Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone #1)

 Synopsis

Alina Starkov doesn't expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal- and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swatch of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power not even she knew existed.

Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. With Alina's extraordinary power in his arsenal, he believes they can finally destroy the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without Mal by he side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina will uncover a secret that could hear her heart- and her country- in two.

Loved

• The Grisha world. This was not my first introduction into the Grishaverse, having read the Six of Crows duology, however, it felt like a completely new world because we get so much more background and history on Grisha in this series. While the Grisha magic system isn't completely unique (being able to manipulate natural elements), it does feel original in its culture, politics, and abilities. Learning about these nuances made the world much more immersive, detailed and real.

• The Grisha school. I've realized that I'm a huge sucker for any type of school trope, and I didn't even know I was in for a Grisha school when I picked this up. I love all the tropes of the school setting- students learning to channel their magic, getting history of the world and magic system, cliques and popularity, trying to make friends, and navigating gossip. The school also helps us get a more robust understanding of the magic system and the Grisha culture.

• The Darkling. Okay, I've known all about the Darkling ever since having a Bookstagram because he is the face of morally gray characters, but I was still surprised at how much his character intrigued me. I didn't like him as a love interest at all (in fact he's quite manipulative and practically assaults her), but as a character he is very interesting because we never know what he is thinking, whether he is good or bad, or what motives really drive him (or how many centuries old he even is?) I am excited to see where his character goes throughout the series.

• The pace. This is one of those stories that has you hooked from the beginning because everything is either an action, romance, or mystery-development scene- and all the elements develop very quickly in this story. I felt like the plot moved along nicely and I was always interested and engaged in what was happening.

Didn't Love

• As I said above, I didn't like the Darkling as a love interest- I know, I'm the only one! I get that he's supposed to be the dark, mysterious sexy villain, but I just felt like the romance came out of nowhere and that he practically assaulted her. You can hate me, it's fine. 
• My other problem is the classic YA romance drama that often makes an appearance and follows the same template: Misunderstanding + miscommunication + say something you regret = angsty relationship for a while. I rolled my eyes for this, but it is YA, so what can you expect? ;)

Content

• Language: 
• Uses of "damn," "hell," and "a**."

• Sexual content: 
• References to the king forcing Grisha girls to bed with him.
• Fairly intense kissing scene- described with his fingers sliding over her collarbone, fiddling with ribbons on her dress, kissing neck and jawline, his hand pulls her dress up and holds her bare thigh- then scene interrupted.
• A few other kisses, not much described.

• Violence
• People are eaten by volcra- winged creatures with long claws. People are snatched, clawed, eaten and carried away by volcra- all described and watched by other characters.
• Fights between Grisha and regular soldiers involving killing with powers, knives and arrows.
• A man is split in half by a Grisha power- half of him falls on top of main character and she has nightmares about this.
• Innocent people are killed as volcra are released into their towns.

Overall Thoughts

I hadn't planned on reading this series since I read Six of Crows a few years ago and loved it, but everyone said Shadow and Bone wasn't as good, so I decided not to read it. However, since the Netflix series came out and these books had been sitting on my shelf for years, I decided to read at least this first book just to have some context before watching the show. I went in with very low expectations since so many people don't like it as much as Six of Crows. I think because of the low expectations I was pleasantly surprised and I really enjoyed this story. I loved getting more context and information about the Grisha, I was intrigued by the mystery behind the Darkling, and Alina and Mal ended up having way better personalities than all the reviews gave them credit for. I really enjoyed this story and I'm interested in what happens in the rest of the series, so I'm going to continue with the other books, although I know I might not like them as much as the Six of Crows duology. Needless to say, I'm really glad I decided to give this series a chance, and while it's probably not going to be my favorite fantasy series ever, so far it's been enjoyable, intriguing, and engaging.