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A review by that_little_drop_of_poison
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
At first I was loving this book. I was so happy to get back to the world I fell in love with in Six of Crows. Everythimg was peachy until it wasn't anymore.
Let me elaborate.
Alina.
I have no feelings for her whatsoever.
All she was doing was brooding, sulking, pining first for Mal and then for the Darkling and then again for Mal. "Selection" much? I hate when female protaginist does that.
The Darkling.
Ok, let me start with saying that this name is ridiculous and I will call him Steve from now on.
So, STEVE is a very complex character and I liked him the most. He seems to be more complex and interesting than all of them combined together. Everything he says and does seems to have double meaning, like he's hiding something.
It's not anything new that I'm a sucker for villains, but hey, it's not my fault they're more interesting!
Also, the last name you could ever call me is "hopless romatic" but I'm really hoping for Steve to turn out to be good and honest on the inside. I REFUSE to believe he's bad. He's good and no one will persuade me otherwise.
Yeah, Fox. Me too.
Mal.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now".
Bitch, please.
I don't feel connetion between Alina and Mal. It's like her "love" is based on childhood connection and that's all. There is no conversation between them, no spark. Yawn.
But, to be completly honest, I don't feel connection between Alina and Steve as well. They had no moments together except from two kisses. Yeah, that's a real solid base for trust. How am I to believe his feelings or her feelings if they're all too superficial. There is no depth.
As you already know, I really like the Grisha world and I loved to know more about it, to know more about the powers and the "little science" that weren't explained enough in "Six of Crows". That was very interesting and gripping.
The only thing I have problem with is the Slavic background. The words Bardugo uses, like samovar, tsarevitch, banya, kutya, troika, I know them , I know what do they mean, but I feel like they're not explained well enough in the book. They're not obvious for everyone, I guess.
I know how kefta may look, because I'm familiar with Slavic culture, but it shoud be more explained and described.
There were few mistakes that really made me want to gauge my eyes out. First of all - Alina's last name. It shoud be Starkova because Starkov indicates that she's a male. Also, when we read about Morozova's herd (yay, to the female form) we leran that Morozova's name was Ilya, which is only men's name. It's like calling a girl John or Peter.
ALSO it made me laugh when I read about people drunk on kvas. Just so you know, kvas is fermented beverage usually made from black or regular rye bread. Its alcohol content is like 0.5 or 1%. For God's sake, children drink it!
Dear authors, you know what you should do when writing about culture so different from your own??
Google the shit out of it, or else you'll end up with writing about people drunk on Dr.Pepper.
Not to mention the fact that "Grisha" is just diminutive form of name "Gregory". So basically they're called "The Gregs". Yeah. That's very intimidating and scary. Bunch of Gregs with super powers.
The book started very nicely, it kept me interested, but then it went downhill. I will still read the rest of the series hoping it will pick up.
The scenes that should be exciting were anticlimatic and the ending disappointed me. It's like the autor wanted to leave us with all those questions, but it's not as exciting as it should be.
The last 25% confused the shit out of me and I don't know how I feel about that.
The "after" part was ridiculous, really. A boy and a girl. Seriously? We all know who that is, there is no reason whatsoever to avoid using their names. What was the point of that?
I would be happier to see Steve's reaction to all of this, and we all know how it probably looked like.
Let me elaborate.
Alina.
I have no feelings for her whatsoever.
All she was doing was brooding, sulking, pining first for Mal and then for the Darkling and then again for Mal. "Selection" much? I hate when female protaginist does that.
The Darkling.
Ok, let me start with saying that this name is ridiculous and I will call him Steve from now on.
So, STEVE is a very complex character and I liked him the most. He seems to be more complex and interesting than all of them combined together. Everything he says and does seems to have double meaning, like he's hiding something.
It's not anything new that I'm a sucker for villains, but hey, it's not my fault they're more interesting!
Also, the last name you could ever call me is "hopless romatic" but I'm really hoping for Steve to turn out to be good and honest on the inside. I REFUSE to believe he's bad. He's good and no one will persuade me otherwise.
Yeah, Fox. Me too.
Mal.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now".
Bitch, please.
I don't feel connetion between Alina and Mal. It's like her "love" is based on childhood connection and that's all. There is no conversation between them, no spark. Yawn.
But, to be completly honest, I don't feel connection between Alina and Steve as well. They had no moments together except from two kisses. Yeah, that's a real solid base for trust. How am I to believe his feelings or her feelings if they're all too superficial. There is no depth.
As you already know, I really like the Grisha world and I loved to know more about it, to know more about the powers and the "little science" that weren't explained enough in "Six of Crows". That was very interesting and gripping.
The only thing I have problem with is the Slavic background. The words Bardugo uses, like samovar, tsarevitch, banya, kutya, troika, I know them , I know what do they mean, but I feel like they're not explained well enough in the book. They're not obvious for everyone, I guess.
I know how kefta may look, because I'm familiar with Slavic culture, but it shoud be more explained and described.
There were few mistakes that really made me want to gauge my eyes out. First of all - Alina's last name. It shoud be Starkova because Starkov indicates that she's a male. Also, when we read about Morozova's herd (yay, to the female form) we leran that Morozova's name was Ilya, which is only men's name. It's like calling a girl John or Peter.
ALSO it made me laugh when I read about people drunk on kvas. Just so you know, kvas is fermented beverage usually made from black or regular rye bread. Its alcohol content is like 0.5 or 1%. For God's sake, children drink it!
Dear authors, you know what you should do when writing about culture so different from your own??
Google the shit out of it, or else you'll end up with writing about people drunk on Dr.Pepper.
Not to mention the fact that "Grisha" is just diminutive form of name "Gregory". So basically they're called "The Gregs". Yeah. That's very intimidating and scary. Bunch of Gregs with super powers.
The book started very nicely, it kept me interested, but then it went downhill. I will still read the rest of the series hoping it will pick up.
The scenes that should be exciting were anticlimatic and the ending disappointed me. It's like the autor wanted to leave us with all those questions, but it's not as exciting as it should be.
The last 25% confused the shit out of me and I don't know how I feel about that.
The "after" part was ridiculous, really. A boy and a girl. Seriously? We all know who that is, there is no reason whatsoever to avoid using their names. What was the point of that?
I would be happier to see Steve's reaction to all of this, and we all know how it probably looked like.