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joanna1266 's review for:
Shadow and Bone
by Leigh Bardugo
2 stars. Cute.
I’m going to start this review with a disclaimer: I am not the intended audience for this novel. This is a middle grade fantasy book intended for those who read very little. It’s brain candy — it gets tweens interested in the prospect of reading without actually offering any real literary merit. That being said, I would once a tween with a dislike for reading myself, and even then I would have felt this to be bland.
The novel is built on an unoriginal idea to begin with — the magical “Grisha” can control the elements of the universe with their “small science” abilities. Further, Bardugo capitalized on the simplicity of her concept by assuming that readers would understand the parameters of this universe without spending time world building. The “small sciences” were never truly defined, the root of the ongoing political conflict was never truly explained, and the colloquial phrases were never truly developed (the main character sounded like a 17 year old in 2020 despite the fantasy setting whose time and location are again.... never truly explained....) That being said, I felt the names for day-to-day items and countries added an artistic flare to the novel.
Ok, let’s continue. The plot itself was paced strangely, with chapters varying from so slow the characters wouldn’t accomplish anything by the end of the chapter, to a plot twist so brief that if you blinked, you might have missed it. But never fear — the plot was so predictable that there wasn’t much to miss in the first place. Let me emphasize this point once more: I really didn’t think the plot would progress as it did for the sole reason that it was TOO obvious.
Besides plot development, character development suffered as well. At the beginning of the novel, characters were categorized as “good” or “bad,” leaving little room for moral introspection or interesting interactions. The only character remotely interesting was the Darkling (or so I thought), but I later found that he too lacked any real depth or complexities. His desires were driven by greed and greed alone, making me question his true motives for evil besides his obviously “dark nature.” Spoiler alert: there was none. Also, does anyone know is real name?
And the protagonist wasn’t much better.?In fact, the primary character, Alina, was so shallow and simplistic that I found myself rooting for the plot to take a darker turning, placing her in a situation where tears and sympathy alone wouldn’t save her. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of female characters, why does the fantasy genre adhere so heavily to the flimsy female protagonist who falls in love with her best friend or older male mentor (or in this case, BOTH). I would have been willing to move this book up an entire star if only the author had switched the genders of the Darkling or Alina (making an LGBTQ+ love interest with the protagonist perhaps)? Ultimately, this novel fell into the tropes of all YA fantasy novels today, carrying with it the same lack of representation as well.
Ultimately, all this being said, I gave the book 2 stars if only for the syntax and diction of the writing. In the ways of writing conventions, the author did a good job, but if you’re looking for a YA fantasy novel of a similar concept with more developed characters, just read the Young Elites by Marie Lu.
I’m going to start this review with a disclaimer: I am not the intended audience for this novel. This is a middle grade fantasy book intended for those who read very little. It’s brain candy — it gets tweens interested in the prospect of reading without actually offering any real literary merit. That being said, I would once a tween with a dislike for reading myself, and even then I would have felt this to be bland.
The novel is built on an unoriginal idea to begin with — the magical “Grisha” can control the elements of the universe with their “small science” abilities. Further, Bardugo capitalized on the simplicity of her concept by assuming that readers would understand the parameters of this universe without spending time world building. The “small sciences” were never truly defined, the root of the ongoing political conflict was never truly explained, and the colloquial phrases were never truly developed (the main character sounded like a 17 year old in 2020 despite the fantasy setting whose time and location are again.... never truly explained....) That being said, I felt the names for day-to-day items and countries added an artistic flare to the novel.
Ok, let’s continue. The plot itself was paced strangely, with chapters varying from so slow the characters wouldn’t accomplish anything by the end of the chapter, to a plot twist so brief that if you blinked, you might have missed it. But never fear — the plot was so predictable that there wasn’t much to miss in the first place. Let me emphasize this point once more: I really didn’t think the plot would progress as it did for the sole reason that it was TOO obvious.
Besides plot development, character development suffered as well. At the beginning of the novel, characters were categorized as “good” or “bad,” leaving little room for moral introspection or interesting interactions. The only character remotely interesting was the Darkling (or so I thought), but I later found that he too lacked any real depth or complexities. His desires were driven by greed and greed alone, making me question his true motives for evil besides his obviously “dark nature.” Spoiler alert: there was none. Also, does anyone know is real name?
And the protagonist wasn’t much better.?In fact, the primary character, Alina, was so shallow and simplistic that I found myself rooting for the plot to take a darker turning, placing her in a situation where tears and sympathy alone wouldn’t save her. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of female characters, why does the fantasy genre adhere so heavily to the flimsy female protagonist who falls in love with her best friend or older male mentor (or in this case, BOTH). I would have been willing to move this book up an entire star if only the author had switched the genders of the Darkling or Alina (making an LGBTQ+ love interest with the protagonist perhaps)? Ultimately, this novel fell into the tropes of all YA fantasy novels today, carrying with it the same lack of representation as well.
Ultimately, all this being said, I gave the book 2 stars if only for the syntax and diction of the writing. In the ways of writing conventions, the author did a good job, but if you’re looking for a YA fantasy novel of a similar concept with more developed characters, just read the Young Elites by Marie Lu.