for me.

The author created a fascinating and exciting world with characters that were so beautifully described it was like they popped off the page at me. The gentle romance was one of my favourite parts of the storyline, it didn’t consume the plot but was like a bubbling undercurrent waiting to rise to the surface.

As unwelcome truths were revealed I couldn’t stop flipping the pages, Alina found herself in dangerous and confusing situations that made my heart pound with anticipation.

Favourite Moments

* The first explosion of light.
* An awakening.
* A debut in black.
* An unexpected jailer.

This was a gripping tale of self-discovery and betrayal that left me desperate for more!

I loved this book the second time around.
I first read this a few years ago, but this time around I flew through it.
I really enjoyed Leigh's writing style.
Mal is my bae.
Definitely recommend.

Went through a phase of getting "read now" books that sounded vaguely interesting. Never got around to reading this one. Have since bought the trilogy to read at some point though!

Written in the first person, present tense, this story benefits from a very rich world-building. Every aspect of the environment seems to bear a description. Luckily the story allows for the development of context and even movement from one location to another allows for an explanation that provides an effective backdrop to the story. The plot is linear, but the author provides numerous twists and changes in direction to provide complexity.

The weakness in the story is characterisation. The first person perspective in limited in that the only view of the world is through the eyes of the central character. This constrains what can be described. The character herself goes through momentous changes in circumstance but largely there is no personal growth. The reader must either like the character or be turned off by the book. Of course, the third option is apathy and sadly this reader just couldn’t really be bothered with her lack of engagement. She seems to drift through the story and even where she takes control of the action it seems half-hearted. This, of course, rubs off on the other characters, even the sharpest characters feel muted.

There is a strong romantic thread throughout the book, largely in the form of what might have been. Nevertheless, there is resolution to both a romantic entanglement and the candle she bears for her friend. Any mention of sex is muted and fades to black or is hinted at. As the story is in the first person, this clearly seems a little bizarre.

The richness of description in most other aspects of the book means that there is not a fast pace to the story. Nevertheless, there are moments of action that provide some momentum to the plot. There are injury and death, but these are not described in detail.

The story is interesting and varied but might have been better served had it been in the third person. As the tale is in the present tense it unfolds with the telling and with the exception of the central character this does allow for characters to come and go, which works reasonably well as they can act as plot place-marks; the plot can return to these characters to provide some dynamism to the action.

As the story draws to a close, many things are left behind, but these are potential plot lines for subsequent books. Certainly the ending acts as a new beginning for the new book and is presented in a way that makes the subsequent book more attractive.

First read: 15th May to 21st May 2013 - Review Can Be Found Below And At
The Pewter Wolf
Reread: DNF at 38% on 8th June 2019
Audiobook: 4th December to 6th December 2019 - Review Can be Found Below & at The Pewter Wolf

Review from 2013:
The Shadow Fold is slowly destroying the land of Ravka. An impenetrable darkness which has terrifying creatures. While trying to cross the land through the darkness, Alina does something no-one thought was possible. Something she didn't even know she could do. Which makes all the Grisha look at her with new hope, and the powerful Grisha of them all, the Darkling, thinks she could change the world forever. As she is taken away into a new life, she can't let her old life go. She can't let go of Mal...

Now, my To Read pile seems to be lacking full-blown fantasy (you guys can have a look, if you fancy. Maybe I should take a pic and show you in the near future) so to have this lacking in there was a nice surprise to read. One of the reasons I have stayed away from this is because of the hype. Oh, the hype! That and everyone's reaction to this book. Everyone gushing and loving it and going "It's so Russian in feel!". I seem to be now making it a rule that if a book I want to read is OVER-HYPED, I am going to give it a few months for it to calm the heck down then read it.

So, my feelings on the book. I'm kinda mixed on it.

Ok, let's go with all the positives. I was really surprised on this book. I thought it would be full-blown action, magic and love. And it was much slower. It took it's time and I enjoyed the pacing of the book. And, because of this, the slow character building. I love me some character building. And because of this slow character building and, up to a point, world building, it was interesting to discover this new world as Alina finds herself in. And the humour. Oh, Alina has quick, snarky moments and it just works. No matter how dark and twisted it got, Alina could say something that you smile at.

The relationship between her and Mal & the Darkling. Now that was one of those things that kept me reading. With both her suitors, you understood where she was coming from. But... I felt more one way than the other (less said, the better on this front).

I feel I have to go into the negatives now or I will start ranting in the positives. First of all, people saying "This book feels set in Russia". Really? Was it? If it was, I completely missed it. Maybe that was because for a good half of the book, I kept saying "geisha" for "Grisha" and I had to tweet the author how to pronounce it. But it never felt Russia-set to me. It never felt like something from Russian mythology.

Another thing that bothers me is... ok, let's talk reader to reader now. Have you ever read a book and, even though I really liked it, there's something about it - something you can't quite put your finger on - that makes you not love it? Well, I feel like that with this book. I liked it, but I didn't love it like everyone else on the Internet, and I don't know why. I get why most of you love this book and I am glad my other half told me to read this book, but... I don't know. There's something about it that stops me from loving this book.

So, will I get the sequel? Maybe. But I won't be a huge rush for it. If I don't read it, then I won't read it. But I am intrigued over where the story will go next so I might go out and get the next installment, Siege and Storm... But as I'm sitting on the fence with this, my advice to you all is just go for it. Try this read and see if you like it. If you do, GREAT! If not, then at least you tried (even if you only read 50 pages). Just try it. You never know...

Review from 2019:
I still feel the same with this book as I did a few years ago. I did like this, but at the same time, it feels very YA 2011. There are troupes of early YA in here that don’t work for me - the love triangle that’s not a love triangle troupe bothers me hugely - but I am in my 30s so a younger reader but love the troupes and the twists more than me where I sense them coming or was a bit meh over them.

I do think that me audiobooking this was really helpful as I felt I could get into the plot quicker and easier. Reading Alina has always been a bit of a struggle for me but audiobooking her was much easier and I got her humour and sarcasm much better than I did when reading (writing/reading comedy is really hard but listening or watching it is much easier).

I do think that maybe this world/Grishaverse might not be for me. I do like the audiobook, but I’m not sure if this world suits my reading tastes. Very much a “It’s not you, it’s me”, even though I do like Leigh Bardugo’s writing. So, what I think I might do is do another audiobook by her and see how I fair with that. I’m leaning towards The Witch of Duva or The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic as one is a short story and the other is a collection of short stories, all set in the Grishaverse. Once I’ve done that, I will make a decision on what to do next (as I’m on the fence over Ninth House, Leigh’s first adult novel as I’ve heard it has quite a few triggers, or something more recent such as Seis de cuervos or King of Scars, though am not sure if I need to read the entire Shadow and Bone trilogy first…)

But, like I said, this world might not be for me but I know some of you will devour this. It is a good read, so if this calls to you, go for it! I’ll be intrigued to see if you guys like or not. Or if you guys tell me to keep going with Siege and Storm…

[Gifted]
I read and loved Six of Crows, so it was nice to see where the series all started - especially with the upcoming TV show! I didn't like this quite as much as Six of Crows, which had both amazing, loveable characters and a great heist plot, but this has added a lot of depth to the world. Plus, I finally understand why everyone goes into rhapsodies over the Darkling.

I really loved this book. I Can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy and see what they have in store.

Not a bad read but I probably would not read another by this author, not bloody enough for me I am afraid and I like to read dark,dark fantasy.and this definitely is YA

A fantastic fantasy YA book which sets up the series, plot and characters well to keep you reading! Not an advanced read but the perfect book for shameless holiday reading and for some escapism before bed!

Utterly enthralling YA fantasy, a perfect blend of shivers. The world-building is superb, and the characterisations are totally believable. To be recommended

An amazing introduction to the grisha universe which stands up to the hype, I adored both tge characters and the settings. Will definitely continue with the series.

Due to the loss of my kindle I, sadly, was not able to read this book.
I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Magic, fantasy, love, loss - this book features it all! This book is the perfect start to the series, introducing the characters and the world. Excited to read more!

Previously published in 2012, Shadow and Bone receiving an updated issuing including such bonus content as a letter from one of the main characters (Mal) and a short story from one of the side characters (Genya) previously unpublished in hard copy format.

Shadow and Bone follows Alina, a teen orphan who following an attack discovers that she has magical powers, powers which make her unvaluable (and therefore a target) to almost everyone in her Kingdom. She goes from an almost penniless orphan to living in a castle. From having nothing to having it all, but everything must come at a price which she comes to learn over the course of this first outing. Not knowing who to trust

The premise is interesting, but whilst reading this book part of me felt like I'd read something similar before. I don't know if that's because of the overwhelming number of fantasy YA books on the market now, but nothing particularly stood out about it. Alina was okay as a protagonist, Mal wasn't that interesting, the Darkling could have been more formidable - there just could have been a bit more of everything.

Whilst saying that, I do think it is a property that could translate well to screen, and there is definitely potential with it, particularly with Alina's powers and the stakes with Ravka. I'll definitely be reading further books in the Grishaverse to see what happens with these characters and where the story goes.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this via Netgalley but I actually read (listened) to this on audible. I sign up to a lot of blog tours and I end up pausing some books half way through so I can meet blog tour deadlines (totally going to be more organised next year) but I have found I can listen to books while I do other things like getting ready for work, driving, washing up etc so I actually listened to this one instead of reading the netgalley copy.

I was actually going to listen to Six of Crows as it had a full cast but I found out that the two series were related and this book was chronologically first. A lot of people said it was fine to listen to Six of Crows first but I'm a bit of stickler for that sort of thing so I went for this book (and the rest of the trilogy first) I am actually glad I did it that way round because there's a lot of world building that is in Shadow and Bone which I think you are expected to know when you read Six of Crows.

I found Alina a realistic character for one in such a made-up world. She is your average girl. There's nothing special about her. She is in love with her best friend who doesn't realise it and carries out her day to day chores and roles. I know a lot of people don't like Alina but I found her character intriguing because she was such an average girl before she discovers that she's actually grisha.

Once Alina's true identity is discovered she meets The Darkling. Essentially the leader of the grisha. I had a love-hate relationship with The Darkling. There is something so appealing about him that you want to like him but you just know you shouldn't. He's also a great character to quote.

Leigh did an amazing job with the world building in this book. I believe it is inspired by Russian history. I am not big on history but Leigh did such a good job of pulling me into the world that it really didn't matter. Everything you need to know Leigh will tell you. Piece by piece.

This was a great start to the series that will have you gasping in shock, sitting on the edge of your seat in suspense and screaming in anger. As soon as I finished this one I had to start Siege and Storm because I knew I had to be back with these characters again.

I absolutely loved Shadow and Bone.
For the longest time I had heard people rave about Leigh Bardugo's writing yet somehow I had never read any of her books! After reading Shadow and Bone I made sure to purchase the rest of the trilogy and I'm itching to read those too.
Highly recommended.