Reviews

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

makenna_p22's review against another edition

5.0

Ok wow this book surpassed all my expectations. I absolutely loved the storyline and all the characters, especially Mal and the Darkling. I really liked Alina aswell and found her very relatable. I’m so excited to continue this series!

conventicleofmagpies's review

adventurous fast-paced

2.5

thornsides's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

soapkiss's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.0

bergsteiger's review against another edition

3.0

Painfully predictable with limited world building. I suppose it's no worse than many YA novels out there and the Russian flavor of the alternate world was refreshing. I just couldn't work up a lot of empathy for the characters and the plot was so simplistic I just wanted to get through to the end. No plans to finish this series, although it certainly has some good writing and might appeal to some YA fantasy fans out there. This was in the high 2 star range for me, rounded up to 3.

boman_parker's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

katlib's review against another edition

3.0

Wow, it's pretty cool to read this after Six of Crows, if only because you can see how much Bardugo has grown as a writer. That's not to say that this book is in any way, bad, it's just that she grew so much as a writer, which is a very encouraging thing to observe. I don't love the characters here as much s those in the Six of Crows duology, but the world-building is still super interesting, and different than most mainstream fantasy.

I was very nervous about the romance was going to be handled (and I'm still nervous, tbh), but, so far, I've been pleasantly surprised.

I'm glad I have the next two to read, as they are fun, fast reads that are perfect for how hectic life is at the moment.

ringamboa's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

nicolenordi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

thart1994's review against another edition

5.0

WHAT A RUSH! This book gives me that old school YA fantasy that only Harry Potter so far has really itched in my actual youth. Before Jerk Rowling outed herself as the Terf bigot she apparently always was. (You came close Percy Jackson, but only those first 5). However, this book grabs you with it's Russian inspired setting, it's unique take on magic users, horror, and mysticism. As well as like actually taking sexual attraction in a female lead YA novel seriously without getting gross. We all went through puberty and I'm tired of YA authors not taking that into account. (She makes you feel gross about it later but that's because it's the villain... just read it). I feel like it's usually handled very poorly or not at all in YA novels and it's nice to see that cycle break. I cannot wait to borrow the sequel from my coworkers and devour that one too!