A review by moonlightmoths
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

2.0

I finally got around to reading this book and honestly, it makes me appreciate how far Bardugo has come. Shadow and Bone wasn't a half bad book, but it fell prey to some basic flaws that beginning YA novels do. The world building was vague, most of the characters were fairly generic, and the pacing was gradual. But as far as first books go, Bardugo does a decent job setting the stage for future books. What I enjoyed the most was that she took some normal YA tropes and turned them around. There wasn't a generic love triangle with the bad boy and childhood friend, it was very much focused on training and survival. Alina as a character wasn't compelling at first, but she made progress from being a meek character to being courageous and kind. I'm hoping she'll keep getting the character development she deserves over the next few books.