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A review by david_slack110507
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
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