Scan barcode
livi74's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing
david_slack110507's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I feel highly conflicted about this book, it has its good and bad aspects. I really liked the journey we get with Alina throughout the book, her character development is excellent, and I hope she'll only get better in the next two books in this trilogy. I also found the main plot to be interesting and the mythology/lore of the world was extremely interesting.
However, my negative thoughts outweigh the positive ones I have such as the formatting or more specifically the chapters. The chapters in this are mostly 15-20 pages long each which makes it difficult if I want to go and read for a few minutes as I prefer to complete the whole chapter to avoid any confusion as to where I am the next time, I pick up the book. The first half of the book is excruciatingly slow and difficult to read on through because it focuses heavily on setting up the enormous world of the Grishaverse and that was why this took me nearly 2 months to complete, alongside it not being as interesting compared to the other books I was reading at the same time (which may have been an issue on my part tbh)
Another issue I had was that despite the extremely in-depth and fascinating lore and mythology of the Grishaverse, it can be very daunting, confusing, and sometimes hard to understand/remember what was what which made me struggle to continue the book at parts. I also didn't feel too strongly about many of the characters in the book with probably Baghra, The Darkling (Disregarding the kind of boring romance between him and Alina), Alina herself and possibly the real MVP: Genya being the standouts but nearly everyone else just didn't capture my interest and/or enthusiasm.
Overall, a mixed start to the Shadow and Bone trilogy. A start that I can only hope improves as it continues as I do feel invested enough to want to continue reading the trilogy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ Good but not great
However, my negative thoughts outweigh the positive ones I have such as the formatting or more specifically the chapters. The chapters in this are mostly 15-20 pages long each which makes it difficult if I want to go and read for a few minutes as I prefer to complete the whole chapter to avoid any confusion as to where I am the next time, I pick up the book. The first half of the book is excruciatingly slow and difficult to read on through because it focuses heavily on setting up the enormous world of the Grishaverse and that was why this took me nearly 2 months to complete, alongside it not being as interesting compared to the other books I was reading at the same time (which may have been an issue on my part tbh)
Another issue I had was that despite the extremely in-depth and fascinating lore and mythology of the Grishaverse, it can be very daunting, confusing, and sometimes hard to understand/remember what was what which made me struggle to continue the book at parts. I also didn't feel too strongly about many of the characters in the book with probably Baghra, The Darkling (Disregarding the kind of boring romance between him and Alina), Alina herself and possibly the real MVP: Genya being the standouts but nearly everyone else just didn't capture my interest and/or enthusiasm.
Overall, a mixed start to the Shadow and Bone trilogy. A start that I can only hope improves as it continues as I do feel invested enough to want to continue reading the trilogy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ Good but not great
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing and Death of parent
onefineelephant's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
7/10. I think the magic system and even the political system are interesting. However, I usually hate love triangles and this is no exception. I typically love the friends-to-lovers trope but Mal kind of sucks at the beginning. Like, who would sleep with a ton of girls when you're actually in love with your best friend the whole time?? I like Mal more by the end. Also, them confessing their feelings wasn't satisfying at all and fell kind of flat. I think that the character of the Darkling is super fascinating and complex, which I love. I am not a fan of Alina which is really unfortunate because she's the main character - but this is because she is TOO MUCH of a main character. She just wants to fit in when she clearly is unique, she is a peasant in high society, she only has one friend and doesn't get along with other girls (aka she's not like other girls), and she won't kill when it is absolutely necessary. The dialogue is kind of so bad that it's good. Like it's very bad but most of the time it made me laugh because of how bad it is instead of making me say "this is stupid." The ending was awful, in my opinion. I know there are more books in the series but the events of the last 50 pages made me say "what the f is this?" about 8 times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and War
Minor: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Self harm and suicidal ideation are mentioned but not acted on. Also, there is an attempted sexual assault but it does not progress further.juliaaaaaa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
i needed to see more about how mal fell for alina, but it was a bit quick and i NEED the slow burn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Sexual content, War, and Death of parent
makenna_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Toxic relationship, Gore, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Torture, Slavery, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content
kat_andherbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
it's 6 in the morning, I haven't slept and I'm bawling my eyes out over Mal's letters. given that it was written in 2012, I'll cut it some slack, but Alina is wayyy too predictable for my liking. I hate the typical love triangle with the best friend and the bad guy, she's giving off big pick me energy. I love Mal, he's really sweet and he definitely deserves better. Alina's narrative is too tiring for me, her inner monologue seems repetitive and it's tiresome.
I'm not as eager to get into the next book as I'd thought I would be :/
I'm not as eager to get into the next book as I'd thought I would be :/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
notyourhana's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Bullying and Sexual content
evie_lumby's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Slavery, War, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape
lindasoderlundd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Minor: Sexual content and Bullying
thegreatelise's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I have to admit that I had a lot of expectations concerning this book since so many people talked about how amazing the grishaverse is and how it's the best book serie, so I went into it with that it mind and I must admit that it was fairly enjoyable, I didn't loved it but since it's only the first volume I won't judge the fame the serie is getting from this volume alone.
The characters were pretty cool, I especially liked Genya, she was really sweet.
The concept of the story is pretty interesting as well and I'm definitely curious about what will happen next.
I feel like not that much happened in the book but at the same time a lot of things happened, I think it's just because I read it super fast like 100 pages a day and also because there wasn't that much action it was more like setting the story and the world.
I have to admit that at the very beginning I thought that Mal and Alina were siblings..
Don't blame me, they were both put at the orphanage together I got confused lmao.
Alright so everyone was talking about the Darkling and I've seen a few fanart of him, being on booktok and booksta I had to come across some fanarts and stuff and a lot of people are lowkey simps for him, I was disappointed when I discovered that he was the bad guy of the story and that he was a literal asshole, I don't like him and don't understand why everyone does but I guess I have 2 other volumes to read.
For a moment near the end I really thought that Mal would die, I appreciate him and his relationship with Alina, I was satisfied to know that he made it alive in the end.
The characters were pretty cool, I especially liked Genya, she was really sweet.
The concept of the story is pretty interesting as well and I'm definitely curious about what will happen next.
I feel like not that much happened in the book but at the same time a lot of things happened, I think it's just because I read it super fast like 100 pages a day and also because there wasn't that much action it was more like setting the story and the world.
I have to admit that at the very beginning I thought that Mal and Alina were siblings..
Don't blame me, they were both put at the orphanage together I got confused lmao.
Alright so everyone was talking about the Darkling and I've seen a few fanart of him, being on booktok and booksta I had to come across some fanarts and stuff and a lot of people are lowkey simps for him, I was disappointed when I discovered that he was the bad guy of the story and that he was a literal asshole, I don't like him and don't understand why everyone does but I guess I have 2 other volumes to read.
For a moment near the end I really thought that Mal would die, I appreciate him and his relationship with Alina, I was satisfied to know that he made it alive in the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Sexual content, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail