Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one was my favourite book of the trilogy, though there were some strange pacing issues and the ending (pre-epilogue) really felt rushed
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder
Moderate: Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm crying shut up
4 Stars-
“Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay. I tilted my head back. The stars looked like they were close together, when really they were millions of miles apart. In the end, maybe love just meant longing for something impossibly bright and forever out of reach.”
Alina Starkov and Mal Oretsev have a love/hate relationship with me. The problem here is that both these characters had fluctuating personalities. There was Brave Alina, Stupid Alina, Selfless Alina, Selfish Alina and so on. Mal was either overprotective and insecure or skilled and unconditionally loving or so was it supposed. Despite the DRAGGED commencement of the book, I enjoyed it thoroughly and completely. I had my areas of annoyance and I will continue to explain. However, we’ll start with my overall thoughts after reading it.
To say I was excited to start this is an understatement- could be a lie. I was hypnotised by the horrifying conclusion of siege and storm so much so, to read the sequel the second I was done, else I’d turn into a chipmunk. Along the length of the book, I’ve laughed, cried, screamed, died and hoped. All of it- yet I was disappointed a little, just a little. Besides me being a judgemental penguin with shooting expectations, there was so much to love about it. If I remember right, I had a strike of insomnia the night I was half-way done with siege and storm so at about 4 in the morning when I had long given up sleep, I continued to read it for 3 hours straight. To be honest, I was EXHAUSTED but still not SLEEPY because my brain doesn’t like to cooperate with me very often, but that ending gutted me , so first thing I did, START RUIN AND RISING! I might’ve finished it in 2 days then… After this mentally puzzling roller coaster and the emotional breakdown of having been done with shadow and bone entirely, the very last line- which I quote-
“For my father, Harve-
Sometimes our heroes don’t make it to the end”
It pacified me and I just DO NOT know what it is in that line that gave me so much certainty and content and happiness but it did and I’ll forever love Leigh Bardugo for writing so specially and so intimately to my soul. It touches where I can feel it enough to understand personally what means in every syllable and every turn of the page, in every entertaining but truly educating story of common lives, yet to be extracted and polished stones, that turn into gems. Her writing may seem extraordinary to some, mediocre to others, but to me it always carries out a journey of rigorous emotional exertion in all the angles with joy and awe, sorrow and even boredom from time to time- after all that though there’s a crevice of assurance and understanding. And I live for it, read for it and at times fangirl on a megaphone to my friends and sister, but that’s normal right?
Nevertheless, I did for sure have a few problems here and there,
✿ the pacing
the pacing of this book was so chaotic I don't even know where to start. it started off at the speed of gertrude the train (peppa pig references that only older siblings of 5 year olds understand- DO NOT JUDGE ME)! The Apparat annoyed me so much, I was cranky and angry and overly bothered by his undeserved existence- what was the point?! he made me so irritable that i considered giving up hope on this book, keep in my mind my annoyingly high expectations, but thenn something finally happened!
also there were chapters excruciatingly long, pointless and unnecessary- of course not totally pointless but I am NOT, i repeat NOT, a fan of Alina's internal monologues. And there were chapters that flew past you like a frisbee that eventually hits you hard and falls at your feet, just lying there. Leaving you wondering how in the world your heart got wounded so bad.
Maybe it was different for y'all or will be, but there were times that i was reading with such a monotonous, robotic rhythm in my head that when a huge plot twist showed up or an action scene, I literally went back 20 pages and reread them. And it wasn't even that my brain was dead and not processing the words, I was just reading like always but the words were rolling off the pages but I couldn't catch them as to how bored I was and then I'd see the Darkling's name and perk up like WHOA HOLD UP NOW- WHERE DID HE APPEAR FROM?!
✿ the overall simplicity
who would've thought that all of that- the huge cloud of complexity and history and power would calm into a ball so easily. The ending, didn't make sense to me somewhere.
I mean, yeah sure maybe i just wasn't paying enough attention cuz i was sleep deprived but really, it could've had a better conclusion.
NOW IMA TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED IT---
So after all I've talked about Mal, how much I've roasted him and degraded his existence to my friends and constantly tired everyone about how he should just die...
I've come to tolerate him now. Maybe understand him a bit better.
Mind you! i'm still biased and i don't like him but i realise that Alina and Mal were meant for each other. Why?
1. understanding
they've grown up together, been best friends. They can understand each other's expressions, needs and behaviours the best. And I say this because they're literally the hardest characters to judge- EVER! like how do you conjure an image of them in your mind when they literally CHANGE their personalities overnight! but they understand each other and that is essential to a good relationship, is it not?
2. obedience
no i don't like men who bow at your feet and commit themselves to you and that's not what i mean here. Thanks to a huge convo i've had on one of my updates, i've started appreciating mal just a bit more. Because, looking through his insecurity and annoying "macho" self, he loves Alina and is scared of losing her. And after he's submitted himself, and become a weapon at her assistance, there's literally not much to hold against him apart from his bland, non-existent personality and possessiveness...
3. the few scenes where he made me smile
4. his character development
who would've thought that our lovely, beloved mal would go from scrunching up his nose at the thought of Grisha and hating Alina for being powerful to this-
"How did you know I'd be able to summon?" I asked under my breath. he glanced at me, and a faint grin touched his lips.
"Faith."
"It's a promise to be better than I was," he said. "It's a vow that if I can't be anything else to you, at least I can be a weapon in your hand." He shrugged. "And I guess it's a reminder that wanting and deserving aren't the same thing."
yes, he just might be tolerable now ;)
ALINA!
"I'm the Sun Summoner. It gets dark when I say it does."
SO she's evolved into the supposed badass protagonist we want and even if she's horribly annoying at times, she's alina and still has a special place in my heart after all we've been through together (of course i was a spectator of her misery but i like to see it differently :))
Also, i refuse to believe she cut a mountain in half-
she's that powerful?!
of course, we wouldn't know because we really haven't seen that portion of Alina, only the annoying bratty one...
Out of all, alina was my favourite in this book and yes i'm proud of my lil' gal
NIkoLAII
carried
THIS ENTIREEE
series.
FIGHT ME tho.. i just can't get over it, he's AMAZINGGG
“You never know," said Nikolai. "I've been busy. I might have some surprises in store for the Darkling yet."
"Please tell me you plan to dress up as a volcra and jump out of a cake."
"Well, now you've ruined the surprise.”
"I saw the prince when I was in Os Alta,” said Ekaterina. “He’s not bad looking.”
“Not bad looking?” said another voice. “He’s damnably handsome.”
Luchenko scowled. “Since when—”
“Brave in battle, smart as a whip.” Now the voice seemed to be coming from above us. Luchenko craned his neck, peering into the trees. “An excellent dancer,” said the voice. “Oh, and an even better shot.”
“Who—” Luchenko never got to finish. A blast rang out, and a tiny black hole appeared between his eyes.
I gasped. “Imposs—”
“Don’t say it,” muttered Mal.”
“A privateer learns to press any advantage.”
“And a prince?”
“Princes get used to the word yes.” :(
i died a thousand times- the trauma i had
I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN FORM COMPLETE WORDSSSSSS
And Genya :(
poor genya
but i love her so much and she's amazing
i can cry talking about her
"There is nothing wrong with my teeth."
"Not at all," said Genya soothingly.
"You're the prettiest walrus I know. I'm just amazed you haven't sawed through your lower lip."
“Na razrusha'ya. I am not ruined. E'ya razrushost. I am ruination.”
she's amazing ♡♡
AND DAVID AND GENYAAAAAAAAAA
“Genya—” David tried.
“Don’t you dare,” she said roughly, tears welling up again. “You never looked at me twice before I was like this, before I was broken. Now I’m just something for you to fix.”
I was desperate for words to soothe her, but before I could find any, David bunched up his shoulders and said, “I know metal.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Genya cried.
David furrowed his brow. “I … I don’t understand half of what goes on around me. I don’t get jokes or sunsets or poetry, but I know metal.” His fingers flexed unconsciously as if he were physically grasping for words. “Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what’s inside you? That’s steel. It’s brave and unbreakable. And it doesn’t need fixing.
excuse me while i go cry again-
The side characters are just PERFECTION!
Tolya and Tamar
the twins have always had a special place in my heart... I absolutely adoreee them and Tamar and Nadia were just satisfying to me for some reason.
"Yuyeh sesh. Despise your heart. Ni weh sesh. I have no heart."
I have chanted this as to how much I relate ;-;
BAGHRAAAAAAAAA
i love her and always have and the darkling's past was really interesting and i loved that side of the story. i love how Leigh explores all sides of story, no matter how insignificant one might assume it to be! I was really sad about what happened to her and she's just amazing- i can't, may not be able to explain myself about this but i don't really find the need to.
“What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men.”
"Suffering is cheap as clay and twice as common. What matters is what each man makes of it."
“Baghra," Nikolai said, "how are you this evening?"
"Still old and blind," she snarled.
"And charming," Nikolai drawled. "Never forget charming."
"Whelp."
"Hag."
"What do you want, pest?”
:)
her relationship with nikolai brought me to tears ;-;
and alina was as hard to understand, indecisive and stubborn as ever.
But the end of her and mal was pretty satisfying and i really did not want more!
the was a feeling of completion to it all and i liked it that way
"The names they gave were false ones, though the vows they made were true."
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
why is this all so pretty- i love this book
The Darkling is a whole other story but instead of writing an essay about him-
I'll just say i liked him a lot better as how his character was portrayed in this book.
"I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me."
“In this moment he was just a boy -brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity.”
his character is intriguing to say at the least but somewhere in my heart, i love him too :)
like i did not see it coming, i admit but when you look back at it-
everything fits together
There are mixed thoughts in my head about the conclusion but I'm contented.
But of course- there's that TINY part of me that was kinda angry
though a HUGE PART of me disappointed about less nikolai content :(
However, when I look at the ENTIRE synopsis and my review and think about how I stared at the dedication sentence, the last ever sentence of Shadow and Bone and sobbed for a good 15 minutes-
4.25 stars
I recommend this series for sure and HOPE THIS REVIEW WASN'T TOO CHAOTICC
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
4 Stars-
“Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay. I tilted my head back. The stars looked like they were close together, when really they were millions of miles apart. In the end, maybe love just meant longing for something impossibly bright and forever out of reach.”
Alina Starkov and Mal Oretsev have a love/hate relationship with me. The problem here is that both these characters had fluctuating personalities. There was Brave Alina, Stupid Alina, Selfless Alina, Selfish Alina and so on. Mal was either overprotective and insecure or skilled and unconditionally loving or so was it supposed. Despite the DRAGGED commencement of the book, I enjoyed it thoroughly and completely. I had my areas of annoyance and I will continue to explain. However, we’ll start with my overall thoughts after reading it.
To say I was excited to start this is an understatement- could be a lie. I was hypnotised by the horrifying conclusion of siege and storm so much so, to read the sequel the second I was done, else I’d turn into a chipmunk. Along the length of the book, I’ve laughed, cried, screamed, died and hoped. All of it- yet I was disappointed a little, just a little. Besides me being a judgemental penguin with shooting expectations, there was so much to love about it. If I remember right, I had a strike of insomnia the night I was half-way done with siege and storm so at about 4 in the morning when I had long given up sleep, I continued to read it for 3 hours straight. To be honest, I was EXHAUSTED but still not SLEEPY because my brain doesn’t like to cooperate with me very often, but that ending gutted me , so first thing I did, START RUIN AND RISING! I might’ve finished it in 2 days then… After this mentally puzzling roller coaster and the emotional breakdown of having been done with shadow and bone entirely, the very last line- which I quote-
“For my father, Harve-
Sometimes our heroes don’t make it to the end”
It pacified me and I just DO NOT know what it is in that line that gave me so much certainty and content and happiness but it did and I’ll forever love Leigh Bardugo for writing so specially and so intimately to my soul. It touches where I can feel it enough to understand personally what means in every syllable and every turn of the page, in every entertaining but truly educating story of common lives, yet to be extracted and polished stones, that turn into gems. Her writing may seem extraordinary to some, mediocre to others, but to me it always carries out a journey of rigorous emotional exertion in all the angles with joy and awe, sorrow and even boredom from time to time- after all that though there’s a crevice of assurance and understanding. And I live for it, read for it and at times fangirl on a megaphone to my friends and sister, but that’s normal right?
Nevertheless, I did for sure have a few problems here and there,
✿ the pacing
the pacing of this book was so chaotic I don't even know where to start. it started off at the speed of gertrude the train (peppa pig references that only older siblings of 5 year olds understand- DO NOT JUDGE ME)! The Apparat annoyed me so much, I was cranky and angry and overly bothered by his undeserved existence- what was the point?! he made me so irritable that i considered giving up hope on this book, keep in my mind my annoyingly high expectations, but thenn something finally happened!
also there were chapters excruciatingly long, pointless and unnecessary- of course not totally pointless but I am NOT, i repeat NOT, a fan of Alina's internal monologues. And there were chapters that flew past you like a frisbee that eventually hits you hard and falls at your feet, just lying there. Leaving you wondering how in the world your heart got wounded so bad.
Maybe it was different for y'all or will be, but there were times that i was reading with such a monotonous, robotic rhythm in my head that when a huge plot twist showed up or an action scene, I literally went back 20 pages and reread them. And it wasn't even that my brain was dead and not processing the words, I was just reading like always but the words were rolling off the pages but I couldn't catch them as to how bored I was and then I'd see the Darkling's name and perk up like WHOA HOLD UP NOW- WHERE DID HE APPEAR FROM?!
✿ the overall simplicity
who would've thought that all of that- the huge cloud of complexity and history and power would calm into a ball so easily. The ending, didn't make sense to me somewhere.
Spoiler
i was just reading and reading and the battle at the end- i got excited you know? and after like 5 pages, i'm like so the darkling's dead? just like that? HE DIED AND MAL DIDN'T SOMEHOW- like did he come back to life or what?I mean, yeah sure maybe i just wasn't paying enough attention cuz i was sleep deprived but really, it could've had a better conclusion.
NOW IMA TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED IT---
So after all I've talked about Mal, how much I've roasted him and degraded his existence to my friends and constantly tired everyone about how he should just die...
I've come to tolerate him now. Maybe understand him a bit better.
Mind you! i'm still biased and i don't like him but i realise that Alina and Mal were meant for each other. Why?
1. understanding
they've grown up together, been best friends. They can understand each other's expressions, needs and behaviours the best. And I say this because they're literally the hardest characters to judge- EVER! like how do you conjure an image of them in your mind when they literally CHANGE their personalities overnight! but they understand each other and that is essential to a good relationship, is it not?
2. obedience
no i don't like men who bow at your feet and commit themselves to you and that's not what i mean here. Thanks to a huge convo i've had on one of my updates, i've started appreciating mal just a bit more. Because, looking through his insecurity and annoying "macho" self, he loves Alina and is scared of losing her. And after he's submitted himself, and become a weapon at her assistance, there's literally not much to hold against him apart from his bland, non-existent personality and possessiveness...
3. the few scenes where he made me smile
4. his character development
who would've thought that our lovely, beloved mal would go from scrunching up his nose at the thought of Grisha and hating Alina for being powerful to this-
"How did you know I'd be able to summon?" I asked under my breath. he glanced at me, and a faint grin touched his lips.
"Faith."
"It's a promise to be better than I was," he said. "It's a vow that if I can't be anything else to you, at least I can be a weapon in your hand." He shrugged. "And I guess it's a reminder that wanting and deserving aren't the same thing."
yes, he just might be tolerable now ;)
ALINA!
"I'm the Sun Summoner. It gets dark when I say it does."
SO she's evolved into the supposed badass protagonist we want and even if she's horribly annoying at times, she's alina and still has a special place in my heart after all we've been through together (of course i was a spectator of her misery but i like to see it differently :))
Also, i refuse to believe she cut a mountain in half-
she's that powerful?!
of course, we wouldn't know because we really haven't seen that portion of Alina, only the annoying bratty one...
Out of all, alina was my favourite in this book and yes i'm proud of my lil' gal
NIkoLAII
carried
THIS ENTIREEE
series.
FIGHT ME tho.. i just can't get over it, he's AMAZINGGG
“You never know," said Nikolai. "I've been busy. I might have some surprises in store for the Darkling yet."
"Please tell me you plan to dress up as a volcra and jump out of a cake."
"Well, now you've ruined the surprise.”
"I saw the prince when I was in Os Alta,” said Ekaterina. “He’s not bad looking.”
“Not bad looking?” said another voice. “He’s damnably handsome.”
Luchenko scowled. “Since when—”
“Brave in battle, smart as a whip.” Now the voice seemed to be coming from above us. Luchenko craned his neck, peering into the trees. “An excellent dancer,” said the voice. “Oh, and an even better shot.”
“Who—” Luchenko never got to finish. A blast rang out, and a tiny black hole appeared between his eyes.
I gasped. “Imposs—”
“Don’t say it,” muttered Mal.”
“A privateer learns to press any advantage.”
“And a prince?”
“Princes get used to the word yes.” :(
Spoiler
also i'm never forgiving leigh for the emotional torture she put me through turning nikolai into nichevo'ya ahhhhi died a thousand times- the trauma i had
I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN FORM COMPLETE WORDSSSSSS
And Genya :(
poor genya
but i love her so much and she's amazing
i can cry talking about her
"There is nothing wrong with my teeth."
"Not at all," said Genya soothingly.
"You're the prettiest walrus I know. I'm just amazed you haven't sawed through your lower lip."
“Na razrusha'ya. I am not ruined. E'ya razrushost. I am ruination.”
she's amazing ♡♡
AND DAVID AND GENYAAAAAAAAAA
“Genya—” David tried.
“Don’t you dare,” she said roughly, tears welling up again. “You never looked at me twice before I was like this, before I was broken. Now I’m just something for you to fix.”
I was desperate for words to soothe her, but before I could find any, David bunched up his shoulders and said, “I know metal.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Genya cried.
David furrowed his brow. “I … I don’t understand half of what goes on around me. I don’t get jokes or sunsets or poetry, but I know metal.” His fingers flexed unconsciously as if he were physically grasping for words. “Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what’s inside you? That’s steel. It’s brave and unbreakable. And it doesn’t need fixing.
excuse me while i go cry again-
The side characters are just PERFECTION!
Tolya and Tamar
the twins have always had a special place in my heart... I absolutely adoreee them and Tamar and Nadia were just satisfying to me for some reason.
"Yuyeh sesh. Despise your heart. Ni weh sesh. I have no heart."
I have chanted this as to how much I relate ;-;
BAGHRAAAAAAAAA
i love her and always have and the darkling's past was really interesting and i loved that side of the story. i love how Leigh explores all sides of story, no matter how insignificant one might assume it to be! I was really sad about what happened to her and she's just amazing- i can't, may not be able to explain myself about this but i don't really find the need to.
“What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men.”
"Suffering is cheap as clay and twice as common. What matters is what each man makes of it."
“Baghra," Nikolai said, "how are you this evening?"
"Still old and blind," she snarled.
"And charming," Nikolai drawled. "Never forget charming."
"Whelp."
"Hag."
"What do you want, pest?”
:)
her relationship with nikolai brought me to tears ;-;
and alina was as hard to understand, indecisive and stubborn as ever.
But the end of her and mal was pretty satisfying and i really did not want more!
the was a feeling of completion to it all and i liked it that way
"The names they gave were false ones, though the vows they made were true."
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
why is this all so pretty- i love this book
The Darkling is a whole other story but instead of writing an essay about him-
I'll just say
Spoiler
that his death was not sad butSpoiler
Aleksander than the DARKLINGSpoiler
it almost felt like Alina was doing him a favor by killing him because at a point, he needed the break"I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me."
“In this moment he was just a boy -brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity.”
his character is intriguing to say at the least but somewhere in my heart, i love him too :)
Spoiler
also, mal being the third amplifier all along was kinda? predictable.like i did not see it coming, i admit but when you look back at it-
everything fits together
There are mixed thoughts in my head about the conclusion but I'm contented.
But of course- there's that TINY part of me that was kinda angry
though a HUGE PART of me disappointed about less nikolai content :(
However, when I look at the ENTIRE synopsis and my review and think about how I stared at the dedication sentence, the last ever sentence of Shadow and Bone and sobbed for a good 15 minutes-
4.25 stars
I recommend this series for sure and HOPE THIS REVIEW WASN'T TOO CHAOTICC
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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
emotional
inspiring
No estic bé. No estic gens bé. Porto dos hores plorant com una desesperada al transport públic.
Quin viatge tan meravellós ha estat descobrir aquest món i acompanyar l'Alina i en Mal durant aquesta aventura. Els estimo moltíssim. Com m'ha agradat veure com l'Alina es tornava cada vegada més morally grey, i enamorar-me d'en Mal (sobretot), en Nikolai i l'Oscuro, i aprendre sobre la petita ciència.
Quin final, quins plot twist, quin tot.
Ha estat màgic.
Quin viatge tan meravellós ha estat descobrir aquest món i acompanyar l'Alina i en Mal durant aquesta aventura. Els estimo moltíssim. Com m'ha agradat veure com l'Alina es tornava cada vegada més morally grey, i enamorar-me d'en Mal (sobretot), en Nikolai i l'Oscuro, i aprendre sobre la petita ciència.
Quin final, quins plot twist, quin tot.
Ha estat màgic.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Probably my favourite book out of the trilogy, was a good way to finish it off!
Too little of characters I enjoyed and it was just abit boring to read tbh
