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clrwht's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Despite finding it really hard to separate the book from the TV show when reading (I adored the series and it was both fun and a little infuriating that I watched it before reading the book), I seriously enjoyed this.
It’s YA, so it was incredibly easy to read, but was also super engaging. I knew most of the big reveals because of the show - it stuck surprisingly close the book in terms of plot which was a nice surprise - but it never felt like a chore getting to them.
It’s hard to judge the show and the book separately because they were so very similar, so I’m struggling to review just the book on its own. I will say I enjoyed the book just as much as I did the show and I’m looking forward to what’s next!
It’s YA, so it was incredibly easy to read, but was also super engaging. I knew most of the big reveals because of the show - it stuck surprisingly close the book in terms of plot which was a nice surprise - but it never felt like a chore getting to them.
It’s hard to judge the show and the book separately because they were so very similar, so I’m struggling to review just the book on its own. I will say I enjoyed the book just as much as I did the show and I’m looking forward to what’s next!
isobelle44's review against another edition
4.0
This may be biased because i love the grishaverse ( i read six of crows first then came the the shadow and bone seires, which im glad of because j feel like if i started with this series i wouldnt have loved it as much as i do)
The show definitely does malina like a tonne of justice.
Mal is the worst love intrest ive ever read and im so mad that alina went back to him every single time.
But anyways this is only about the first book.
I feel like the begining was a bit rushed , ESPCIALLY THE BEGINNING LIKE HUH. I feel like the fact this book was in first person is also what makes it one of the weaker books in the series. Like we are intoduced to mal and its like “this is mal i love him because yeah i just do” like we dont see any development of this love its just already there so we dont get to fall in love at the same time and we dont see the reason behind, in my opinion this is the reason why it is so easy for people to ship the darkling and alina or nikolai and alina because we actually get to see it develop.
Other than this i dont like how Alina was ‘ugly’ at the begining and then suddenly she is the most beautiful person alive ( and may i add only after she becomes beautiful does Mal finnally “see” her). Also the fact that she is constally talking about how all the other girls are gossipy and focused on looks , like yeah that makes them interesting and it doesnt make you different because you dont participate , it just makes you annoying because you belittle people for doing it. Personally i love zoya and genya sm and im so glad we get to see them in the king of scars duology.
Despite all this i still choose to love the books, especially of the six of crows duology and the king of scars duology.
Dont get me wrong this is an amazing trilogy but sometimes you cant help but dislike the main character , THE HERO WE ARE MEANT TO BE ROOTING FOR !!!!!!
The show definitely does malina like a tonne of justice.
Mal is the worst love intrest ive ever read and im so mad that alina went back to him every single time.
But anyways this is only about the first book.
I feel like the begining was a bit rushed , ESPCIALLY THE BEGINNING LIKE HUH. I feel like the fact this book was in first person is also what makes it one of the weaker books in the series. Like we are intoduced to mal and its like “this is mal i love him because yeah i just do” like we dont see any development of this love its just already there so we dont get to fall in love at the same time and we dont see the reason behind, in my opinion this is the reason why it is so easy for people to ship the darkling and alina or nikolai and alina because we actually get to see it develop.
Other than this i dont like how Alina was ‘ugly’ at the begining and then suddenly she is the most beautiful person alive ( and may i add only after she becomes beautiful does Mal finnally “see” her). Also the fact that she is constally talking about how all the other girls are gossipy and focused on looks , like yeah that makes them interesting and it doesnt make you different because you dont participate , it just makes you annoying because you belittle people for doing it. Personally i love zoya and genya sm and im so glad we get to see them in the king of scars duology.
Despite all this i still choose to love the books, especially of the six of crows duology and the king of scars duology.
Dont get me wrong this is an amazing trilogy but sometimes you cant help but dislike the main character , THE HERO WE ARE MEANT TO BE ROOTING FOR !!!!!!
hurrikanekathrina's review against another edition
4.0
4.4 Stars
I wanted to read this book for a long time! Finally, with BookCon coming up and Leigh Bardugo attendig, I thought it was time to finally get my hands on this baby and read it. I must say, it was no easy time for this book. I am currently so busy that I had to delay reading End of Days (pretty much the most anticipated book in my life) for 3 weeks, because I didn't want to squeeze it in, but I had to read Shadow and Bone because of upcoming bookcon. So, I read it during a time where I had close to zero freetime and was pretty much completely preoccupied with waiting for EoD.
And still I LOVED IT!
This book was so good. So good. The writing style was great, the story was interesting, the world unique and appealing, but the best thing was the characters. Good, mature, well-rounded characters are becoming more and more rare in YA literature, so I applaude those authors who still manage to create those. Leigh Bardugo is one of those authors.
Though this is only the first book in the trilogy and only the beginning of the story, I am already intrigued by the main characters. I don't know too much about Alina yet, but the first thing I like about her is that she isn't annoying. Really, I don't know why so many YA books have an annoying, less than average intelligent, whiny female main character, but I'm always glad to see a different character. Alina is far from perfect and not the kick-ass, decicive, one girl against the rest of the world character (nothing against Katniss or Tris etc. it just seems to me that there is either the damsel in distress or the super kick-ass, lone freedom fighter most of the times, and it's nice to see a different personality ever so often). She is easily irritated, has a lot of self-esteem problems and borders on being a mouse. But I like that. I like her. I find her an interesting, three dimensional character that has flaws, but not to the point where it's annoying and hindering the plot.
Mal didn't really have much exposure in this book. I am interested in how his relationship with Alina will develop in the future. Though we didn't really see much of him in the first book, I liked what little I saw of him. Again, he is a more mature, serious character than most YA boys. Sure, he has the handsomeness, the cockiness, the whole "lady-killer" thing going, but come on, we all like that, don't we? Still, he's not the lovesick puppy, but not the arrogant YA jerk either.
Okay, now let's talk about the Darkling.
"Fine," he said with a weary shrug. "Make me your villain."
I've seen a looot of swooning over this character before I ever picked up this book. At first I didn't like him too much. I already knew that he would become the antagonist of the series and I was fearing another generic "first I'm good and make the female narrator fall in lvoe with me, then I turn out evil and spend the rest of the series being obsessed with the female main character and doing a lot of smirking and being the 'hot antagonist'". But I was wrong. I'm sorry for repeating myself, but what I love about him is that he is more mature than those generic YA antagonists. Thank you Leigh for not having him smirk every second sentence and not being afraid to actually portray him as evil while still maintaining the smallest possibility of redemption. Antagonists have become far too sappy these days, I'm happy to see we have a truly badass one again. I like his seriousness, grimness, almost bitterness. It's very interesting. He has a terrible site to him, but I have to say, he is unpredictable and very exciting. Definitely my favorite character. And yes, I am quite fond of Darlina . I don't ship a lot of Protagonist/Antagonist ships, simply because they are often over drawn and too generic, but there is such a great dynamic between Alina and the Darkling.
And just on a side note, I think the swooning is totally justified.
Now to the other things I liked. I loved how Leigh Bardugo turned the metaphorical "darkness" into a literal thing and I absolutely adore the way she described it. Her writing style is fluent and colorful. I love the world she created, especially the easter European touch she gave it (I believe I've read she was inspired by Russia of the early 1800s). The whole part about the orphan Alina going to the little castle to be trained as a Grisha reminded me of Harry Potter in a good way.
Also, the design of the books is absolutely stunning. The cover,the embellishment at the beginning of each chapter, the map. It's all so beautiful without over doing it! Great job, publisher!
I will read the second book immediately! I want to finish it before BookCon. Hopefully I'll meet Leigh Bardugo there and get my beautiful copy of this baby signed!
I wanted to read this book for a long time! Finally, with BookCon coming up and Leigh Bardugo attendig, I thought it was time to finally get my hands on this baby and read it. I must say, it was no easy time for this book. I am currently so busy that I had to delay reading End of Days (pretty much the most anticipated book in my life) for 3 weeks, because I didn't want to squeeze it in, but I had to read Shadow and Bone because of upcoming bookcon. So, I read it during a time where I had close to zero freetime and was pretty much completely preoccupied with waiting for EoD.
And still I LOVED IT!
This book was so good. So good. The writing style was great, the story was interesting, the world unique and appealing, but the best thing was the characters. Good, mature, well-rounded characters are becoming more and more rare in YA literature, so I applaude those authors who still manage to create those. Leigh Bardugo is one of those authors.
Though this is only the first book in the trilogy and only the beginning of the story, I am already intrigued by the main characters. I don't know too much about Alina yet, but the first thing I like about her is that she isn't annoying. Really, I don't know why so many YA books have an annoying, less than average intelligent, whiny female main character, but I'm always glad to see a different character. Alina is far from perfect and not the kick-ass, decicive, one girl against the rest of the world character (nothing against Katniss or Tris etc. it just seems to me that there is either the damsel in distress or the super kick-ass, lone freedom fighter most of the times, and it's nice to see a different personality ever so often). She is easily irritated, has a lot of self-esteem problems and borders on being a mouse. But I like that. I like her. I find her an interesting, three dimensional character that has flaws, but not to the point where it's annoying and hindering the plot.
Mal didn't really have much exposure in this book. I am interested in how his relationship with Alina will develop in the future. Though we didn't really see much of him in the first book, I liked what little I saw of him. Again, he is a more mature, serious character than most YA boys. Sure, he has the handsomeness, the cockiness, the whole "lady-killer" thing going, but come on, we all like that, don't we? Still, he's not the lovesick puppy, but not the arrogant YA jerk either.
Okay, now let's talk about the Darkling.
"Fine," he said with a weary shrug. "Make me your villain."
I've seen a looot of swooning over this character before I ever picked up this book. At first I didn't like him too much. I already knew that he would become the antagonist of the series and I was fearing another generic "first I'm good and make the female narrator fall in lvoe with me, then I turn out evil and spend the rest of the series being obsessed with the female main character and doing a lot of smirking and being the 'hot antagonist'". But I was wrong. I'm sorry for repeating myself, but what I love about him is that he is more mature than those generic YA antagonists. Thank you Leigh for not having him smirk every second sentence and not being afraid to actually portray him as evil while still maintaining the smallest possibility of redemption. Antagonists have become far too sappy these days, I'm happy to see we have a truly badass one again. I like his seriousness, grimness, almost bitterness. It's very interesting. He has a terrible site to him, but I have to say, he is unpredictable and very exciting. Definitely my favorite character. And yes, I am quite fond of Darlina . I don't ship a lot of Protagonist/Antagonist ships, simply because they are often over drawn and too generic, but there is such a great dynamic between Alina and the Darkling.
And just on a side note, I think the swooning is totally justified.
Now to the other things I liked. I loved how Leigh Bardugo turned the metaphorical "darkness" into a literal thing and I absolutely adore the way she described it. Her writing style is fluent and colorful. I love the world she created, especially the easter European touch she gave it (I believe I've read she was inspired by Russia of the early 1800s). The whole part about the orphan Alina going to the little castle to be trained as a Grisha reminded me of Harry Potter in a good way.
Also, the design of the books is absolutely stunning. The cover,the embellishment at the beginning of each chapter, the map. It's all so beautiful without over doing it! Great job, publisher!
I will read the second book immediately! I want to finish it before BookCon. Hopefully I'll meet Leigh Bardugo there and get my beautiful copy of this baby signed!
chrismama's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
phoenixxx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sarahmaae's review against another edition
4.0
whenever I read a book I find myself always comparing the world building to this world. the grisha and the culture is just so immersive and I ate every bit of it up. the characters however were pretty bland and the plot was just good.
creative_dallas's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
vickygv's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I expected this book to be boring just because it is a three book series and I feel like the first book in a fantasy’s series is always the most boring just cause there’s so much world building but the end had me raging so much for Alina like I physically had the to put the book down, but the little romance we got in the book at the end was nice. When I finished this book I wanted to hop right into the next book I’m curious how the second book is going to go and how much romance is going to be in it which always very exciting.
ellenmorgan's review against another edition
3.0
I love me some Leigh Bardugo, but this was a little too tropey for my taste. Will definitely be continuing the series, though.