A review by filipacmiranda
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

3.5

Shadow and Bone dumps the reader into Alina Starkov's journey as a cartographer turned Grisha. As a main character, Alina is somewhat relatable. She kept trying to find her place and belong - something everyone experiences at some point. And, even though she spent half the book sulking, I can give her a pass because she was emotionally deregulated and lost after being torn from the only person who reminded her of home. 

The reader learns things at Alina's pace and gets familiarised with Grisha orders as the story progresses. The lack of an explanation for how Ravka and the Grand/Little Palace worked made the story seem more natural and aligned with her discovery of a new reality. The fact that there's no magic system in this book (with the Small Science being the manipulation of the elements) also made the world it displays seem closer to reality. 

This was a pleasurable read with intriguing characters. After seeing how the Netflix show expanded on the original content and considering all the underlying storylines, I believe it could have benefited from other points of view. 

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1st Read (2020): 4.00 stars 
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